Script guide › East Asian
Japanese vs Korean (Hangul)
Japanese and Korean (Hangul) sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's East Asian group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Hangul: circles and straight strokes in neat syllable blocks — its circles are full-size letter parts. Japanese: dense kanji mixed with curvy kana like の and は; its only circles are tiny accent marks at a kana's top-right corner.
Side by side
Japanese
すべての人間は、生まれながらにして自由です。
こんにちは、お元気ですか？
桜の花が美しく咲いています。
Japanese's own tells
- Curvy, simple kana (の, し, す, は) woven between denser kanji — spot the simple curves.
- The character の alone almost guarantees Japanese.
On signs in:
- Japan
Korean (Hangul)
모든 인간은 태어날 때부터 자유롭고 평등하다.
안녕하세요, 만나서 반갑습니다.
한국어는 아름다운 언어입니다.
Korean (Hangul)'s own tells
- Circles and ovals (ㅇ) inside neat syllable blocks — circles mean Korean.
On signs in:
- South Korea
- North Korea