I am going to be a professional interpreter in two to three years. Since it is a business with a lot of competition, you need a more exotic language to get somewhat of an edge. After a lot of pondering, I narrowed down the choice to Japanese or Korean, mostly because I am interested in both of the cultures - I did Kendo for quite some time, met Japanese people doing business with my father and yes Carnac, I still watch anime from time to time. Korea is pretty self-explanatory since I have been playing Starcraft for almost 11 years now and really liked the impressions it gave me into the Korean lifestyle.

So yeah, what language would you chose and why? I have been told off by some Japanese students, as they claim that two/three years is too little time to learn more than the basics. Korean is supposedly easier, but I am pretty sure it also has its pitfalls.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Vex

Ireland454 Posts

April 21 2009 09:54 GMT

Japanese is more beneficial. unless your gonna play starcraft bw all your life?

Garnet

Vietnam9013 Posts

April 21 2009 09:56 GMT

Japanese. Games, manga, anime, technology...

Elric

United Kingdom1327 Posts

April 21 2009 10:03 GMT

Japanese.

If you're learning a language with a business motive, well... because the Japanese economy/international presence >>> Korean economy/international presence, I'm pretty sure there is a much higher demand for Japanese translators than Korean ones.

Korean is pretty useless except if you're in Korea. A similar statement can be made for Japan of course... but just less so... so if your only reason for shortlisting Korean is because of Starcraft... .. you should choose Japanese.

Japanese is a bit harder than Korean but forget what your Japanese student friends say. You can do a shitload in 2-3 years. I don't know about how much time/money/effort you have to spend on learning... but if you're serious, you will easily get to intermediate level.

edit: snowbird's post on page 2 is must a read for any late wanderers onto this thread.

Pioneer

994 Posts

April 21 2009 10:05 GMT

Japanese will have a bigger place in business than Korean, but being fluent in Korean is a little less common than it is for Japanese (at least in translator jobs).

If you learn Japanese you'll have a slightly wider range of work available but more competition for the job, while with Korean it's a smaller range but I'd imagine a little less competition especially for a German to Korean/Korean to German translator.

Having said that I'd go with Japanese, since their companies seem to be more prominent in the business world and being a German to Japanese/Japanese to German translator might make you more of a rare commodity than an English to Japanese/Japanese to English translator.

I'd say ask any people that have experience with translating jobs and ask their opinion rather than going with something you'd think would be cool. A job comes first and interests come next especially in the world economy. Also you seem to like both cultures so you'd be winning either way and you can learn the other language at a later time, though I'd recommend learning Chinese after Japanese or Korean then the one of the two you didn't pick after Chinese.

NotSupporting

Sweden1998 Posts

April 21 2009 10:06 GMT

On April 21 2009 18:54 Vex wrote:
Japanese is more beneficial. unless your gonna play starcraft bw all your life?

You are kind of ignorant. What about Kia, Samsung, LG, Hyundai and NCsoft? Some big international companys in South Korea. Still though I would go for Japanese for job opportunities.

Jibba

United States22883 Posts

April 21 2009 10:13 GMT

My father got a degree in Japanese, translated for car companies for a while and then got his MBA, and I'm fairly certain he'd recommend Korean over Japanese at this point, because of the directions of each country. I can ask later though. Japan's economy might be bigger now, but it's contracting and it has a decreasing, aging population whereas S. Korea is still quickly growing and it's a much younger country.

Person514cs

1004 Posts

April 21 2009 10:15 GMT

wow. you know both japanese and korean? That's kind of rare combination. Why not chinese?

There are more ppl there. translate to more girls

Ecael

United States6703 Posts

April 21 2009 10:24 GMT

Knowing both Japanese and Korean isn't exactly rare? A lot of Korean people I know here choose Japanese for foreign language requirement.

On April 21 2009 19:13 Jibba wrote:
My father got a degree in Japanese, translated for car companies for a while and then got his MBA, and I'm fairly certain he'd recommend Korean over Japanese at this point, because of the directions of each country. I can ask later though. Japan's economy might be bigger now, but it's contracting and it has a decreasing, aging population whereas S. Korea is still quickly growing and it's a much younger country.

In terms of pure birth rate, if memory serves, South Korea is lower than Japan?

EDIT - Two to three years is quite a lot if you are putting the effort into it, though for interpretation it might be tough if you don't have the environment of the language about you.

Carnac

Germany / USA16648 Posts

April 21 2009 10:47 GMT

#10

There's more potential for future growth in Korea than Japan imho, Japan is already much more established. Not fully certain if this directly translates to language needs though, since it's pretty complex

floor exercise

Canada5847 Posts

April 21 2009 10:50 GMT

#11

You realize that both of those countries put a huge emphasis on learning english and in 3 years that will probably only grow. In the business world they probably aren't just gonna bring in some clown who decided to learn japanese because they liked anime, the demand just isn't going to be there

29 fps

United States5723 Posts

April 21 2009 10:59 GMT

#12

i dont know how much one can learn in 3 years, especially when starting from scratch. you must have some REALLY good teachers or be REALLY disciplined to study hard.

Physician

United States4146 Posts

April 21 2009 11:01 GMT

#13

Mandarin would be a better option; Japanese second (and easier).

If you chose Japanese make sure you check this video.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_ferriss_smash_fear_learn_anything.html

Ecael

United States6703 Posts

April 21 2009 11:23 GMT

#14

On April 21 2009 19:50 floor exercise wrote:
You realize that both of those countries put a huge emphasis on learning english and in 3 years that will probably only grow. In the business world they probably aren't just gonna bring in some clown who decided to learn japanese because they liked anime, the demand just isn't going to be there

Much more true for Korean than Japanese imo, especially when the latter's English always feels like it is completely destroyed due to Katakana. :p

Don't learn Mandarin and make it any harder for me in the future TT

Chill

Calgary25973 Posts

April 21 2009 12:27 GMT

#15

I don't understand the situation. Don't people usually get fluent at a language and then become interpretters? What situation has occured to make you a "professional interpreter in two to three years" ?

theobsessed1

United States576 Posts

April 21 2009 12:30 GMT

#16

On April 21 2009 19:15 Person514cs wrote:
wow. you know both japanese and korean? That's kind of rare combination. Why not chinese?

There are more ppl there. translate to more girls

Did you even read his post?

nataziel

Australia1455 Posts

April 21 2009 12:43 GMT

#17

Interestingly enough, I'm studying both of those languages at the moment, as part of my arts degree, I'll probably make them both my majors. I'm doing intermediate level japanese (which I studied up to grade 12 at school) and beginner korean (never studied before, didn't even know the alphabet when I started)

Have been doing both for about seven weeks now and I'm really enjoying both, I'd love to speak them for my job. BUT, becoming an interpreter is harder than you think. The students at my university (university of queensland, has one of the best japanese programs in the country) who study interpreting are doing a masters of arts in japanese interpreting, and it's recommended that you spend at least a year in japan after completing previous studies of japanese at a university level before you can even be accepted in the course. You have to be very good at languages to be an interpreter, not any schmuck you studies the language for three years at university can jump straight into an interpreting course and have any idea what's going on. It's more likely to take you at least 5-6 years to become an interpreter, translating isn't as hard though.

I have to say, I find korean easier, but maybe that's just because I have experience learning a foreign language, and both languages are quite similar.

Diomedes

464 Posts

April 21 2009 13:42 GMT

#18

This can't be serious. He knows Japanese because he watches anime and Korean because he plays SC?

And then he wants to translate for big business in 2 years?

RaiZ

2813 Posts

April 21 2009 14:10 GMT

#19

Learn both.
Problem solved.

Korean isn't really hard to learn. You can learn it relatively fast if you have the motivation.
And then japanese. MUCH more difficult. You really need to focus, not saying like oh hell with this lesson i'll just go there and then i'll learn it fast, which you won't. At least not as fast as you'd if you put some effort into it.

bubblegumbo

Taiwan1296 Posts

April 21 2009 14:21 GMT

#20

Korean to English/vice versa translators are actually more rare to be honest, there is a ton more people that are interested in Japanese, more so than Korean.

Also dont expect to be truly competent, professional translator within 2 years unless you are actually planning on living in one of those countries for 2 years.