Essential Korean Phrases for Travellers
South Korea is a wonderful place to explore that really is off the beaten path in the truest sense of the term. Outside of Seoul, you'll be hard pressed to find other western travelers, even at the more popular tourist destinations. This country isn't much like anywhere else - it dances to it's own tune - that's what makes it such an intriguing destination and a difficult one.
The trouble is, outside of Seoul, very few South Koreans speak English. This can make travelling confusing and difficult at times. Fortunately, by learning just a few key phrases, you can confidently venture where even the boldest of monolingual backpackers fear to tread.In our experience phrase books are pretty useless for the absolute beginner in Korean so we’ve put together a list of our most used Korean phrases for travelling. It’s by no means comprehensive, but these are the phrases that we find ourselves using again and again when we travel. We can’t imagine how anyone gets by without them.
Approach learning to speak Korean with a sense of humour
With this list, a bit of mime, patience and a good sense of humour, we think you'll be able to get around just fine. If all else fails just grab a passing teenager, most of them speak at least a little English as they have to study it at school.
The middle column is just a pronunciation guide, it's not the correct way to write these words using the alphabet.
Useful Korean Phrases:
Basics
| Hello | Ahn-yong-hass-eh-yo | 안녕하세요 |
| Goodbye | Ahn-yonghee-geh-seh-yoh | 안녕히계세요 |
| Thankyou | Gam-sa-hamnida | 감사합니다 |
| Is this OK? | Gwen-chahn-ah-yo? | 괜찬아요 |
| It’s fine/no problem | Gwen-chahn-ah-yo | 괜찬아요? |
| Excuse me (getting attention) | Cham-shi-mahn-yo | 잠시만요 |
| My name is Bob. | Cho-nen Bob imnidah | 저는 Bob 입니다 |
| Yes | Yeah | 예 |
| No | Ah-nee-oh | 아니요 |
Accommodation
| Accommodation | Sook bahk | 숙박 |
| Guesthouse | Geh-suh-tuh Ha-ooh-suh | 게스트 하우스 |
| Minbak (similar to guesthouse) | Min-bahk | 민박 |
| Hotel | Hoh-tel | 호텔 |
| Is there a hotel? | Hoh-tel iss-oh-yo? | 호텔있어요? |
| Where is the hotel? | Hoh-tel oh-dee-yeh-yo? | 호텔 어디에요? |
| Do you have a room available? | Bang-iss-oh-yo? | 방 있어요? |
| Can I look at the room? | Bang pwa-doo-teh-yo? | 방봐도돼요? |
| Do you have a fan? | Son-poong-ki iss-oh-yo? | 선풍기있어요? |
| Is there air-conditioning? | Eh-con iss-oh-yo? | 에어컨 있어요? |
| How much does it cost? | Ol-ma-yeh-yo? | 얼마예요? |
Food
| Restaurant | Shik-dang | 식당 |
| Park | Dweh-ji | 돼지 |
| Fish | Seng-son | 생선 |
| Beef | Soh | 소Duck |
| Duck meat | Ori | 오리 |
| Chicken meat | dahk | 닭 |
| Vegetarian | Chaeh-shick | 채식 |
