Practise Korean with strangers

Why a stranger beats an app for Korean

Korean speech levels are relational — the form you choose encodes how you see the relationship. With a stranger there is no established relationship, so you have to decide, and that decision is invisible in passive study. Producing it is what teaches it.

What actually trips up Korean learners in chat

Not a grammar syllabus — the specific things that slow you down when someone is waiting for a reply.

• Speech levels: 해요체 versus 반말, and switching only once invited
• The particles 은/는 versus 이/가, which behave like Japanese は/が and resist explanation
• Verb endings carrying nuance that vocabulary lists never mention
• Sino-Korean and native numbers, used in different contexts
• Chat slang and consonant abbreviations: ㅋㅋ, ㅇㅇ, ㄱㅅ

Openers you can paste straight in

The first message is the hardest one. These four cover almost every start.

• 안녕하세요, 한국어 공부하고 있어요

  Hello, I am studying Korean

  Polite 해요체 — the correct default with a stranger.

• 반말 해도 돼요?

  Is it okay to use casual speech?

  Always ask rather than assume. Dropping into 반말 uninvited reads as rude.

• 이거 맞아요?

  Is this right?

  Short, and easy for a partner to answer without breaking their flow.

• 한국어로 뭐라고 해요?

  How do you say it in Korean?

  Keeps you inside Korean instead of falling back to English.

Mistakes English speakers make in Korean

These are the ones a partner will notice but usually be too polite to mention.

• 당신은 뭐 좋아해요?

  뭐 좋아해요? or [name]씨는 뭐 좋아해요?

  당신 is the dictionary word for you and almost never the right one. In conversation it reads as cold, and in an argument as aggressive. Drop it, or use their name.

• 나는 학생이에요 (to a stranger)

  저는 학생이에요

  나 is the casual first person, for friends and people younger than you. With someone you have just met, 저 is the humble form and the correct default.

• 삼 시 삼십 분

  세 시 삼십 분

  Korean runs two number systems at once. Hours take native numbers, minutes take Sino-Korean ones, so half past three mixes both in a single phrase.

How Korean conversations actually go

Age comes up early in Korean conversation and it is not nosiness — it settles which speech level each person should use, so the question is doing real grammatical work. Expect 나이가 어떻게 되세요 fairly quickly. Once ages are established, an older partner may switch to 반말 while you stay polite, and that asymmetry is normal rather than rude. Food is the most reliable small-talk subject there is; 밥 먹었어요 functions as a greeting more than a genuine question about whether you have eaten.

Getting more out of each conversation

• Start in 해요체 and stay there until invited otherwise. It is never wrong with a stranger.
• Learn the chat consonants early. ㅋㅋ and ㅇㅇ appear in almost every casual message.
• Ask about ending nuance, not just meaning. 아요/어요, 네요 and 거든요 carry attitude your dictionary will not explain.
• Type in Hangul from the first day. Romanisation feels faster and teaches you nothing durable.

How it works

1. Sign in with Google or email (ten seconds, and it keeps bots out).
2. Add languages — and up to five interests — to your profile.
3. Tap Start Chatting. You are matched with a random stranger, with a preference for people who share your interests.
4. Not a Korean speaker, or not in the mood to help? Hit Next and try again. It is instant and unlimited.

Matching is random and interest-based, not by language — so finding a Korean speaker takes a few tries rather than being guaranteed on the first match. That is the honest trade for not having to schedule anything with anyone.

Practising Korean — common questions

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