Language Buddies!!
Hi, I am an intern here at 42SHARE and have studied for a year in a Korean University as an exchange student. The purpose of the program was to learn Korean and immerse myself more into the culture. Therefore I understand how hard it can be to actually practice your Korean as well as intimidating to use it with strangers!! During my stay, I went to a few language circle events where you can meet people who want to help YOU and learn from foreigners living in Seoul!!
Following I will provide a list of places that you should totally go at least once during your time in Seoul!! As well as tips on how to best maintain your learned Korean and your level of Korean does not matter when attending these just try them out :)
Before that, let's learn about an online service which is commonly used by the upcoming organizations we are going to talk about. If you are not familiar with "Meetup" it's a service used to organize online groups to host in-person events for people with similar interests, which in this case Korean language!!
GSM Terrace Language Exchange Cafe and Pub:
Hongdae and Gangnam
This organization is one of the most popular ones and are pretty organized on how to best accommodate those who are wanting to learn and practice a new language. Their focus is really to connect people, besides of having events for language exchange they also host international parties where they're usually over the weekend and meant for fun!!
An awesome part of this organization is that you can also practice other languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Spanish!!
OK, OK, what's the price? well it's pretty cheap and they even have memberships for a cheaper price if you plan to go continuously!! Also each entry includes two drinks from their menu which includes, coffee, tea, juice, craft beer, cocktails and more!
⬕ Drop-in: ₩12,000
⸋ Online
Memberships:
⬕8 Entries: ₩60,000
⸋ 25% Discount
⸋ Both locations
⸋ Korean lesson
⬕12 Entries: ₩80,000
⸋ 33% Discount
⸋ Both locations
⸋ Korean lesson
⬕20 Entries: ₩100,000
⸋ 66% Discount
⸋ Both locations
⸋ Korean lesson
As mentioned, they also offer other languages and have an approximate number of how many people go each day of the week, and here it is:
⬕Monday ⬕Thursday
⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm ⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm
⸋ People: 30 to 50 ⸋ People: 50 to 90
⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Japanese ⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Spanish
⬕Tuesday ⬕Saturday
⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm ⸋ Time: 3 pm to 6 pm
⸋ People: 30 to 50 ⸋ People: 70 to 100
⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese ⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese
⬕Wednesday ⬕Sunday
⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm ⸋ Time: 3 pm to 6 pm
⸋ People: 30 to 50 ⸋ People: 30 to 60
⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese ⸋ Languages: Korean, English and Chinese
Also, the Korean lesson is only for one hour, after that it's the exchange part of the event according to the third language of the day, for example on Thursday Spanish. Now for those interested on the International Pub Parties here are the days and times they are hosted:
⬕Friday ⬕Saturday Night ⬕Sunday
⸋ Time: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Time: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Time: 7 pm to 11 pm
⸋ People: 70 to 110 ⸋ People: 70 to 110 ⸋ People: 30 to 60
⸋ Just mingling ⸋ Just mingling ⸋ Wine and Cheese
Check out their website for more information!!
Language Exchange Cafe
This organization is quite big as well since they have more locations compared to the one above. However the difference is that the events hosted by this group are more for meeting people from various nationalities and exchange language but they do not regulate on how the meetings would go, is more of a mingling party with a friendly atmosphere!!
For the meetings they book whole cafes or pubs so only the ones who are participating are there and feel free to move around and enjoy their time. Another thing is that you do not have to sign up or come at the assigned time and/or stay for the whole time!!
The common languages to exchange are Korean, English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and more!! All languages are welcome as well!!
⬕Monday ⬕Friday
⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am
⸋ FREE entrance ⸋ Free entrance
⸋ Come anytime ⸋ Come anytime
⬕Tuesday ⬕ Saturday
⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Hongdae: 3 pm to 6 pm
⸋ FREE entrance ⸋ Gangnam: 3 pm to 6 pm
⸋ Come anytime ⸋ FREE entrance, in Gangnam only for Foreigners
⬕Wednesday ⬕Sunday
⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am ⸋ Hongdae: 3 pm to 6 pm
⸋ Gangnam: 7 pm to 10 pm ⸋ Gangnam: 3 pm to 6 pm
⸋ FREE entrance, in Gangnam only for Foreigners ⸋ FREE entrance, in Gangnam only for Foreigners
⸋ Hyehwa: 7 pm to 10 pm (₩5,000)
⬕Thursday
⸋ Hongdae: 7 pm to 12 am
⸋ FREE entrance
⸋ Come anytime
Check out their Facebook pages of each location for more information:
Outside of Seoul
If you are learning Korean or want to practice it with locals but are not in Seoul, don't worry there are events like these as well in other big cities!! Such as Busan or Daegu!!
There is a website you should look into and will have more information about time, price and exact locations for these other cities!! The name of the website is Friends in Korea which is the #1 for Koreans and Expats in Korea!!
Most likely than not they will run their events as Langauge Exchange Cafe group we learned about above, since they are linked and use Meetup a lot as well.
Just for an example, let's see how's Busan's language exchange events:
⬕International Parties
⸋ Twice a Month
⸋ Gwangalli and Haeunde
⸋ Entrance fee: ₩5,000
⸋ Time: 7:30 pm to 11:00 pm
⸋ Come anytime!!
Online
If you feel you may not have enough time to go to one of the events in either organizations, check out this blog post about top 5 Korean language Exchange sites to practice your Korean!! Some of them would be as having a pen pal and others sort of like a Facebook community.
Apps
Some good language exchange apps that are great and I even use them myself are HelloTalk and HiNative!!
These apps are great when doing your homework and you find yourself stuck in a question!!
HelloTalk
Was created to learn a language by chatting with native speakers around the world. In the app you can use voice recordings, voice calls, video calls, upload pictures and even doodles!! Another thing that I noticed about this one is that most people kind of use it as Instagram, where they would upload pictures about their day, such as food, animals and/or views (nature) with a caption and asking to be corrected. I love seeing those kind of posts because allows me to see the person's style of taking pictures and how they live in their country.
Download for: iOS
Download for: Android
HiNative
Is a global Q&A community for language learners and people that are curious about the world!! This app I personally find it a lot more helpful when doing your homework because you can ask a question and get a response pretty quick!! Also if you are want to learn about the culture but not sure what questions to ask, this app has templates for you to use and pose to the community, pretty helpful!!
Download for: iOS
Download for: Android
Of course there are the ups and downs for using apps like these but try them out to see if they workout for you!!
We hope the information we provided are of great help and that you get to improve your Korean a lot more!! Please drink responsibly and have fun!! Remember to check out our other blog posts about living in Seoul