Does anyone here speak both Korean and Japanese? Question in the comments.

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    I’m watching a Jdrama and I keep hearing something that sounds like 약속 (yaksok) when they are talking about having plans later. Since 약속 means plans/appointment in Korean, I was wondering is the Japanese word the same or is this just a coincidence? Do Korean and Japanese have a lot of similarities?

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      Yeap it’s similar. It’s yakusoku in Japanese. I’m learning both and I’ve found quite a few similarities. One word that comes to mind is sajin (picture/photo) 사진 and in Japanese it’s shashin. There should be more but my brain has reached its capacity today. xD

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      Yaksok means promise too, no?

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        Yes, I think the more literal translation is promise and it is used to mean promise as well. Like when people make a pinky promise they’ll say yaksok. But it’s also used when someone says “I have plans/appointment” like 약속 μžˆμ–΄μš” (yaksok isseoyo).

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        Lots of similarities, not just things they’ve picked up from each other, but also tons of stuff they both picked up from Chinese (which is sort-of the Greek and Latin of East Asia) and have managed not to mangle the pronunciations beyond recognition.

        FWIW, I don’t really know Korean except what little I’ve picked up from kdramas, but I had classes in both Chinese and Japanese in college, plus a class in linguistics.

        PS: “appointment” & “promise” can have intertangled meanings, like promising to meet someone.

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          Cool! I was wondering if the similarities were due to both words having Chinese roots. I’m thinking about getting a book on the Chinese roots of Korean words. I find word origins to be really interesting,

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