While the true origin of the Korean language is debatable, some believe that it belongs to the Altaic language family, which includes Turkish, Mongolian, and Japanese. Korean was also influenced by Chinese even though it belongs to a different language family. Before the invention of the Hangeul writing system, which was created by King Sejong in 1443, Korean used Chinese characters. Because the sounds in Chinese and Korean were very different, the Chinese characters could not fully express all the sounds of Korean. The implementation of Hangeul, a phonetic writing system, gave the common people access to and ease in learning how to read and write and even later helped contribute to one of the world's highest literacy rates.
Korean definitely has traces from and similarities to Chinese and Japanese. For instance, I know my parents had to learn Chinese characters, or Hanja, which refers to the borrowed Chinese characters that have Korean pronunciation. In the past, Hanja was used in newspapers and scholarly papers. However, the use of Chinese characters has drastically declined. I think it's almost rarely used in a practical sense, but I do see them sometimes. I would see Hanja used in news broadcasts and on TV shows, occasionally using it for emphasis. Korean is also very similar to Japanese. Because I'm currently learning Japanese, I noticed just how similar they are. The basic grammar structures are essentially the same, and since Japanese is also heavily influenced by Chinese, many words sound almost the same. They both use a system of topic particles and the order of subject, object, and verb, and both have complex honorific systems.
The following quote gives a few examples of the striking similarities.
"The sentence ending particle ね (ne) has the exact same some sound and function as the Korean counterpart 네 (ne). The Japanese particle が (ga) corresponds with the particle 가 (ga) in function and sound. The honorific ending for questions in Japanese is か (ka), similar to ~까 (gga) in Korean."
Learning Japanese grammar and vocab was much easier for me since I knew some Korean, but learning Kanji, or the Chinese characters used in Japanese is very difficult. For the older generation in Korea, it would be even easier for them to learn Japanese because they have learned Hanja in school.
The sounds, words, writing systems, and etc. of Korean underwent many changes as time passed. At one point in the past, the Koreans and the Chinese were even able to understand each other through writing even though verbally they were different. Once Hangeul was created, Korean became less and less dependent on Chinese characters. Also, with the Japanese invasions, Korean was influenced by the Japanese language.
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