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MyKoreanTrip

Korean for Travellers

Beginner 1 — listening

Every one of the 119 words and sentences in the course, read aloud. Tap any line to hear it.

This page goes with the Beginner 1 course PDF. Keep it open on your phone while you work through the book.

Lesson 4 — How Blocks Are Built

  • ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ — tall vowel, floor underneath.

  • ㄱ + ㅜ + ㄱ — flat vowel, floor underneath.

  • Korea. Two blocks, and now you can read the country's name.

  • ㄱ + ㅣ + ㅁ. As in 김밥, 김치.

  • ㅂ + ㅏ + ㅂ. Cooked rice, and by extension a meal.

  • Seaweed rice roll. You can now read a menu item.

Lesson 6 — The Floor, and the Two Rules That Matter

  • Written 한-국-어. The ㄱ slides over. Not han-guk-eo.

  • Written 음-악. Said 으막.

  • The example above. Nobody says mat-it-eo-yo.

  • A floor of ㅎ simply disappears. Written 좋-아-요.

  • No slide here — 녕 is followed by ㅎ, not ㅇ.

Lesson 7 — Your First Twelve Words

  • Hello. Literally “are you at peace?”

  • Thank you. The formal one — use it everywhere.

  • Yes.

  • No.

  • I am sorry.

  • Please give me. Point and say it; it works.

  • How much is it?

  • Toilet.

  • Water.

  • Here.

  • Excuse me — to get a server's attention.

  • It is delicious.

  • Excuse me, water please.

  • How much is this?

  • Thank you. It's delicious!

Lesson 8 — Numbers You Can Use Today

  • 1

  • 2

  • 3

  • 4

  • 5

  • 6

  • 7

  • 8

  • 9

  • 10

  • 100

  • 1,000

  • 10,000

  • How much? — It's 10,000 won.

  • Two of these please. (두 is a native number — Beginner 2.)

Lesson 9 — Sixty Words to Read Out Loud

  • Coffee

  • Bus

  • Taxi

  • Hotel

  • Card

  • Ticket

  • Ice cream

  • Chocolate

  • Sandwich

  • Internet

  • Computer

  • Camera

  • Kimchi

  • Rice, a meal

  • Soup

  • Meat

  • Water

  • Tea

  • Bread

  • Milk

  • Egg

  • Fruit

  • Seaweed

  • Noodles

  • Exit

  • Entrance

  • Toilet

  • Subway

  • Station

  • Hospital

  • Pharmacy

  • Bank

  • Convenience store

  • Restaurant

  • Café

  • Airport

  • Seoul

  • Busan

  • Jeju

  • Gyeongju

  • Incheon

  • Daegu

  • Gwangju

  • Korea

  • Gangnam

  • Hongdae

  • Myeongdong

  • Itaewon

Lesson 10 — Two More Sound Rules

  • Silla (the ancient kingdom)

  • Contact, getting in touch

  • Lunar New Year

  • Hallasan (Jeju's mountain)

  • Heater

  • It's convenient

Lesson 11 — Reading a Real Sign, Line by Line

  • Open for business

  • Closed — getting ready

  • Pull

  • Push

  • Emergency exit

  • No smoking

  • Car park

  • Platform

Lesson 12 — Writing Your Own Name

  • Name

  • My name is…

  • What is your name?

  • Pleased to meet you

  • Britain

  • America

  • Australia

  • Canada

  • Daniel

  • Sara

  • John

  • Eria / Aria

  • Michael

  • Sophia

  • James

  • Ellie

A word on the voice

These are synthesised with a Korean voice, not recorded by a person. For single words and short sentences that is accurate and clear, and it is far better than reading romanisation and guessing. It is flatter than a human for longer sentences, and it will not teach you the rhythm of real speech — for that, listen to Koreans, which is free and everywhere.