Speaking specifically on the alphabets only, I would still go with English over Korean.



Why?



Although 한글 was a big improvement over the Chinese characters (which is probably the least efficient writing system used in the world), it's far from perfect.



Why is it not the most scientifically devised writing system ever created (as you have no doubt been repeatedly told)?



It has to do with readability. Huge font on a sign is not so much of a problem...but get into speed reading long passages of text and the issues become evident.



Korean is not written left to right, but both left to right and top to bottom simultaneously, while using similar looking characters which are often difficult to instantly recognize when text is small.



For example, it's hard to know if a vowel is ㅗ , ㅡ, or ㅜ in syllable blocks written top to bottom.



Doesn't seem so bad you say? OK, now look at it between two 히읏s: 홓 흫 훟. Appears exactly the same, but it's ㅗ , ㅡ, and ㅜ.



(If 한글 were written more like ㅎ ㅏ ㄴ ㄱ ㅡ ㄹ it'd be more readable.)



I met a Korean studying in an American university...her English seemed not all that good...at least her spoken English...and of course that's too be expected. She had never been to a foreign country before.



You know what she said? "I can read English faster than I can read Korean."



I was thinking, wtf- a college textbook?



Want to have your mind blown?



Look at a side by side translation of English and Korean. (Newspapers with a "Let's learn English" section often have this.)



Also you can see travel sites with explanations written in Korean, Chinese, and English.



Count the number of syllables in the Korean writing. Then do the same for the English sentences (and Chinese too if they are there). The Korean sentences are much longer! Try again and again and the results will be the same! Find any paragraph with a side by side translation and you will see I'm right.



Why is this? Inefficient grammatical structures are too blame, but also I've begun to notice many one syllable English words are two or more syllables in Korean.



Name is 이름...but it could also be 성험 depending on the politeness level. Age is 나이, or with honorifics, 연세. Wife is 아내, 부인, 집사람, or 와이프.



It's a pain in the ballsack to speak, listen to, write, or read sentences which are twice as long in Korean as they are English.



The natural result of comparatively less information density is Korean is spoken more quickly than is English. (The number of syllables spoken per minute on TV news and other broadcasts was counted then compared.)



Listening to long sentences to which you are struggling to comprehend really sucks.



Korean has an objectively large number of sounds in the language. Japanese does not.



Which is why Korean- spoken at a rapid fire rate of speed- is so tough to catch and speak.



Reputable statistics show the United States towards of the top of workplace productivity per hour worked...and Korea towards the bottom.



Does language play a role in that? It's not inconceivable to argue yes. Same with written Chinese.



Statistics also show Koreans report significantly lower happiness levels compared to Americans.



Could language be a contributing factor? Yes is very possible.



Koreans were dealt a sh*t hand when it comes to languages.



Would I ever say that to a Korean? Definitely not. But that doesn't make it less true.



I almost didn't type what I did because I worried about the chance of a Korean person reading it.



But I'm a person who would rather know and spread truth, no matter how painful.



Knowledge is power.



In books and online, all I ever read about it is how scientific Korean is and how crap English is.



With no counterpoint.



But really that's a nationalistic myth.

