Korean for Travel, Work and Study

In Seoul, English goes further on signs than in conversation. Subway maps, station announcements, road signs and the main sights are bilingual, hotel desks and airport counters handle English, and younger Seoulites in Hongdae, Itaewon and Gangnam often speak it. The conversation stops at the traditional market, in most taxis, at the neighbourhood restaurant with its menu on the wall, and in the pharmacy outside the centre. Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and the countryside run in Korean, and in accents of their own: Busan's Gyeongsang speech rises and falls in a way that textbook Seoul Korean does not prepare the ear for, and older people on Jeju speak a variety other Koreans struggle to follow.

Two weeks should start with Hangul. Its letters were designed in the fifteenth century to be learned quickly, they combine into one block per syllable, and most learners read them, slowly, within a few days. That alone opens menus, station names, bus stops and the many English loanwords written in Korean letters. The rest of the fortnight buys greetings, ordering, asking where and numbers, which come in two systems: native Korean numbers (hana, dul, set) count objects and people and tell the hour, while Sino-Korean numbers (il, i, sam) give prices, minutes, dates, floors and phone numbers, so ten past three is “se si sip bun”. Large sums are counted in units of ten thousand, “man”, which takes practice to hear at the till.

The ending of the verb carries the register. The polite -yo form is the visitor's default and is right with a shopkeeper, a driver or a stranger of any age; the more formal -mnida forms, as in “gamsahamnida”, are heard in announcements, from service staff and in speeches. Together they are jondaenmal, polite speech. Banmal, the casual speech without -yo, is for close friends, children and anyone who explicitly invites it, and a foreigner waits to be asked. Age and position decide who uses which, which is why Koreans often ask a new acquaintance's age early on. The suffix -nim adds respect to a role: “seonsaengnim” for a teacher, “gisanim” for a driver, “sajangnim” for the owner of a shop. A slight bow goes with the greeting, and money, cards and gifts are handed over with both hands.

• “Ne” means yes: It sounds like the English “no”. Koreans also say “ne” or “eo” while you talk, to show they are following, not to agree.
• Konglish: English-looking words with Korean meanings: a “haendeupon” (handphone) is a mobile, a “wonpiseu” (one-piece) is a dress, “seobiseu” (service) is a free extra from the house, and “hwaiting” (fighting) is a cheer of encouragement.
• Calling the waiter: Calling “jeogiyo” across a restaurant is normal and polite, and many tables have a call button instead. In small family restaurants the women serving are often called “imo”, aunt.
• Names: The surname comes first and a handful of surnames, Kim, Lee and Park among them, are shared by millions. Adults are addressed by full name or surname plus title; a first name on its own is for friends.
• Spelling and sound: A final consonant, the batchim, changes the sound of the next syllable. “Gamsahamnida” is spelled with a final p that is said as m, and the station sign reads “Jongno” where the letters spell jong-ro.

Meetings, reports, internal messaging, supplier calls and anything that touches the authorities run in Korean, in the large groups as much as in a family firm. English works in the global divisions of Samsung, Hyundai, LG and SK, in the Seoul offices of foreign companies, in part of the start-up scene of Pangyo and Gangnam, in the international campuses and companies of Songdo, in university research labs, and in the shipping and logistics trade of Busan. Even there, lunch, the corridor and the team dinner are in Korean.

Hierarchy shapes the language. Colleagues address each other by title, not by name: “bujangnim” for a department head, “gwajangnim” for a manager, “daerinim” for an assistant manager, and with the surname in front, “Kim bujangnim”. Some tech companies have flattened the ladder into a single -nim after the name, or into English first names, so ask how the team works. Business cards are given and received with both hands, read, and left on the table for the meeting. The hoesik, the company dinner after work, often with drinks and a second round, counts as part of the job: juniors pour for seniors and turn slightly away to drink. Emails open with a greeting and the sender's company and name, use formal -mnida endings throughout and close with “gamsahamnida”. Decisions move up the hierarchy and back down quickly, and deadlines are short.

For a role that runs in Korean, job adverts commonly set TOPIK 4 or 5 as the floor, and public-facing and public-sector work looks for 6. English teaching and some engineering and research roles need no Korean: the E-2 teaching visa asks for “a bachelor's degree (TEFL alone is insufficient), criminal background check and health examination”, and no language level. The right to work comes from a work visa obtained before arrival, not from your Korean.

Korean universities teach mainly in Korean, and Seoul National University, Yonsei and Korea University, the three most sought after, are no exception for most undergraduate degrees. KAIST in Daejeon and POSTECH in Pohang teach much of their graduate work and part of their undergraduate courses in English, Yonsei's Underwood International College runs complete English-taught bachelor's degrees, and many universities offer English tracks in business, engineering and international studies, mostly at graduate level. On an English track, administration, part of the electives and daily life still run in Korean.

For a degree taught in Korean, universities commonly ask international applicants for TOPIK 3, competitive programmes and the humanities for 4 or more, and many require TOPIK 4 before a student can graduate. The D-2 student visa is “for full-time study at Korean universities” and “requires acceptance from an accredited institution”, so the language level is the university's condition, not the visa's.

A language course can be the purpose of the stay. The universities' own institutes, among them Yonsei's Korean Language Institute, Sogang's Korean Language Education Center with its speaking-led method, Ewha's language centre and Seoul National University's Language Education Institute, teach in intensive ten-week terms across six levels, roughly one level a term, so a full-time student goes from zero to the upper levels in about a year and a half. Such a course runs on the D-4 general trainee visa rather than the D-2.

The Global Korea Scholarship, the government programme run by NIIED, funds full degrees and begins with a year of Korean-language training for scholars who arrive without TOPIK 5 or higher. Exchange students have more room: many exchange semesters can be filled with English-taught courses, and host universities run Korean classes for incoming students.

TOPIK, the Test of Proficiency in Korean, is the reference, set by NIIED, the National Institute for International Education, under the Ministry of Education. It comes as two papers: TOPIK I, reading and listening, awards level 1 or 2; TOPIK II, adding writing, awards levels 3 to 6. There is no pass or fail on a chosen level: the score decides the level. Level 3 means independent daily life, level 4 following the news and working in a familiar field, level 6 professional use. Results are valid for two years, so a certificate for an application has to be recent. TOPIK sits in Korea and in cities worldwide several times a year, on paper and increasingly on computer.

The KIIP, the Korea Immigration and Integration Program, is the Ministry of Justice's course for residents: Korean language in stages 0 to 4, of about a hundred hours each after a short introductory stage 0, then stage 5 on Korean society, history and institutions, taught at designated centres in Korea. It matters for residence. The F-2 points-based residence visa scores Korean by TOPIK level or KIIP stage and adds a bonus for completing stage 5; F-5 permanent residence accepts KIIP completion as proof of Korean; and naturalisation requires Korean, proven by the KIIP's final evaluation or by the naturalisation test and interview.

EPS-TOPIK, run by HRD Korea, the Human Resources Development Service under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, tests workplace reading and listening for the Employment Permit System. Its score ranks candidates on the roster from which employers hire E-9 workers in manufacturing, construction, farming and fishing; it is not a general certificate of Korean.

The US Foreign Service Institute puts Korean in its hardest group for English speakers, at around 2,200 classroom hours to professional working proficiency, roughly three times its estimate for Spanish. TOPIK 2 is realistic after a few months of regular classes; TOPIK 4 usually takes one to two years of full-time study, and TOPIK 5 or 6 several years of use.

Start with the alphabet and a course, then build the kit around them. Talk To Me In Korean or the Sejong Korean books give grammar an order; Naver Dictionary supplies meaning, example sentences and native audio for each word; the National Institute of Korean Language's learner dictionary explains a word in simple Korean once reading goes faster. Words go into Anki with a whole sentence, because a Korean verb changes its ending with every register and a bare dictionary form rarely appears in speech.

Listening decides how fast the ear catches up. Easy Korean's street interviews show how people actually speak in Seoul, with Korean and English subtitles; Korean series help once you watch with Korean subtitles and replay the lines you half caught. Papago handles the menu or the text message you cannot yet read, and the official TOPIK past papers show what each level demands.

No tool tells you that your sentence was grammatical but too casual for the person in front of you, or makes you answer at conversational speed.

Apps teach the words; a tutor trains the choices around them. Korean asks for a decision in every sentence, the ending that fits the listener, and that reflex only forms when a person hears you and corrects you in the moment.

Use the trial lesson to test fit. Ask whether the tutor teaches standard Seoul Korean, how they correct pronunciation, which TOPIK levels they have prepared candidates for and with which materials, and what the first month would cover for your goal, whether a working holiday, an exchange semester or an interview with a Korean company.