Learn Korean On the Go

A recent Nielsen study found that 67% of Korean mobile phone users own smartphones. So, it's not surprising that people are using their smartphones in various aspects of their daily lives. Based on that, we thought it would be culturally appropriate to introduce a few smartphone apps for our readers interested in learning Korean.

1. Dictionary for Korean and English

To start, it's helpful to have a dictionary. You can quickly search over 160,000 words in either Korean or English and the app will give you the spelling, pronunciation, flashcards and more. It even has social sharing functions so you can tell your Facebook friends or Twitter followers when you've learned a new word.

2. Let's Learn Korean with KBS

This app is available in 10 languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.

It has 20 lessons that involve different situations, such as being at an airport, ordering dinner and exploring tourist sites. Each lesson has a vocabulary section as well as a short dialog section that has useful phrases. In addition to the short dialog, there is a more advanced feature that gives longer phrases for more substantial conversation.

3. Free Korean Essentials by Accela Study

This app is good if you're the quiz type. It comes with flashcards, multiple choice quizzes and a statistics feature that keeps track of your learning progress. It also has lots of audio support, so that you're constantly listening to the correct pronunciations.

4. Korean Verbs Dongsa

I find conjugating Korean verbs to be far more difficult than vocabulary. In the Korean language, not only are there tenses (past, present, future, etc.) but there are also honorifics and different conjugations depending on whom you are addressing. With this app, you can type in the verb, and it will bring up a full list of every conjugation.

5. Korean Cuisine

In my opinion, the most important aspect of every culture is its food. You can learn a lot about the people and history of a country just by eating their food. If you want to learn Korean more casually, the "Korean Cuisine" app will help you eat your way to linguistic mastery. The app's main menu offers a summary of the origin of each Korean dish, The Recipe, reviews, listening programs, and most importantly, how to eat it!