Learn the best cities to visit in South Korea
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
| Hi, everyone! I’m Jaehwi. Welcome back to Korean Top Words. Let’s say you just finished watching the Olympics Closing Ceremony and where do you want to go next? For you, we’ve got top 5 cities to visit after the PyeongChang Olympics Closing Ceremony. Let’s begin! |
| 1. 서울 (seoul) “Seoul, the capital of South Korea” |
| As you know, Seoul is the capital of South Korea. You can say 서울 (seoul) [sa.ul] to pronounce it correctly like a native Korean. I think some of you know the Korean song titled Gangnam Style which we call 강남스타일 (gangnamseutail). Actually, Gangnam means literally the south of Han River. When you see the map of Seoul, you can see the Han River in the middle and the north part of Seoul is called 강북 (Gangbuk) which means “the north side of the river” and 강남 (Gangnam) means “the south side of the sea” which literally means the south of the river because the river goes through the city. So if you visit Gangnam area, you can also see the statue that looks like this for Gangnam Style songs so you can take picture in front of the statue even though I don’t like that kind of statue too. If you want to really enjoy the atmosphere like dynamic atmosphere of South Koreans, you can also go to some places like Myeong-dong which is very well known shopping district and Hongdae which you can find a lot of clubs and bars. When you go there, I recommend you to go there over the weekends because you can really feel the dynamic atmosphere of people in Hongdae area. |
| In a sentence, we can say - 서울은 조선시대부터 지금까지 한 나라의 수도로서, 600년의 역사를 가지고 있습니다. (seoureun joseonsidaebuteo jigeumkkaji han naraui sudoroseo, yukbaengnyeonui yeoksareul gajigo itseumnida.) “Seoul has been the capital of South Korea for about 600 years, since the Joseon Dynasty period.” |
| 2. 부산 (busan) “Busan, the second largest city in South Korea” |
| So when you see the map of South Korea, Seoul is here like on the northwest part and Busan is really on the opposite side. It might not be easy to go straight to Busan from PyeongChang because there’s no train, but you can go to Seoul and if you have a couple more days, you can take a KTX from Seoul to Busan easily. It will only take about two and a half hours. Busan is very well known for its seafood because it’s really located next to the sea. So if you’re a fan of seafood, you can also visit Busan and enjoy the food. For me, it seems Busan is more dynamic than Seoul although Seoul is dynamic enough. So if you want to see that kind of energy of the people, you can also visit Busan and meet some people and enjoy the culture. |
| In a sentence, we can say - 매년 열리는 부산 국제 영화제는 부산의 대표적인 축제입니다. (maenyeon yeollineun busan gukje yeonghwajeneun busanui daepyojeogin chukjeimnida.) “The Busan International Film Festival is the annual event in Busan.” |
| I think this festival is very well known like I can see it’s becoming one of the top something film festivals in the world and the biggest festival in Asia too. So you might not be able to get a chance to see this film festival during the olympics, but if you get a chance to visit Busan again, I think you can get a chance to see the film festivals and meet a lot of popular celebrities. |
| 3. 인천 (incheon) “Incheon, the third largest city in South Korea” |
| So Incheon is located really right next to Seoul. I think you remember the biggest airport in South Korea, the name of that is 인천공항 (incheongonghang) “Incheon Airport” because it’s a part of the Incheon City, but it’s very close to each other so if you have any plan to visit Seoul, you can easily go to Incheon. One of my recommendation is to visit Incheon when you are on the way to the airport. You might have to go a little bit around. You might not be able to use the airport train, but if you take a limousine bus, you’d be able to go to a city in Incheon like Chinatown and have some lunch there and go straight to the Incheon Airport. There’s also an area called Songdo. Songdo is the island, man made, and it’s beautiful. You can see a lot of high-rise buildings and a park inside which is called 센트럴파크 (senteureolpakeu) “Central Park” so many people go there for a picnic over the weekends so you can also try to go there if you want to visit a different city than Seoul. |
| In a sentence we can say - 인천에는 한국의 유일한 차이나타운이 있는데 그 곳에서는 독특한 한국식 중국음식을 맛볼 수 있습니다. (incheoneneun hangugui yuilhan chainatauni inneunde geu goseseoneun dokteukan hanguksik junggugeumsigeul matbol su itseumnida.) “In Incheon, you can find the only Chinatown in all of Korea, where you can eat Korean-Chinese cuisine.” |
| Even if it’s a Chinese food, sometimes we change the taste and the flavor a little bit so that it can be liked by a lot of Korean people. So for example, there is a noodle called Jajangmyeon, we call it black noodle. When you try it in South Korea, it will taste different than the one you try in China because for over 100 years, the taste has been changed so that Korean people like it. So if you want to try some unique style of Chinese food, I think this is the place that you can visit to try. |
| 4. 대구 (daegu) “Daegu, the fourth largest city in South Korea” |
| So Daegu used to be the city which has a lot of factories so it’s considered something like Detroit in the US, but now, I can see many people go to Daegu just to enjoy the city too. It’s very close to Gyeongju. The city has a very long history so you can see a lot of historical site. So if you are planning to visit that kind of historical places, I think you can go to Daegu and stay in the city and visit those small cities around Daegu and enjoy the city of Daegu itself too. So it will only take about 2 hours from Seoul via KTX. You can easily go there and Daegu also has its own international airport so you can make an in to Incheon and out from Daegu too. |
| In a sentence, we can say - 전 세계의 많은 사람들이 싼 가격에 최첨단 의료 서비스를 제공하는 대구를 방문합니다. (jeon segyeui maneun saramdeuri ssan gagyeoge choecheomdan uiryo seobiseureul jegonghaneun daegureul bangmunhamnida.) “Many people all over the world visit Daegu for its medical services that are reasonably priced and high-tech.” |
| 5. 대전 (daejeon) “Daejeon, the fifth largest city in South Korea” |
| They have a big science complex in Daejeon too. So for me, the image of Daejeon all go to something about science, but still, there are a lot of things to enjoy too and one of them is a hot spring. We call it 온천 (oncheon). So 온 (on) means something like “warm” and 천 (cheon) means “water/stream” so it means hot water/hot spring. So if you’re a big fan of hot spring, you can go to Daejeon and try some of the hot springs in the city. |
| In a sentence, we can say - 한국의 대전 유성구는 온천으로 유명합니다. (hangugui daejeon yuseongguneun oncheoneuro yumyeonghamnida.) “Yuseong-gu of Daejeon city in South Korea is known for its hot springs.” |
| Okay, we just checked out top 5 cities to visit after PyeongChang Olympics Closing Ceremonies. What is your impression about the Olympics? I hope you enjoyed the event and I hope our videos also helped you enjoy the event more. If you have any questions or feedback, let us know in the comment, like this video, subscribe to this channel and visit KoreanClass101.com. I’ll see you in the next video. 다음 시간에 뵙겠습니다. (Daeum sigane boepgetsseumnida.) 안녕히 계세요. (Annyeonghi gyeseyo.) |
Comments
Hide