I think Korean and Japanese languages are very beautiful... so is it true that much part of Japanese language is actually Goguryo(高句麗 one of Korean ancient Kingdoms) language?

It is already well known that Baek-Je(百濟) built Kingdom in Japanese island in 5 C (by older brother of Imperor Mooryung in Baek-je, 462~523) ; that have left a lot of rich historical remains and culture in Japan : buddha's Temples, language, buddhism, spiritual worshiping, traditional costume and thing about king that only King in Japan allowed a tradtion to use spoon and chopsticks both when he had meals : that king uses Silla(新羅) language(as kind of conjuration) to call God of spirit when they have a God-worshiping-ceremony

I recently have heard new story about Japanese that Goguryo language has much more impact on
Japanese language and the traces of the old language remain in Japanese language.

Does that mean that Goguryo people already hdd sailed towards the Japanese island to build new living places there even before Baek-je and Silla got into?

There's a recent book: Koguryo - the Language of Japan's Continental Relatives: An Introduction to the Historical-Comparative Study of the Japanese-Koguryoic Languages, with a Preliminary Description of Archaic Northeastern Middle Chinese by Christopher I. Beckwith (yes, the Tibetan Empire in Central Asia man - a bit of a change of area!) published by Brill in 2004 - see http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/9...3891269-9431611 or Brill's own website at http://www.brill.nl/. That would seem to be the place to look for further details.


The very best Internet source (i.e. free source) on Koguryo-Paekje-Japanese language relation is http://www.corea.it/kudara_1.htm. It's by an Italian professor and he's written the whole thing in English. It is extremely fascinating. What he is doing is studying the ethomology of the Japanese word for Paekje which is "Kudara." Throughout the process gives background information on the Paekje and early Japanese languages and gives clear evidence of Paekje's linguistical link to Koguryo.


I am very interested in languages and asian cultures in general... and plus i am an asian studies major...

well, even if all that stuff is true or not, Japanese are still Japanese. They are a completely different people than Koreans. and they always will be.

there's a theory that japanese came from baekje korean

even if they did, when they created their own clans, and their own family history, that would be a new identity...

We all came from Africa, so who cares.

u beat me to it

Baekjae, Korguryeo have some relation with Buyeo (Fuyu) languages which scant evidence shows had phonetic similarities with old Japonic languages.

I think they're related. That said, just yesterday I was watching some reality tv show in Korean and noticed that when I tune out my brain and forget that I understand what they're saying, Japanese and even Korean (Shilla) already sound a lot alike or would to the average person.

Korean and japanese do sound alike for "unexposed" person

Actually, Sumerians, who spoke an Altaic language believed we came from Annunaki, Gods from the 10th planet.

Recently discovered here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_UB313

I advise u not to read up on Sumerians and Annunaki. Its too crazy and more scientific evidence supports this theory than the theory of "evolution". Its better not to know.

hmm...being exposed a lot to boht I think they still sound alike while being different!

i noticed whenever asian languages are involved as with the family tree, korean and japanese are always isolated into their own little language group. I have to say they sound different than all the other languages in asia.

i studied japanese as well. i already speak korean natively. i did notice a lot of similarites you might not find in other languages which i guess does prove some kind of relation between both languages.

i think i read a long post from bigboy before somewhere and i found it to be true. both japanese and korean has informal and formal form of speaking. Like a form where u can talk casually and one where u talk more politely. This all can be distginuished by what u put at the end of each sentence. Japanese= desu/masu, Korean=nida/yo. those are all put at the end of each sentence. Also both have the same exact grammar and sentence structure. these are some similarites i found while learning the language. i think this makes the languages unique from the other languages.

Learning Japanese is so fun!! I noticed i was catching up faster than the other students. Now im wondering maybe its my Korean that is kind of helping me. Because the other kids have a hard time and are confused about the particles and sentence structure and grammar. For me i just think about how i would say the sentence in korean, then replace each word in japanese. and then 'boom' a perfect sentence i get.

Right now I am watching tv
J/K sentence sequence: now-I-(am)-TV-(particle)-watching-exist/be.

Japanese: Ima watashi wa terebi o mite imasu.
Korean: Jigum na nun terebi rul bogo issumnida.

That was in the formal form, or polite form. i guess u can turn both of them into informal form, or the casual form simply by changing the last part of the sentence. also korean is very hard to romanize

Japanese: Ima watashi wa terebi o mite iru.
Korean: Jigum na nun terebi rul bogo isso.

i dont kno if i did it right, im not very good but it seems right. each world in both sequences are ordered exactly the same way. Also in Japanese and Korean u can make the sentence into a question by adding "-ka" at the end.

I am going to school at 3:30
J/K sequence: 3:30-particle-school-particle-go

Japanese: San ji han ni gakko e ikkimasu.
Korean: Sae shi ban e hakkyo e gamnida.

here is how it is made into a question, simply end it with a "-ka"

Japanese: San ji han ni gakko e ikkimasuka?
Korean: Sae shi ban e hakkyo e gamnika?

Yeah, this is what i think is the major similarity between both languages. Well, as i learn Japanese i observe to see how i can make it more learnable for me and its coming out well.

Sorry for busting your bubble.... you don't speak Korean natively. How do i know it?

This is what you wtote.
Japanese: San ji han ni gakko e ikkimasu.
Korean: Sam shi ban e hakkyo e gamnida.

I don't know about the Japanese part, but the Korean part is not right. Althought "Sam" and "Sae(t)" mean "three" The correct way of saying is...
Sae shi ban e hakkyo e gamnida.

I guess yoda's language is also very similar in sentence structure.

o hahaha. oh im sorry i did make a mistake. its cuz after i wrote "san" for japanese. "sam" came in my head for korean except for "sae" haha. wow i didnt notice that your right. ill have to change that.

I speak Korean and Japanese and I think it's really weird how both languages have like 95% similar grammar, but really different vocab. (Excluding the words from hanja/kanji) That's why linguists are so puzzled. Although, there are a few cognates.

Japanese and Korean lanaguges are two very mysterious languages which does not belong to any linguistic group of the world. They are lingustic isolated languages.

I always get confused on how to classify Korean/Japanese. Are they Altaic languages, Manchu-Tungustic languages, or "Japonic" languages (a term I came across). There is evidence that the loosely related "Altaic" family might actually be a Sprachbund (meaning that their similarities come only from being close to each other, and not necessarily a genetic relationship), so I'm pretty sure I can remove Altaic as a grouping. Does anyone have any more info about what group they belong to?

i find it interesting that like theres a long language tree of the chinese language and all along with the southeast languages. a lot of people probably expect korean and japanese to fit somewhere in there, but i was surprised to find korean and japanese in a group isolated from the rest in their own group.

they are deserted children linguistically. kidding.

SK and Japan should just form a single country. They have more similarites between each other than NK & SK.

That will never happen...

That is like saying Ireland should form a single country with England.

John Bentley(North Illinois University) said this:
"*in the languages* of Paekche, Koguryo, Kaya (Kara), Silla, or peninsular Wa. So how do they know? I have written about the language of Paekche, and have provided information and etymology for roughly 80 words from the Paekche corpus (Bentley, New Look at Paekche Korean: data from Nihon shoki, Language Research (Ohak yon'gu), vol. 36.2, 417-443). But we have very little surviving data on morphology or syntax or other data that would help us see Paekche as a language, and not merely a list of words. My own work has suggested that Paekche and Silla were related 'languages', but that is simply a scholarly hypothesis, not a fact. I don't go around claiming that this is proven.

Lately Chris Beckwith has come out with a very provocative book titled, Koguryo: the language of Japan's continental relatives (Brill 2004). It is not my intention to review the book here, but suffice it to say this
relationship (the claim that Japanese is a Koguryo language) is based on the tenuous comparison of about 140 Koguryo etyma. To me this is like looking at the skin of an elephant through a microscope and trying to
guess what the animal is. It is not impossible, mind you, just highly difficult, and requires great skill.
Just to give one reservation I have with Beckwith's work: it bothers me to see his lack of knowledge about Japanese historical phonology (which forms half of this theory)...Thus, if Beckwith's grasp of Japanese historical phonology has serious weaknesses, then I am suspicious of his other conclusions. This does not mean his theory is wrong, mind you, but it has not solved the problem, in my opinion. I know others have claimed that Koguryo and Japanese may be related, and I do not intend to refute that claim. "

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