and karate?

They are all diff types of martial arts some more defensive others more offensive...

If your looking for a defensive art i suggest looking up wu shu

Offensive i would say Muay Tai... good luck finding a wu shu school i dont think they teach it in america

Kung Fu is a Chinese martial arts can be traced to self-defense needs, hunting activities and military training in ancient China. Hand to hand combat and weapons practice were important components in the training of Chinese soldiers. Eventually, Chinese martial arts became an important element of Chinese culture.

Taekwondo (also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do) is a martial art originating in Korea. In Korean, derived from hanja, tae (?) means to kick or strike with the foot"; kwon (?) means "fist or to strike with the hand"; and do (?) means "way". Hence, taekwondo is loosely translated as "the way of the foot and hand". Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the divergent evolution of the martial art. As with many other martial arts, taekwondo is a combination of combat technique, self-defense, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy

Karate is a martial art that developed from a synthesis of indigenous Ryukyuan fighting methods and chinese kempo "Karate" originally meant Tang hand, i.e. Chinese hand, which was later changed to a homonym meaning 'empty hand' in Japanese. It is known primarily as a striking art, featuring punching, kicking, knee/elbow strikes and open handed techniques

Simply put, The country of origin. Kung Fu is Chinese, Tai Kwon Do is Korean, and Karate is Japanese. Other than that, they are all for the most part kata based martial arts. The main difference is in movement styles, and focus. Kung Fu replicates movements from nature or animals as an aid for learning. And it is a good combination of grappling techniques and strikes. Tai Kwan Do is more straight forward and simple. It deals more with strikes and bone breaking techniques. And finally Karate, although it has both grappling techniques and bone breaking methods as part of it, and is a very effective martial art as far as self defense goes, is focused mostly on the form or style of movement, and discipline.

.All the martial arts will say there the best. the truth is the body is capable of certain movement and no more .we are limited by the mechanics of our body's. the real difference will be the motivation of the student and the instructor, there are so many money motivated instructors , the sport has really suffered from them . just keep in mind a punch is punch what ever label it is given

it all comes down to the thing they focus on and wher they come from. Taekwondo is freakin hard and u need to be in really gud shape 2 do this. as i learned from a Korean master, u MUST be flexible as well, or else he will MAKE YOU flexible (like wat he did to me)!!!! Kung-fu is a shaolin defense method and looks great and showy, but no real damage, i'd say karate is the best because it is well rounded, like taekwondo, but it focuses on your whole body, not just your legs...