Visiting Korea, 16 Must know phrases
Visiting Korea, 16 Must know phrases
This is based off a blog post,16 must know words in any language, from the language learning site Fluent in 3 Months:
You can achieve incredible results by learning just a few common phrases when travelling to another country.
Often, native English speakers believe that everyone speaks English. So when they travel, they don’t bother learning the language of the place they’re visiting. After all, it’s fine to get by in English, right?
Well, maybe. But there’s a much better way of doing things.
I’m not saying you should become fluent in the language of every place you visit (unless that’s your dream). I am saying that learning just a few words and phrases can hugely enrich your travel experience.
Of course, you won’t want to waste your time memorizing words and phrases you’ll soon forget or will never use.
I’ve found the following words and phrases to be the most important to learn.
Korea specific:
Some of these words are not really useful in Korea so I will substitute them with words I find most useful.
Many people in South Korea do speak some English, but most don't on a regular basis so they are uncomfortable using it. This is especially true when speaking to someone they don't know. So most of the time people will speak in Korean to you.
If you look at books they will probably give you the romanization way of speaking and it will probably be different from the examples I give.
This is how the words sound to me.
As Americans, we tend to drag our words out, Koreans do not! I separated the examples, but they are actually pronounced as one word in most cases.
Note: You can learn the Korean alphabet in an hour or two so study up on it. The sounds are different that English in many cases. The sooner you can get away from the Romanization, the better you will be understood.
16 Words and phrases to get you started:
1. Thanks - 고마워요 (go ma wo yo) or 감사합니다 (kam sa ham ne da)
2. I'm sorry - 죄송합니다 (jay song ham ne da) / 미안해요 (me an hay yo)
3. Hello - 안녕하세요 (an ne young ha say yo) Used during normal conversation. 여보세요 (yo bo say yo) This hello is for answering the phone.
4.Please give to me - 이것 주세요 (e geot - ju say yo) This means please give me this or just point at the object and say 주세요.
5. How much does it cost? 그거 얼마예요? (ku go - ole ma aye yo?) or just point and say 얼마예요?
6. Yes - 네 (Nay)
7. No - 아니요 ( An ne yo)
8. I am - 나는 (na noon)
9. What's your name - 이름이 - 뭐에요 (e lum - mo aye yo?)
10. I can't speak Korean - 한극어 - 못해요 (han gu go - mot tay yo)
11. Great - use 좋아요 (jo a yo) that means good and is used a lot in Korean.
12. Say it again please - 다시 - 한번 - 말해주세요 ( Ta see han bon hay ju say yo)
13. You will be asked where are you from. 나는 - 미국에서 -왔어요 (na noon me gu gay so wa so yo) I'm from America.
14. Sorry, I don't understand - 이해가 안돼요 (e hay ga - an day yo)
15. Where is (the) - 어디예요? ( ow de aye yo) 화장실이 어디예요? (where is the bathroom) 화장실이 (wa jong shil)
16. Goodbye - Korea has two expressions for goodbye.
안녕히가세요 (an ne young he ka say yo) Goodbye said by the person staying
안녕히겨세요 (an ne young he gay say yo) Goodbye said by the person leaving
Recommended Sites:
https://www.howtostudykorean.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/VickyVicky/featured
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