To our credit, we Koreans are easily impressed
so far our language is concerned.

Face it. In a month (or a year for that matter) you aren't likely to achieve anything resembling fluency in Korea. You can take heart and credit for whatever linguistic skills you do acquire by noting that Hangul (: Korean language) is (according to somebody who no doubt conducted a ponderous study) one of the world's three hardest languages to master.

Fortunately, you don't really need to know any Hangul for most ot the activities you're likely to undertake. All Koreans study English in school and many can speak and write adequately to guide you to the Dongguk University or get you out of a jam. If, however, you can memorize some of the following words and phrases, you will be able to navigate more freely... and you'll make a tremendous impression. Koreans, by and large, lavishly reward the most stuttering efforts to speak their language. So, give it a shot. The simplest and most common greetings mean essentially "Peace": Ahn-young hah-say-oh (or, more formally) Ahn-young hah-shim-nika? Ahn-young (or, more accurately, ahn-nyoung) means "peace." Both hah-say-oh and hah-shim-nika are derived from an all purpose verb that literally means "to do." So the former version means roughly "Do peacefully" and the latter means "Are you doing peacefully?" (The answer to which, by the way, is always nae or "yes".) One of the standard greetings to someone you've just met or re-met after a substantial absence loosely translates as "delighted" (as in "I'm delighted to meet you" or "I'm delighted to see you again"): Bahn-gahp soom-ni-dah In order to be understood, you'll have to approximate Korean pronunciation. Say each syllable as if it's a seperate word, and you may get close enough. Kahm-sah-hahm-nidah Thank you. Chae-song hahm-nidah Pardon me. Chome toe-wah jew-say-oh Please help me. Ahn-young-hee gae-say-oh Good bye. This being the New Year season, it is also in excellent form to use the official New Year's greeting every chance you get: Say-hay boke mahn-he pah-du-say-oh Say-hay means "New Year;" boke means "blessings;" mahn-he means "many;" and pah-du-say-oh means "please receive." So, the phrase translates as "Please recieve many New Year's blessings."

Class dismissed.