Here's my situation - I speak better Japanese than Korean.

There, I've said it.

I'm Korean-American, but I can barely form sentences. Even though I went to Korean school when I was young, I've retained only a small set of vocabulary and the ability to read Hangul very, very slowly. Very slowly.

As for Japanese, I've taken two years of college-level language courses. I lived there for about a year, post-college. I can get by in Japanese, whereas in Korean, I resemble a two-year old.

I feel that, with all of my exposure to Korean (church, visiting relatives and friends, restaurants, etc.), I should know more. I should be able to order food in a Korean restaurant in Korean and get all the perks that come with that!

I've heard that Japanese and Korean are similar grammatically, so what I'm attempting to do now is to draw on similarities between the two. Basically, I want to see if I can learn Korean through what I know about Japanese, and this is my attempt to do so.

k-thru-j

Learning Korean through Japanese.

This maybe a bit ambitious, but let's start with particles.

Topic Marker

Korean	나는 읽고
Japanese	私は　よむ
English	I read

This is what I take from this:

• 는/은 = は (General Topic Marker)

Subject Marker

Korean	나는 이것이 좋아요
Japanese	私は これが　好きです
English	I like this

The take-away:

• 가/이 = が (Subject Marker)

Direct Object Marker

Korean	나는 책을 읽고
Japanese	私は　本を　よむ
English	I read the book

The take-away:

• 를/을 = を (Direct Object Marker)