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Lonely Planet Phrasebooks
Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook & Dictionary
Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook & Dictionary is your passport to the most relevant Korean phrases and vocabulary for all your travel needs. Order kim chi like a local, get in-the-know recommendations of the best sights and things to do and buy souvenirs with ease -all with your trusted travel companion. With language tools in your back pocket, you can truly get to the heart of wherever you go, so begin your journey now! Get More From Your Trip with Easy-to-Find Phrases for Every Travel Situation! Inside Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook & Dictionary : The Perfect Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook & Dictionary , a pocket-sized comprehensive language guide, provides on-the-go language assistance. Great for language students and travellers looking to interact with locals and immerse themselves in local culture. Written and researched by Lonely Planet. About Lonely Started in 1973, Lonely Planet is the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, and has been connecting travellers and locals for over 25 years with phrasebooks for 120 languages. Check out our Fast Talk Phrasebook mobile app for on-the-go language needs. (Available German, Latin Spanish, European Spanish, French, and Italian.)
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2012
About the author
Lonely Planet
4,091 books963 followersOUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 20, 2025
Was nice to skim through, didn’t learn learn tho. Still can’t speak Korean, but that’s on me for not trying more 🙂↕️
May 11, 2016
I bought this book while I was living abroad in Korea. I have another phrasebook written by a different company, that I also use. Therefore, my review will focus on things this book does well, and when you might want to use it over another book.
So first, I think it's important to mention the size. It's REALLY small. This is *not* a bad thing, it's a really good thing. The book is decently thick, but it's really tiny. It fits in any/every jacket pocket, and even fits in the pack pocket of my jeans. This means this book is really easy to take with you everywhere. Since I live in Korea, I'm not a backpacker or a traveler, I don't always want to have a daypack on me, and I definitely don't want to have to bring some kind of bag with me just so I can carry a phrasebook with me. This book is perfectly sized.
Next, the layout is pretty good. The book focuses on being able to find what you need quickly. Therefore, the print tends to be fairly big. Further, the book is divided into color coded sections to make it even easier to find what you need. There is a turquoise color that is 'grammar and pronunciation', red for 'basics' (numbers--which is a really important section because Korea uses two sets of numbers, days of the week, month, etc), blue is 'practical communication' (directions, at customs, etc), orange is basically the 'small talk' section, maroon is for 'safe travel', green is for food (ordering, allergies, dietary restrictions, etc) and then turquoise and red again for the English-Korean and Korea-English dictionaries. There are also quick reference boxes at the beginning of each section to emphasize the more common questions, and entire pages set aside to have only three or four of the most important questions listed much bigger.
It also has a romanization guide for those of you who can't read Hangeul, though there are some mistakes in their placement of syllables and verbal pauses so if you follow their romanization exclusively, you may occasionally have difficulties being understood. For example, they list "it was delicious" as being prounounced ma-shiss-oss-o-yo, where as it's actually ma-shis-sos-so-yo due to patchim rules. Not a big deal, but it does sound strange and people won't be able to understand you.
I tend to use this as my "daily" book. In case you are wondering, yes I AM studying Korean (I'm actually studying abroad here), and I can speak some Korean. But I've only been here about 2 1/2 months at this point so my Korean is rough, and it's often easier to just whip out the book and point, or check it as a quick reference before I begin a conversation with someone.
Other than the occasionally-incorrect romanization (and I do mean occasionally--usually it's pretty spot on), the book only has a few other problems. Because its emphasis is being able to find things quickly, the layout is spread out and the text big. This is fine, but it's also a small book. Combine those things and it means that this book is very basic. Definitely more for someone who is only traveling here for a week or two, not really for someone who is living here long term but who still needs help occasionally. This books section for illness, injury, and speaking to doctors is basically non-existent so should you get sick in Korea you will definitely need more help. Also, while the book tries hard to be easy to search, the color coded sections cover too many topics. For example, "the Practical Communication" section has 11 different parts. So I found it helpful to get plastic tabs and label the sections I use the most frequently. In my case, transportation, the post office, shopping, and eating out. Also, the book is a little outdated. It's terms focus on public phones and PC bangs, not "Do you have wifi" and "Is it okay to charge my cellphone here?" Nor are they any words to ask about sim cards, charger compatibility issues, etc.
Overall, I give this book 4.5 stars. It's *perfect* to travel Korea with, but if you have specialized problems you will definitely not be able to find solutions to them in this book. But that's okay--this tiny little book doesn't have to be (and can't be) everything.
So first, I think it's important to mention the size. It's REALLY small. This is *not* a bad thing, it's a really good thing. The book is decently thick, but it's really tiny. It fits in any/every jacket pocket, and even fits in the pack pocket of my jeans. This means this book is really easy to take with you everywhere. Since I live in Korea, I'm not a backpacker or a traveler, I don't always want to have a daypack on me, and I definitely don't want to have to bring some kind of bag with me just so I can carry a phrasebook with me. This book is perfectly sized.
Next, the layout is pretty good. The book focuses on being able to find what you need quickly. Therefore, the print tends to be fairly big. Further, the book is divided into color coded sections to make it even easier to find what you need. There is a turquoise color that is 'grammar and pronunciation', red for 'basics' (numbers--which is a really important section because Korea uses two sets of numbers, days of the week, month, etc), blue is 'practical communication' (directions, at customs, etc), orange is basically the 'small talk' section, maroon is for 'safe travel', green is for food (ordering, allergies, dietary restrictions, etc) and then turquoise and red again for the English-Korean and Korea-English dictionaries. There are also quick reference boxes at the beginning of each section to emphasize the more common questions, and entire pages set aside to have only three or four of the most important questions listed much bigger.
It also has a romanization guide for those of you who can't read Hangeul, though there are some mistakes in their placement of syllables and verbal pauses so if you follow their romanization exclusively, you may occasionally have difficulties being understood. For example, they list "it was delicious" as being prounounced ma-shiss-oss-o-yo, where as it's actually ma-shis-sos-so-yo due to patchim rules. Not a big deal, but it does sound strange and people won't be able to understand you.
I tend to use this as my "daily" book. In case you are wondering, yes I AM studying Korean (I'm actually studying abroad here), and I can speak some Korean. But I've only been here about 2 1/2 months at this point so my Korean is rough, and it's often easier to just whip out the book and point, or check it as a quick reference before I begin a conversation with someone.
Other than the occasionally-incorrect romanization (and I do mean occasionally--usually it's pretty spot on), the book only has a few other problems. Because its emphasis is being able to find things quickly, the layout is spread out and the text big. This is fine, but it's also a small book. Combine those things and it means that this book is very basic. Definitely more for someone who is only traveling here for a week or two, not really for someone who is living here long term but who still needs help occasionally. This books section for illness, injury, and speaking to doctors is basically non-existent so should you get sick in Korea you will definitely need more help. Also, while the book tries hard to be easy to search, the color coded sections cover too many topics. For example, "the Practical Communication" section has 11 different parts. So I found it helpful to get plastic tabs and label the sections I use the most frequently. In my case, transportation, the post office, shopping, and eating out. Also, the book is a little outdated. It's terms focus on public phones and PC bangs, not "Do you have wifi" and "Is it okay to charge my cellphone here?" Nor are they any words to ask about sim cards, charger compatibility issues, etc.
Overall, I give this book 4.5 stars. It's *perfect* to travel Korea with, but if you have specialized problems you will definitely not be able to find solutions to them in this book. But that's okay--this tiny little book doesn't have to be (and can't be) everything.
June 9, 2016
Very useful travel guide. I leveraged the diet sections heavily with some of my coworkers while traveling. The general commerce and introductions are well described.
March 7, 2019
Decided to learn Korean to challenge myself and do something different in 2019. After having difficulty studying on Duolingo, I love this little phrasebook so much, it helps give tips on how to respond to questions or ask questions when you are in Korea and my favourite part of this book is the dictionary.
I mainly use the dictionary on this book to understand words that I don't understand on my apps. However, I do find its a very limited dictionary with not a whole lot of words. Just important words you would need when you travel to Korea which is a little bit of a downside and will need to invest in another dictionary. Also another obvious downside you cannot hear how natives actually say the sentences. Even though the book does tell you how it is pronounced if this is your first introduction to the Korean language then this can be difficult without listening to examples. Obviously everybody learns in different ways this is just my observations.
I do recommend the book but I think you definitely need to invest in other resources alongside it if you are seriously wanting to learn Korean.
I mainly use the dictionary on this book to understand words that I don't understand on my apps. However, I do find its a very limited dictionary with not a whole lot of words. Just important words you would need when you travel to Korea which is a little bit of a downside and will need to invest in another dictionary. Also another obvious downside you cannot hear how natives actually say the sentences. Even though the book does tell you how it is pronounced if this is your first introduction to the Korean language then this can be difficult without listening to examples. Obviously everybody learns in different ways this is just my observations.
I do recommend the book but I think you definitely need to invest in other resources alongside it if you are seriously wanting to learn Korean.
September 26, 2017
This was of greatest interest to me for the primer it includes on how the Korean language and its script (Hangul) works, but it was definitely also a handy reference for preparing slightly ahead of time for those specific conversations that you know are going to be a little tricky. Glad I had it with me during my trip.
June 18, 2022
AMAZING little book, can fit perfectly in the cargo pocket of your military uniform with plenty of room to spare.
I still don't know Korean. But this is a great little book!
I still don't know Korean. But this is a great little book!
January 29, 2024
So good
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews