The main language spoken is Korean, but people will switch to English when they notice that you don't understand them. Sometimes they even use Konglish which is a mixture of Korean and English words with the same meaning. A Korean phrase that I found is essential to know is "hangul mal jal mot hae yo, mian-ham-nida" which means "Sorry, I don't speak Korean well." Whenever someone speaks Korean to me and I barely understand what they are saying, I will say this phrase. I find people also using this phrase to be modest about their Korean skills as a way to say "I'm just learning Korean." Korean people will understand that you are a foreigner and will be impressed that you can say this phrase. My classes in school are taught in English, but I have to listen carefully and be very attentive since professors tend to use thick Korean accents and soft-toned voices. This is very different from most American professors, who usually have stronger and projecting voices. While meeting many international students, I was also able to hear French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Russian being spoken. We often joke with each other saying that we came here to learn Korean, but have ended up learning a bunch of different languages instead!
