I read the article was titled ” Language tops foreign tourist’s complaint list”.
Korea Tourism Organization released.
Refer this results, how about bring with book of Korean language for travel.
Korean has studied an English about 6 years from middle school to high school.
Frankly this education is not helpful talking, writing, but at least can read a word, not sentence.
so I think if Korean does bring a English Dictionary, they can help you out.
but all most Korean does not with a Dictionary, even they has a English dictionary in a their cell phone, they will forget about it, because when foreigner ask something, normally we are frozen by scaring of foreign language.
When you ask something, speak slowly, show travel book or writing down will be work.
Also some Korean do speak a little bit, they can understand your slow speaking, do not speed up your speaking, they will give up.
If you need a some special information. Dial 1330, this way will be shortcut.
The below article from Korea times.
Language tops foreign tourists’ complaint list
By Lee Hyo-sik
Communication problems top the complaint list of foreigners who visit Korea, with nearly half of non-Korean travelers saying they experienced a high degree of difficulty in communicating with locals in English or other widely spoken international languages.
Other difficulties facing tourists here include a shortage of affordable and clean lodging facilities, high prices of various goods and services, traffic congestion, inadequate directional signs and overly localized foods.
According to a survey released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Wednesday, 45.8 percent of respondents said they often faced trouble in conversing with Koreans and obtaining tourism-related information while traveling here, as most Koreans are not proficient enough to communicate in English, Japanese or Chinese. Respondents were allowed to give multiple answers.
The high price of food and lodging were their second biggest complaint (34 percent), followed by traffic congestion (30.6 percent), overly localized foods (18.4 percent) and inadequate directional signs (12.1 percent), revealed the survey of 506 foreigners who have resided in Korea for more than six months and traveled at least once.
Regarding a trip to tourist destinations in provincial areas, 45.3 percent of respondents said they are worried about higher travel expenses, followed by long distance (41.3 percent) and lack of tourist information (34.4 percent).
Meanwhile, foreign residents picked the nation’s southern resort island of Jeju as their favorite destination from among 16 large municipalities, followed by Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province.
Their favorite spots include N Tower on Seoul’s Mt. Nam, the fashion district of Myeong-dong, Haeundae Beach in Busan, the royal Gyeongbok Palace, Yeouido Park in Seoul, Everland theme park in Yongin and Mt. Seorak National Park in Gangwon Province.
For those who have not yet done so, about 51 percent of respondents said they would like to visit Jeju Island, followed by Busan (23.7 percent), Gangwon Province (6.5 percent) and Seoul (4.7 percent).
Some 4.14 million foreign tourists visited the country in the first six months of the year, up 9.2 percent from the same period last year.
