Everyone here speaks Korean. However, many Koreans begin learning English in grade school and study abroad in English-speaking countries like nearby Australia. So most street signs are also in English, and it is common for people you meet in the city to remember at least some English. Because I live near a university with many foreign students, there are many English speakers here. However, the farther out you go into the smaller towns, the more likely you will be to meet only Korean speakers.
The money here is called the won (원). There are bills in 50,000, 10,000, 5,000, and 1,000. The coins are in 500, 100, 50, and 10. Although 1,000 won may sound like a lot of money, it is only about $0.86 in U.S. dollars. For some quick conversion when I'm out shopping, I just drop three zeros and it gets me close. So 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 won are, roughly, as follows: $1, $5, and $10.
A bottle of water here costs about 800 won. So in dollars that's only about 68 cents. Bottled water is, therefore, very cheap here.
