Top 5 Podcasts for Korean
Learners
Podcasts are a great way to practice your Korean listening and comprehension in your spare time. One of the great things about Korean culture is that there is so much content to choose from!
Whether you're into K-Drama or simply want to brush up on some key phrases before you go travelling, podcasts have got you covered. To help you choose the best ones to follow, we've created the below list of our favourites and ranked them based on how educational they are, what levels they apply to and more. You can even listen to sample episodes right here to see if it's something you find interesting.
Happy exploring :)
Korean Survival Phrases is a great little podcast if you want to learn the basics very well. It wont teach you how to write essays or understand your favourite K-Drama fluently but it can help you get by when travelling around Korea and is a great way to get started learning this wonderful language.
Each lesson covers a useful topic, such as ordering food in Korean. Phrases are clearly explained and repeated often, helping the listener really get to grips with how they're used. The strength of this podcast is the usefulness of the phrases it teaches. As the name suggests, they really can help you survive using Korean.
Some cultural elements such as table etiquette and manners are discussed, making this podcast a great all rounder and a must download for anyone just starting out on their Korean language journey.
4. KingKa: A K Drama Podcast
Length: 30 - 60 minutes
Level: Beginner and up
Educational Content: ️️️️️
Cultural Elements:
KingKa is a podcast dedicated to all things K-Drama. It uses K-drama as a platform to discuss elements of culture and language, while also giving the narrator's take on various TV shows. It's both informative and fun and will definitely appeal to those with a passion for Korean drama or an affinity for Korean culture in general.
The language lessons inside this podcast are interesting but it's not an educational podcast as much as it is an entertaining one. Use it to keep up to date on your favourite shows as well as learn any language that relates to the stories specifically.
You can check out our list of the best K-Dramas for learning Korean here.
3. Intermediate Korean
Length: 5 - 15 minutes
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Educational Content: ️️️️️
Cultural Elements:
Sample Episode:
Intermediate Korean does exactly what it says on the tin. It provides high quality lesson style content for Korean learners of intermediate level and above. It uses natural language and stories to teach listeners important linguistical concepts and grammar as well as elements of Korean culture and history.
The best thing about Intermediate Korean is that it focuses on every day language that Korean speakers actually use, as opposed to some textbooks that include a more formal style of content designed around official exams such as TOPIK.
While this one is targeted specifically at intermediate learners, we suggest beginners challenge themselves by trying to get to grips with the content if they can. It often happens that students surprise themselves with how much they can actually take in and there's nothing to say you need to understand 100% of each episode on the first listen.
2. Korean Champ
Length: 10 - 20 minutes
Level: Intermediate / Advanced
Educational Content: ️️️️️
Cultural Elements:
Sample Episode:
Korean Champ is a relatively old podcast that's actually been archived on many sites. You can no longer download it on iTunes and finding an active link on Google will take a while, although they are definitely out there!
Despite this difficulty, we had to include it due to the really excellent material included in each episode. The podcast itself is designed to teach useful, conversational language that you'd hear every day amongst Korean citizens. They often focus on informal language ( 반말) and slang ( 속어), which is valuable information that can be difficult to find elsewhere.
Furthermore, the content is explained well in English. Although recommended for intermediate learners, beginners can also understand what's going on without too much difficulty!
1. Talk to Me in Korean
Length: 3 - 20 minutes
Level: All Levels
Educational Content: ️️️️️
Cultural Elements:
Sample Episode:
'Talk to me in Korean' is a brand covering many Korean educational resources. In fact, we actually use their textbooks in our Korean classes and recommend their app on our apps page (here). Their approach is very much educational rather than cultural but they do this very well. Slightly less formal than a textbook and slightly more formal than the podcasts above, the style is relaxed and the structure logical and easy to follow.
Lesson content is interesting and engaging, with episodes varying in length and difficulty. This means there truly is something for everyone and if you're looking for a podcast that will teach you Korean language really well without going too in depth into cultural elements or informal language, then you have found one of the best.