I really want to learn an Asian language like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. So far I've narrowed it down to Korean and Japanese. In terms of grammar and vocabulary, which one is easier to learn? I know that Japanese has three writing systems, but (excluding Kanji, of course) I've already mastered a good portion of the characters. How long does it generally take to learn both? Thanks.

I am a native English speaker, with working knowledge of Spanish. For various reasons, I have become interested in learning Korean and Vietnamese.

I am curious to gain perspective on different aspects of learning Vietnamese and Korean from people who speak and/or are learning either of these languages.

If you speak or are studying Vietnamese or Korean, feel free to share your experience/point of view on the difficulty or facility of pronunciation, grammar and/or writing system, as well as any other opinion.

I'm also wondering the advantage/functional value of either language at a professional level for work and their usefulness during travel in Asia for leisure.

Please focus your responses on these languages. Discussion of chinese is for another post, unless it serves in the consideration of the target languages.

Thanks in advance!

i want to learn how to SPEAK AND WRITE in Vietnamese fluently.

I am looking for a software, with CDS, BOOKS, ACTVITIES, WORKBOOKS, ETC.
to teach me not only to speak but WRITE

No i am not interested in Rosetta Stone, because they do not teach how to
write, with accurate grammar, and they do NOT teach what all the different
tone marks mean, etc. and YES, i know what learning a language is like,
So PLEASE do not reccoment rosetta stone!!

AGAIN I WANT NOT ONLY TO SPEAK VIETNAMESE FLUENTLY,
BUT "WRITE" IN IT,

I WANT TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE VIETNAMESE TONES AND
ACCENT MARKS MEAN WRITTEN ON THE WORDS OKAY?

i want AUDIO, VOCABULARY, WRITING AND STRUCTURE.

DON'T GIVE ME THAT LAME "wow it worked for me"
PLEASE ACTUALLY "EXPLAIN" HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS

FOR EXAMPLE IF IT TEACHES SENTENCE STRUCTURE
AND WHAT THE TONES AND ACCENTS MEAN, AND WHAT THE SOFTWARE
INCLUDES AND HOW YOU LEARN

AGAIN NOT THE LAME "wow you learn as if it was your first language"
I MEAN HOW IT TEACHES LIKE WITH WHAT TYPE OF ACTIVITIES AND WHAT IT DOES?

AND YES I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT A TONAL LANGUAGE IS, AND I CAN EASILY
DISTINGUISH DIFFERENT TONES WHEN I LISTEN TO THEM, SO NO NEED TO EXPLAIN.

WHEN I SAY WRITTEN ACCENT AND TONE MARKS, THAT I WANT TO LEARN, I MEAN
FOR EXAMPLE STUFF LIKE THIS = "em đẹp không cần", as opposed to "em dep khong can" with no marks... you see the marks, under and on top of the letters? well i want a software to teach me
to distinguish what different tone each mark represents,

GET IT NOW? THANKS!

My friends tell me allllll the time it is such an easy language to learn. grammar is ridiculously easy - its just about cramming words into your head.

Online preferrably .. a friend of mine speaks it and I have wanted to travel to Viet Nam for a long time. Learned a little bit in high school when I was in the "Vietnamese Club" but never had a chance to learn the grammar.

I've found a couple of sites on google and wikitravel, but what are some other ones? I'm looking for grammar, vocabularly, writing, pronuncaiton, anything.