5 Korean Phrases I Teach Every Student Before They Visit Korea
Planning a trip to Korea? A Korean teacher shares the expressions tourists actually use every day — and why they matter more than memorizing vocabulary.
Every semester, I have students who are about to visit Korea for the first time. They usually ask me the same question: "What Korean should I learn before I go?"
My answer is almost never what they expect.
Most Travelers Study the Wrong Kind of Korean
Before a trip to Korea, most people do the same thing. They open an app, find a "Korean vocabulary" list, and start memorizing. Colors. Animals. Numbers. Fruits. Occupations.
I get it. It feels like you're making progress. You're learning Korean words, so you must be getting ready, right?
Then they arrive in Korea and realize almost none of it comes up.
What they actually needed on day one was something completely different. How to get a server's attention. How to ask if a restaurant takes cards. How to order food without reading the entire menu out loud. How to politely say no when someone offers you something.
Nobody taught them that. So they stand there knowing the word for "grape" and having no idea how to ask for the check.
I've watched this happen enough times that I changed how I prepare students for trips. Now, before anyone gets on a plane, we go through the expressions that actually come up — not vocabulary drills, but real phrases for real situations.
Korean Isn't About Knowing More Words — It's About Knowing the Right Expressions
There's a difference between knowing a word and knowing what to say.
A student might know the Korean word for "water" perfectly. But if they can't say 물 좀 주세요 naturally, that knowledge doesn't help much when they're sitting at a restaurant trying to get a refill.
Knowing one useful phrase is often better than memorizing twenty random words. This is something I tell every student before a trip to Korea, and it's something most of them only truly believe after they come back.
The expressions below aren't exotic or complicated. Most of them are things Korean people say dozens of times a day without thinking. That's exactly why they matter.
The First Phrase You'll Probably Use in Korea: 여기요
The first thing I teach is 여기요.
It means something like "over here" or "excuse me," and it's how you get a server's attention in a Korean restaurant. You don't wait for someone to come to you. You call them. That's just how it works.
Both 저기요 and 여기요 are common. In restaurants, though, you'll often hear people simply say 여기요 to call a server over.
The cultural point here is worth understanding. In Korea, calling a server isn't considered rude. It's expected. Sitting quietly and hoping someone notices you can mean waiting a very long time. 여기요, said clearly and without hesitation, is the right move.
One student later told me she ended up using it constantly throughout her trip. That's not surprising. If you're eating out in Korea, you're going to need it a lot.
The Question That Saves Tourists a Lot of Trouble: 카드 돼요?
Korea is one of the most cashless countries in the world. Most places take cards without any issue. But not everywhere — and the moments when a small restaurant or market stall only takes cash tend to catch visitors off guard.
카드 돼요? — "Do you take cards?" — is a short, useful question that saves a lot of awkward standing around. You can ask it before you order, which is much better than asking after.
A few more expressions that come up around payment:
| Korean | Meaning | When You'll Use It |
|---|---|---|
| 영수증 주세요 | Please give me a receipt. | After paying |
| 따로따로 계산해주세요 | Separate checks, please. | Eating with friends |
| 얼마예요? | How much is it? | Markets, small shops |
One thing worth knowing if you're visiting Korea for the first time: Korea has gone very far with kiosks. A lot of restaurants — especially fast food and casual places — now use self-ordering screens instead of staff taking orders at the counter. Which means in many cases, you won't need to speak to anyone at all to order food. If you can figure out the kiosk, you can go an entire meal without saying a word. Genuinely possible. A little funny, but possible.
The Simplest Way to Order Food in Korean: 이거 주세요
이거 주세요 means "I'll have this one" or "give me this, please."
It's the most useful ordering phrase for anyone who isn't confident reading a Korean menu out loud. Point at the picture, say 이거 주세요, done. It works almost everywhere.
A couple of other expressions that come up when ordering:
- 포장해주세요 — I'll take it to go.
- 여기서 먹을게요 — I'll eat here.
Korean restaurants usually ask one or the other — eat in or take out. Knowing both means you don't end up nodding at a question you don't understand and then getting a bag when you wanted a table.
One student came back and told me she had survived an entire week in Korea using 이거 주세요 and pointing. It really does carry you a long way, especially if you're planning your first trip to Korea and your Korean is still pretty basic.
One Word You'll Use Far More Than You Expect: 괜찮아요
This one is worth a longer explanation because it does more than most people expect.
괜찮아요 is often translated as "it's okay" or "I'm fine." But in actual use, It has a lot of different meanings.
- It can mean no thank you.
- It can mean don't worry about it.
- It can mean I'm alright.
- It can mean that's fine with me.
- It can mean I'll pass.
The reason this matters is that Korean culture often uses indirect language for declining things. Saying a flat "no" can feel too blunt in certain situations. 괜찮아요 softens the refusal without making it awkward. It's polite, it's natural, and once you're comfortable using it, you'll find it handles a surprising number of situations on its own.
How to Ask for Help Without Sounding Abrupt: 죄송한데요
죄송한데요 translates roughly as "I'm sorry, but..." and it's how you open a request politely when approaching a stranger.
In English, people often say "excuse me" and then immediately ask the question. In Korean, jumping straight into a request without any softening phrase can sound a little abrupt — not rude exactly, but not quite right either. 죄송한데요 shows that you're being polite before asking for help and that you respect their time. It makes the whole interaction smoother.
You can combine it with very simple follow-up phrases. 죄송한데요, 화장실이 어디예요? — "Sorry to bother you, where is the restroom?" Even if your Korean falls apart after that, the opener alone sets a good tone.
Most conversations also end with one word: 감사합니다. Even if you only remember this expression, using it consistently leaves a good impression. Koreans notice when a foreign visitor makes the effort — and a simple 감사합니다 at the end of any interaction goes a long way.
The Expressions My Students End Up Using Every Single Day
Every time a student comes back from Korea, I ask them the same thing: what did you actually end up using?
The answers are almost always the same. 여기요. 카드 돼요? 이거 주세요. 괜찮아요. 고맙습니다 (= 감사합니다.)
The vocabulary lists they spent weeks memorizing barely come up. The five or six phrases they learned in the last class before the trip — those they used every single day.
One of my students messaged me after arriving in Seoul. "I thought I wasn't ready because my Korean was so limited." Three days later, she sent another message. "Turns out I keep saying the same five expressions over and over."
That's exactly how language works when you travel.
What Most Phrase Lists Get Wrong
There are a lot of "100 Korean Phrases for Travelers" lists online. Some of them are fine. But the problem with a list of 100 things is that it treats all 100 as roughly equal — and they're not.
Five phrases you actually use are worth more than a hundred you recognize but can't produce under pressure. People remember the phrases they use again and again. It works by repetition and real use.
The expressions in this post aren't the only useful ones. But they're the ones that come up again and again, in ordinary situations, on ordinary days in Korea. That's what makes them worth learning first.
Language Is Also Culture
Something I try to explain to students is that these expressions aren't just useful phrases. Each one carries something about how Korean people communicate.
- 여기요 reflects a dining culture where calling for service is normal and expected.
- 카드 돼요? reflects how quickly Korea moved toward a cashless economy.
- 괜찮아요 reflects a preference for indirect, face-saving ways of declining things.
- 죄송한데요 reflects an awareness of the importance of not imposing on others abruptly.
- 고맙습니다 or 감사합니다 reflects the consistent use of formal polite speech even in brief everyday interactions.
Most conversations also end with another simple expression: 고맙습니다(or 감사합니다.)=Thanks
Learning these phrases is learning something about Korea. That's one reason I prefer teaching expressions in context rather than as vocabulary lists. A word without a situation is just a sound. When you learn a phrase in a real situation, you're much more likely to remember it.
You don't need to be fluent to have a good experience visiting Korea. You just need the right handful of expressions — and the confidence to actually use them.
