Travel Essentials Korea | Korean Etiquette & Culture

Travel Survival Tips for Korea:  Navigating Korean Culture

Korean lifestyle and culture can feel very different for Western travelers.  Asian travelers may feel the difference, as well.  How different is it? I’ll let you be the judge.

My last video post was about Travel Essentials for Seoul, so this week I wanted to share five travel essentials for Korea for navigating Korean culture!

 The question “Is Korea Safe?” happens to be a very popular question for travelers.

Korea happens to be one of the safest countries I’ve been to yet! The honor system in Korea is pretty good (watch the video for explanation). But that doesn’t mean that crime doesn’t and can’t exist. One way Korea ensures safety is CCTV, a big brother surveillance system which runs throughout the country. If there ever were a crime, you can easily check out the CCTV footage . They have CCTV cameras installed everywhere: neighborhoods, parks, schools, convenience marts, streets, highways, etc…

 When I thought I lost my passport and went to the front desk because I knew it was the last place I took it out, the manager went to the security room and then after 15 minutes, returned and told me that from the CCTV footage, he noticed I had taken my passport up to the room!   Lo and behold, when I scoured my room, I discovered my passport had somehow fallen behind a dresser bureau.

In Korea, it’s considered rude to blow your nose. Thus, to navigate spicy Korean food and your nose running, you’ll have to dab your nose with a tissue.

Annyeong-haseyo              Hello (Koreans almost always greet people upon entrance)

Kamsahamnida                  Thank you.

Gomapsumida                   Thank you.

Hwajangshil odieyo?         Where is the toilet?

___________ odieyo?   Where is  ________?    [ Tip: It helps if you have a map that you can point to]

Korean language uses some English words (aka Konglish) so you can attempt English. In many cases, the word is spoken almost similarly, however, with a Korean accent. However, you might want to pronounce it with a Korean/Asian accent!  This is a hit or miss.  Read Do I have to learn the language before moving abroad ?

Korean doesn’t have hard sounding consonants. Instead, certain hard sounding consonants will be merged together to make the same alphabet. Thus, you’ll often see Koreans spell the same word differently.  For example :

Let’s take cities  Daegu/Taegu or Busan/Pusan:

“d” and “t”s are the practically considered the same alphabet in Hangul (the Korean alphabet). However, they’re not pronounced like how you’d hear them in the U.S.  In Korea, it’s pronounced a bit like a nasal “d” or “t”… a soft tongue tap, rather than a clenched teeth type of strike.  Similar with “b” and “p”s or “g” and “k”s.

Also, there are no “f”s in the Korean pronunciation, so any “f” is pronounced more like a “p”. (i.e.  “coffee”= “Kopi”)

 In Korea, little forms of etiquette happen to be important. You must offer gifts, money or food with two hands. Please watch the above video for examples.

 Public restrooms are easier and more omnipresent than trash cans. You’ll find them in subways, train stations, shopping malls, parks, coffee houses, a lot of places.