[Situational Korean] Level 0: Korean Greetings You’ll Actually Use

First, let’s learn some simple Korean greetings.

I won’t include anything unnecessary. I also won’t give you awkward, directly translated expressions. Let’s only learn the phrases that Koreans truly use all the time.

There is, of course, a more official way to pronounce Korean words. But in any country, people do not always pronounce everything exactly as written, right?

If you want to understand the official pronunciation more accurately, learning Hangeul will make things much easier.

Here, I will write the phrases closer to how Koreans actually pronounce them in real life.

Of course, dictionary pronunciation and the way Koreans actually pronounce words are not completely different. It only sounds different because native speakers are used to the language and speak quickly.

Once you become more familiar with Korean, you will understand why the dictionary-style pronunciation can sound like the way Koreans actually say it when spoken quickly.

Simple Korean greetings

These are the four phrases you will probably use the most in Korea.

You may not need to apologize very often, but I included it as one of the basic polite expressions.

“Jam-shi-man-yo(잠시만요)”

In Korea, “Jam-shi-man-yo(잠시만요)” literally means “Just a moment.”
But it can also be used in a similar way to “Excuse me.”
The more direct Korean equivalent of “Excuse me” when passing by someone in a narrow space is “실례합니다” (sil-lye-ham-ni-da).

It is not wrong at all, but there is an easier and more commonly used expression. That expression is “잠시만요,” which has a similar meaning to “Just a moment.”
Koreans often use “Jam-shi-man-yo(잠시만요)” with the meaning of “Let me pass by for a moment.”

However, you should not use “Jam-shi-man-yo(잠시만요)” in every situation where you would say “Excuse me” in English.
Languages often overlap in meaning, but the situations where each expression is used can be different.
So instead of trying to memorize Korean phrases through direct translation, it is better to remember them as, “In this kind of situation, Koreans say this.”

[Situational Korean] Level 0: How to Respond in Korean