How to Say Teacher in Korean

How to say teacher in Korean
Whether you want to understand basic words in K-pop or K-dramas, impress your Korean friends, or simply deepen your connection to the Korean culture, the Korean Language Starter Pack ensures that you quickly learn and retain the most commonly used Korean words and phrases today. Click here to learn more.

In Korea, it is not polite to address a teacher by their name. So for example in this west, we might call a teacher Ms. or Mrs. Johnson/Mr. Johnson, but in Korea, the teacher will literally just be called teacher by the students.

So if a student raises their hand to ask a question, they would start of with “선생님…”. This is really no different than other parts of Korean culture and language because most people in the workplace are addressed with a  certain title, not by the person’s name.

As written in the graphic, 선생님 is the most common and formal way of saying teacher in Korean. For a more casual/informal way to call a teacher, students might use “샘/쌤”. This is often used by students who are really comfortable and have a good relationship with their teacher.

Other vocabulary in this infographic:

교장 선생님 (gyo-jang-seon-saeng-nim) = Principal

교감 선생님 (gyo-gam-seon-saeng-nim) = Vice Principal

부장 선생님 (bu-jang- seon-saeng-nim) = Head Teacher

교수 (gyo-su) = Professor

Whether you want to understand basic words in K-pop or K-dramas, impress your Korean friends, or simply deepen your connection to the Korean culture, the Korean Language Starter Pack ensures that you quickly learn and retain the most commonly used Korean words and phrases today. Click here to learn more.