> given the difficulty of learning English and relative ease of learning Japanese by Koreans
This surprises me a bit (I believe you; I am just surprised.)
Why do Koreans think learning Japanese is easier than learning English?
This surprises me a bit (I believe you; I am just surprised.)
Why do Koreans think learning Japanese is easier than learning English?
English and Korean are just two languages that would have almost no way of influencing each other directly for a long long time. They evolved independently, and once one is familiar with one language system, learning the other is just... painfully difficult in my experience.
If you see grammar errors in my comment, a Japanese person would very likely show similar mistakes in their English writings.
Maybe the thing that most sticks out to me is saying "English writings." I don't think a native speaker would say writings, just "in their English", or perhaps "In their written English."
Your English is fantastic, this is me simply musing on what you're suggesting.
Consider the difference between English and Spanish vs. English and Japanese. If you look at a Spanish sentence, you can more or less translate it word for word to and from English so long as you know the vocabulary and verb conjugations. Japanese on the other hand has an entirely different grammar, uses the case (particle) system, has honorifics and levels of politeness, has entirely different parts of speech from english, is far less ego-oriented (I don't mean this in a judgemental way, just that objects are much more often the subjects of sentences)
It is mine as well, but I considered the questions you're asking when I was teaching myself Japanese around age 9. I'm 33 now. The barrier of difficulty is all in your mind. You're the only limiting factor. You decide for yourself how difficult something is to do.