Chatting with friendly locals. You'll find most high school kids are more likely to approach foreigners. I somehow feel that they are 'encouraged' to do so, for good practice, I suppose? They're friendly bunch, nevertheless :)Part of the excitement traveling in foreign country to me is to learn new language. With vast information in the internet, you don't necessary need to enroll a special class when you have YouTube, phrase books or even KBS in Astro (Malaysian TV satellite subscription).
Help is on the way. We found this 'mobile travel info desk' while roaming in Insadong. As the tag indicate, yes, they speak English :)Also, you just need to know a few essential words. I believe every travelers must learn a bit or two for these situations;
- Greeting people and expression (thank you, sorry, excuse me)
- Shopping: Asking for a bargain and the price. For price haggling, I'll just use my phone's calculator and show them the numbers that I want to bargain. All numbers are the same after all.
- Direction inquiries or using public transportation.
- Food language.
So here's some traveler's essential basic expression:
| Important phrases | Meaning (English) | |
| Anyeong haseyo | Hello/G'Morning/G' Night/ G'Afternoon | |
| Anyeoung hee geseyo | Goodbye (when you're leaving) | |
| Anyeoung hee gaseyo | Goodbye (when someone is leaving) | |
| Gamsahamida | Thank you | |
| Yeh | Yes | |
| Aniyo | No | |
| Sillyehamida | Excuse Me | |
| Mi-an-hamnida/Me-anneyo | I'm sorry | |
| [insert location] hangeeyo | To....please. | |
| Yul-mah-yeyo | How much please? | |
| Kah-ka juseyo | Please lower the price | |
| No-moo-bee-sah | It's expensive | |
| Mah-tee-tu-yo | Delicious | |
| Yung-guh-hal-jool-ahseyo | Do you speak English? | |
| Chou-nun-hangung-malchal moteyo | I speak a little Korean | |
| Moh lu get-tuyo | I don't understand | |
| Han | One | |
| Doo | Two | |
| [insert location] o-di-ye-so tayo? | Where can I get...? | |
| I-jjok | This way | |
| Jeo-jjok (jo-jok) | That way | |
| Oeruenjjok (o-ren-jok) | Right | |
| Oenjjok (o-wen-jok) | Left |
Some first timers (including me) tend to get confused with Japanese and Korean language cos it sounds almost alike. But if there's one apparent difference is that Japanese has five distinctive vowels (a, e, i, o, u) which Korean tend to have more vowels. Similarities? Just like Japanese, the usage of some words in Korean language/Hangul differs from seniority and casualties among friends. Some phrase might sound "rude" to certain audience, so you might want to double check with someone who knows Korean well.
I've had about two weeks of my own "crash course" in Korean and for this I've basically...
- Watch YouTube with keywords "Korean" "travel" "phrase" "expression"
- Bought a pocket size Korean phrase book. I find this a good guide, but still not enough to explain the sound and pronunciation of phrases
- Watched KBS in Astro and try to immitate how Koreans speak. It's FUN!
