Korean Dictionary Apps and Translation Tools

Looking for the a Korean dictionary to look up that Korean phrase that you hear all the time?

Or maybe you just want to look up a few words from your favorite K-Pop song.

We’ve got you covered!

Below are the best Korean dictionaries, translators, and romanizers. Most of these tools are available in both website and app form. These will be extremely useful if you’re looking to learn Korean fast or if you want to understand more about Korean culture.

Here we go!

Illustration of 2 people with books behind them

Studying Korean through vocabulary and grammar lessons is an effective way learn the language. To help with that, you’ll want to get a Korean dictionary so you can check out words in Korean easily wherever you are. For example, you might want to look up words you see as you go about your daily life in Korea.

Most Korean dictionary apps and websites still work the best with English to Korean or Korean to English. However, they are gradually getting better with translating Korean to other languages.

And some apps already have great Korean dictionaries for languages other than English. Here are the top picks.

Korean Dictionaries

Below are the top Korean dictionaries to help with learning the language. Generally you don’t need an account to use these, but if you create one, you can save some of the words that you’re trying to remember.

Naver Dictionary (네이버 사전)

This Korean dictionary is a great go-to application and website for when you’re searching for accurate translations from English to Korean and Korean to English. In addition, you can find the dictionary website to hold many other language options, from Japanese to Finnish. It offers you example sentences, the specific word translation (in its noun, adjective etc. forms) and any possible word meanings it may have.

Screenshot of Naver dictionary

Users of this dictionary can click on the blue speaker icons to practice audio. Keep in mind that not all of the words will have audio, but many do.

The site does have some limitations and isn’t stylistically the most modern option. However, it is incredibly accurate and nicely detailed. It works best when searching for a specific word instead of full sentences. You can also put in a whole sentence, but be aware that it will more likely only offer you each word’s meaning separately if the sentence is complex. It’s excellent for looking up parts of Korean sentences, such as conjunctions, particles, and markers.

This is the go-to dictionary for Koreans since there are many language options. Both the site and the app are great choices if you’re studying the Korean language. You can get the app version for both iOS and Android.

Daum Dictionary (다음 어학사전)

The online dictionary by Daum functions very similarly to Naver dictionary. When you search for a word, it offers you all its known meanings. And if you search by a sentence, it breaks down the sentence into separate words.

Daum Dictionary Example

Besides operating as an English to Korean dictionary, and vice versa, it is possible to search the dictionary for other languages as well. However, in comparison to Naver, Daum does not have as many languages available. One of the positives is that the layout for Daum is a bit clearer than Naver’s, which may make it easier to understand what comes up in your search.

Daum Dictionary has an app on both Google Play and the App Store.

Translation Tools

Here is a tool you can use for translation of Korean to other languages. While translation tools can be accurate, we recommend learning Korean instead of using a translation site.

Papago (파파고)

Papago is translation site provided by Naver. It specializes in offering translation for Korean sentences. This means that it is not exactly a Korean dictionary, but you can use it to check the meaning of a full sentence or how something you want to say can be said in Korean.

It uses a neural machine so that it can learn from its translation mistakes and gain understanding on what kind of translations you are most likely in need of. Papago is great to use in combination with Naver Dictionary as they complete each other.

For some of your searches, Papago will also offer additional words and idioms that you may be good to remember for the future. There is an audio button for both the input and result.

In addition to the website, there is an app for Android and iPhone.

Korean Dictionary & Translator by Xung Le

All of the dictionaries presented above have been created by Koreans in Korea. This one is different because it’s of foreign making. It’s a free app which users can download for both Android and Apple phones.

There are hundreds of thousands of vocabulary words, phrases and sentences that you can use for learning more Korean. It even includes some Korean idioms, which can be really helpful for your future conversations with native Koreans.

In addition, it offers the ability to review words you’ve learned directly in the app! However, this Korean dictionary only seems to support translating to and from English.

Romanization Tools

These aren’t dictionaries, but they’re useful for writing out Korean words and sentences in romanized English. We don’t recommend using romanized words often since it can make pronunciation quite confusing.

It’s much easier to spend the hour it takes to learn Hangul (Korean Alphabet). Here’s a resource for that: https://www.90daykorean.com/how-to-learn-the-korean-alphabet/

Korean Romanization Converter

This is a great tool for romanizing Korean words. It gives you three different selections, and shows a few different types of results. It’s nice because there are lots of options depending on how you want to use it. The downside is that you need to keep pressing the “back” button each time.

The Hangul Romanizer

This site can easily romanize Korean words using the Revised Romanization of Korean system. It’s useful because you don’t have to type “enter”. Instead, just type or paste the Korean word and it automatically shows the romanization. The downsides are that you may need to wait for the page to load, and the site is down at times.

Hopefully one or more of these websites and applications will be of great help in supporting your journey of learning Korean! Whether you are searching for vocabulary and words, or translations of full sentences, these tools can be very useful.

Be sure to check out our YouTube channel for great videos for learning Korean. If you’re looking for a game plan you can use for studying Korean, go here: https://www.90daykorean.com/learn-korean/

We also have a structured online program that will teach you have a 3 minute conversation in the first 90 days.

Do you have a favorite Korean dictionary or translators? Let us know below in the comments!

The post Korean Dictionary Apps and Translation Tools appeared first on 90 Day Korean®.

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