KoreanSum

Speak

At a café or restaurant 카페·식당

How it works: Order, ask for water and pay — the sentences you need at a Korean café or restaurant. Tap Listen, then tap the microphone and say the sentence. You will see which syllables a Korean speech recognizer heard.

Study list

“Said as” is the standard pronunciation (표준 발음법) where it differs from the spelling. Romanization follows the official Revised Romanization.

#KoreanSaid asRomanizationEnglish
1여기요as writtenyeogiyoExcuse me! (calling the staff)
In Korean restaurants you call the staff to your table — this is how.
2아이스 아메리카노 한 잔 주세요as writtenaiseu amerikano han jan juseyoOne iced Americano, please.
잔 counts cups and glasses. 한 잔 = one cup.
3이거 주세요as writtenigeo juseyoThis one, please.
Point at the menu and say it.
4물 좀 주세요as writtenmul jom juseyoSome water, please.
좀 softens a request, like “please”.
5메뉴판 좀 주세요as writtenmenyupan jom juseyoCan I have the menu, please?
메뉴판 is the menu board or booklet.
6얼마예요as writteneolmayeyoHow much is it?
Raise your voice at the end to make it a question.
7카드로 할게요[카드로 할께요]kadeuro halgeyoI’ll pay by card.
-ㄹ게요 tells the listener what you are about to do. It is said [-ㄹ께요].
8포장해 주세요as writtenpojanghae juseyoTo go, please.
포장 means packing — takeout.
9맛있어요[마시써요]masisseoyoIt’s delicious.
The ㅆ moves to the next syllable: [마시써요].
10계산할게요[계산할께요]gyesanhalgeyoI’d like to pay, please.
Said at the counter when you are ready to pay. 할게요 is said [할께요].

Sounds to watch in this set

Korean is not always said the way it is written. These sound changes happen in the sentences above.

  • Linking 연음 — A final consonant (받침) moves to the next syllable when that syllable starts with the silent ㅇ. In this set: 맛있어요 [마시써요]. More →
  • Tensing 경음화 — After ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ sounds, the next ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅅ ㅈ become ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ. It also happens after verb stems ending in ㄴ or ㅁ and after the future ending -ㄹ. In this set: 카드로 할게요 [카드로 할께요], 계산할게요 [계산할께요]. More →

About the score

The score is the share of syllables the speech recognizer heard as written. Recognizers guess whole words, so they forgive some mistakes and sometimes miss a word that was said well — treat a high score as “Koreans would understand you”, not as a pronunciation test. Questions about the microphone and privacy →

More speaking practice