aceboy44

Hello all

I'm planning on visiting Seoul for tourism, but before I do that do people there speak English? Or will I face issues in communicating with the people around me?

Edit: sorry I meant widely* Can a mod edit my title and fix the typo?

IceTrojan

"Wisely" ... love it!

I think the prevalence of English speakers is slightly higher than average. You'll have some trouble but it wouldn't put me off from visiting.

aceboy44

So..... would it be better if I hire a private tour guide or can I manage on my own?

s0ssos

No, Koreans have pretty horrible English, along up there with the Chinese and Japanese.

You will have a difficult time ordering food. Unlike Japan they usually don't have fake food or photos. And they don't understand English at all. You would do better with Chinese (Mandarin) there.

You should hire a guide. My friend learned Korean and still had a guide.

Jenbel

There has been a US base in Seoul for decades - its much more widely spoken there than anyplace else in South Korea. Generally a lot of people speak a little english, but they may be reluctant to do so because they believe their english is bad so they lose face.

Hotels, it's usually fine, desk staff speak english. There is also the underground to get around on, which is relatively straightforward.

It is entirely possible to get around speaking/reading little/no Korean and without a tour guide but it may depend on how used you are to travelling in situations where you cannot communicate with those around you. As a traveller to Japan and China, I found South Korea a bit easier than either of those two, although China has improved considerably.

IceTrojan

A guide will make it much easier, that's for sure. I'm the adventurous so I winged it knowing no Korean except "Thank you" (can't spell it, just know how to mimic the sounds ) and I managed just fine. Be sure to have Google Maps offline... most of the communication problems I had related to directions.

Tchiowa

I spent a week there with only English. No problems at all.

txflyer77

One difficult thing about Seoul was the exit guides in the metro stations. Unlike Tokyo where the exit guides always mark tourist highlights and are in clear English, Seoul's often only listed places useful to locals (apartment complexes, grocery stores), leaving off things useful for tourists.

lhrsfo

It seems to me that English is less wisely spoken everywhere, especially as it becomes more widely spoken. Perhaps there should be a Chinese proverb on the topic.

im.daniel

I'd like to think that I'm alright with navigating myself in a foreign country .... but I also struggled quite a bit with the Seoul Metro!

TheBOSman

Seoul Metro worked well for me, but Tokyo metro is definitely more tourist friendly. That said, I've been to Seoul for three straight years, and will be going later this month for a fourth and longest stay yet, and I know "hello" and "thank you" in Korean and that is it, and have gotten along fine. Most hotels (even Korean hotels) will have English speaking staff, with western business hotels having almost all staff capable in English. Many tourist sights have descriptions in English in addition to Korean. Restaurants can be an issue as noted, you might not be able to be quite as adventurous in Seoul as some other locations, but most western chain places (McD's etc.) will have English speaking staff so you won't starve! The tourist website Visit Seoul is fully bilingual and was a big help to me. Of course, get a copy of your hotel's business card in Korean, taxi drivers will rarely speak English. There are international taxi drivers that can be reserved that do speak English. http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TR/TR_EN_5_2.jsp

Enjoy your trip!

YuropFlyer

Seoul is better regarding English than the rest of Korea, but it's still rather bad.

Forget about older people understanding English in general (mostly like in China and Japan) - and for the younger generations, it's not that much better. of course some do speak English, but in general, English language skills in Korea aren't much better than in Japan. In China, it seems the younger generations do pick up more English than in Japan/Korea.

aktchi

Well, I wasn't looking to hold a conference of English speakers, but when I needed I was always able to find someone who could understand and help me. That was adequate.

I'd say, have no fear, keep an open mind, be prepared that once in a while you'll feel like a stranger that you really are, and you'll have a great time and rewarding travel experience.

BTW they have a great Hop On Hop Off bus service for tourists in Seoul! I recommend it.

deniah

incredibly generalized, but in seoul its about on par with japan. mostly its the youth that speak it, but the % is far lower than in western and central europe, and the ones that can have relatively low proficiency are quite shy about it.

its far from "difficult" to get around and etc

sbm12

Just wrapped a long weekend in Seoul in November and as a tourist and, while English was not widely spoken from what I could overhear, it was present sufficiently in the tourist areas to get by. That includes visits to Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Hanok Village, Noryangjin Fish Market (including getting lunch in one of the restaurants, though that was one of the harder bits) and dining at the Gwangjang Night Market.

We certainly did not randomly make friends and strike up long, involved conversations with folks on the street, but we did just fine on the visit overall. You might want a guide for some specific bits if you are the sort of visitor who wants to ask lots of questions at any given point in time, but we definitely didn't think one was necessary.

n.b. The link above is to my blog or to one which I am a regular contributor. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.