"Language is not a genetic gift, it is a social gift. Learning a new language is becoming a member of the club -the community of speakers of that language."
Frank Smith
When learning any foreign language, sometimes you can get stuck. While we don't recommend translating everything from English into Korean and back again, it's always useful to have a translation tool to hand to give you a better idea of what a sentence might mean.
Just remember that these tools can make mistakes and aren't always 100% accurate. You must understand their limits when using them.
In this article, we've put together some of our favourite English-Korean dictionaries and translation apps. We'll also look at the drawbacks to using them and how you should go about learning the Korean language.
Daum Dictionary
The most basic (and arguably most useful) translation tool is a simple Korean-English dictionary. It's much better to look up a word, and its possible meanings, and then apply it to the context you find it in.
You can find the Daum Dictionary App on the Google Play store and the App Store and while it's highly rated, not all of the translations or entries are accurate.
As it's free, however, it's worthwhile having so you can look up words, find definitions, see examples of vocabulary used in sentences, and practise your Korean pronunciation.
We'd also recommend investing in a monolingual Korean dictionary and a couple of Korean-English dictionaries (mini or pocket and a comprehensive bilingual dictionary).
Flitto - Translate & Learn
Flitto is an app where users learn a language through translation. Basically, you'll provide a translation which will then be proofread and corrected by native speakers.
For people wanting to learn Korean online or practise translation, this could be a good app, but essentially, you're being rewarded with “points” for doing translation work with Flitto.
If you're fine with this, however, you might find some value in the app. However, keep in mind that Flitto is essentially crowdsourcing translations from its users to train AI and charging customers for it.
You should remember that this is basically how most AI and machine learning work anyway, though.
Translation apps can make mistakes and misunderstand context.
Beware of using them in conversations as they can lead to misunderstandings or even cause offence!
Google Translate
Google Translate has come a long way since the early days of machine translation.
The world's most popular translation tool was once famous for the low quality of its translations. There was even a website that would run translations through various iterations of Google Translate and back into English to provide humorous results.
After all, by the time you translate something through English, Chinese, German, French, Thai, Turkish, Korean, Japanese and back to English, every single translation error will be amplified, resulting in something that has nothing to do with the original sentence.
Now, Google Translate has greatly improved. This isn't to say that it's a replacement for a professional human translator, who understands context, how words can have different meanings in different languages, and many of the other considerations that go into properly translating a text.
Instead, Google Translate is a useful tool you use to get you out of tricky situations in a language, to get the gist of sentences in Korean when you're completely lost, or to quickly look up common words and phrases when the context is very clear.
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You won't be able to learn Korean solely by using Google Translate (or any machine translation service), but it has improved a lot since it was first created in 2006.
GreenLife Korean English Translator
GreenLife Korean English Translator is an app that offers English-to-Korean translation and Korean-to-English translation. It can also translate webpages and recognise hangul.
The app is free but, like many other free apps for learning Korean, it does contain ads.
It's highly rated on Google Play, but there are some concerns with bugs and other issues that some users may experience.
Fortunately, with a lot of translation tools on the market, if you do encounter any issues, you can always try one of the other tools that we recommend.
iTranslate Translator
The iTranslate Translator is available as an app on the App Store, Google Play, and as a web app.
It features over 100 different languages including English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Korean.
Not every language includes all the features, however, but Korean does support text-to-speech and voice recognition.
In terms of translation, the iTranslate Translator app features text translation, voice translation, camera translation (where it translates from objects in the real world via your camera), and even offline translation.
With the keyboard extension, you can also translate into messaging apps, allowing you to send messages in other languages. Just remember that this isn't a replacement for learning the language and should be used sparingly if you can avoid it.
As usual, the free version of the app features ads, but you can pay for a premium version.
Microsoft Translator
The Microsoft Translator actually predates Google Translate, but most people tend to think of Google when they think of machine translation.
You might find that you've already used Microsoft Translator as it's integrated into several Microsoft and Windows products including Bing, Microsoft Office, Skype, and several other apps for third-party products including both Apple and Android products.
It currently supports 135 different languages and language varieties, including the Korean language.
As always, even the very best machine translations can't replicate the work of professional human translators or simply know and understand the language. Be sure only to use tools like Microsoft Translator when you have to and, where possible, try relying on your own vocabulary and understanding of the language. This will help you learn Korean much more quickly.
Papago Translate
Papago Translate is an AI translation tool that features 14 languages including Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Thai, and several others.
You can use it to study, but it also features text, photo, vocal, and offline translation.
The Papago App also can translate websites if you put the URL of the website into it, which can be quite useful when travelling.
SayHi Translate
The SayHi Translate app is a translation app with a focus on learning languages. The app will instantly translate what you say, but it's up to you to make sure you study the output.
While we don't recommend fully learning through translation, it can be useful for picking up common phrases, everyday vocabulary, and even pronunciation.
It's a useful app for having conversations in other languages, but it's far more enjoyable learning a foreign language like Korean and having genuine conversations with native speakers.
The Drawbacks of Learning a Language with Translation Tools
These tools can all be useful for translating between English and Korean (and many other languages), but they're not and never should be used as your only resource for learning a language, especially since there are so many wonderful websites for learning Korean.
Korean is its own language with associated cultures and subcultures. It doesn't exist as a translation of English so learning any language directly through translations will always be risky.
Remember that you didn't learn your mother tongue as a translation of another language. It's better to learn grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation within the target language as this will help you to form a more profound understanding of the language.
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It also means that when you speak the language, you'll speak it more fluently as you won't be constantly translating in and out of English to do it.
Use these translation tools to look up words, learn new vocabulary, and help you in certain unfamiliar situations, but make sure you use them sparingly and alongside other Korean apps and language-learning resources like some of the excellent Korean podcasts out there.
How to Really Learn Korean
Since every learner is different, there isn't a single way to learn any language. However, it's generally a good idea to use a broad mix of resources.
That way, you'll have opportunities to practise the four main language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) while also having a good understanding of grammar.
Learning a language like Korean takes a long time and it's estimated that most learners will need hundreds or even thousands of hours of study to reach a conversational level in the language.
Don't let that put you off, though, as you can start having conversations way before you reach this level and it can be fun and rewarding every time you use your new language.
Regular study with a variety of resources is the best way to learn any language and you must regularly review how effective each resource is. If something isn't working, you can always change it.
If you're looking for extra assistance with your Korean, you can always opt for traditional language classes or work with a private Korean tutor.
On the Superprof website, there are plenty of professional Korean tutors in Australia and around the world and much like translation apps, many of them offer a free trial lesson so you can see if they're right for you!
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