Worried about language barriers in Korea? I was concerned as well before I came, but it has been surprisingly easy to get by in Korea with little to no knowledge of the language. I had initially planned to study hangul, but languages have always been a challange for me, and I quickly realized that it was not essential. Most restaurants and shops have a little english on their menus and signs, or pictures that you can point and grunt at like a caveman. A lot of the locals speak a bit of english too which helps, and paired with my limited korean it's easy to get by. I don't know if this would be the case if you didn't live in a major korean city, but in Suwon, Seoul and Busan it's fine. The only words that I wish I knew were dollar amounts, although I have gotten pretty good at guessing prices with my numerical sign language. Here is the list, maybe some people would be embarrassed to admit that they've lived in a country for almost a year and only learned 53 words; I'm pleased as punch.
1. annyong haseyo- hello
2. ossossyo- welcome
3. nehhhh- yes
4. anio- no
5. kamsa hamnida- thank you
6. yogi- here
7. choggi- there
8. igo- this
9. oranjo- right
10. weyjo- left
11. bop jo- gimme food
12. bop- rice (rice basically means food, since every meal features rice)
13. takgoggi- chicken
14. hameul- seafood (as in "anio hameul")
15. juseyo- please
16. yongo- english
17. olma ayo- how much?
18. meul- water
19. meulayo- I don't know (a popular statement)
20.hana- 1
21. tul- 2
22. set- 3
23. man won- 10,000 won
24. ya!- Hey!
25. sonsangnim- teacher
26. odi- where
27. wha- why
28. takshi- taxi
29. coppi- coffee
30. ojingah- squid
31. dalki- strawberry
32. kissu- kiss
33. telebision- television
34. jamieopso- boring (oft overheard in class...)
35. opsyo- none/nothing
36. wei woh- memory
37. ohma- mother
38. oppa- father
39. ajumma- aunt (or any older woman)
40. adjoshi- uncle (or any older man)
41. norebang- kareoke room
42. yuk- station (as in the subway station)
43. gogi- meat
44. talli, balli, bo- rock, scissors, paper (a national pasttime)
45. bally/ballywa- hurry/hurry up
46. yogiyo- come here please
47. apartu- apartment
48. yangung- archery (we play an archery game in my Suwon history class)
48. makju- beer (very important)
49. pee- blood (the students never understand why I think it's funny when they point to their cuts and say "pee! pee!"
50. mitchin- crazy
51. Peenu- Soap (as in "Teacher, where is my peenu?" every week after we make soap in science class...)
52. Pigu- Dodge Ball
53. ddong- poop
PS: and I know a few swear words :P
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