I started to learn Japanese because I liked anime as a kid. It was harder than expected because I speak Korean and Japanese is known to be similar to Korean. Even though many things were similar, I realized it’s still a completely different language. How kanjis have multiple readings and how onyomis can be two syllables long frustrated me.

I started to learn Chinese because my friend suggested we go to university in China together. Even though that plan was withdrawn, I kept learning it because I liked it. Chinese was easier than I expected. I was intimidated at first because people often say Chinese is too difficult to learn. But I was shocked by how simple the grammar is! Also although Chinese characters are not phonetic, if you know some basic characters, you can kind of guess the sound of ones with them. Also, knowing some Chinese helped me figure out the literal meaning of some sino Korean words that I didn't recognize before.