For you, who want to live on Jeju but find daily life hard
You've settled on Jeju, but at the market, with your neighbours, at work — it's clearly Korean, and you still can't follow it?
모다말
Modamal
Hear Jeju.
Understand the moment.
The most natural way to learn and translate Jeju-eo
500+
Real Jeju expressions
4
Learning modes
100%
Authentic voices
Why Modamal
It sounds like Korean —
so why can't I understand it?
Jeju-eo is Korean, and yet it sounds nothing like it.
Intonation, endings, vocabulary — that gap reaches much deeper into daily life than you'd expect.
For you, travelling on Jeju and not catching a word the market grandmother says
You meet her eye at the five-day market and have no idea what she just said?
For you, curious about Jeju-eo but put off by stiff classes
Dialect courses, dictionaries, academic papers — all too hard and too far away? Try something lighter: five minutes on your commute, like a game.
For you, who want to hold on to a disappearing language
Jeju-eo is listed by UNESCO as an endangered language. It lives in the stories of Jeju's older native speakers — and if we don't record it now, it is gone for good.
💬
Difference becomes misunderstanding, misunderstanding becomes distance
People who move to Jeju say it again and again. "The intonation was so strong I thought they were angry." "I had no idea what they meant, so I just smiled." Small everyday language barriers close relationships. Understanding the language opens them back up, little by little.
🛠️
At work on Jeju, language is a safety issue.
For foreign workers in farming, fishing and construction, understanding an instruction is directly tied to staying safe.
🗺️
For a traveller, language is the depth of the experience
The moment you catch one phrase a local actually uses, a trip turns from sightseeing into an exchange.
"Hokkeum-man gidaryeobwa" — once you know what it means, the market grandmother's gesture reads completely differently.
🎧 Listen
Listen to real voices
Hear a real Jeju local and choose what it means. Every clip is natural speech from a range of speakers.
- ✓
Voices across generations
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Replay and playback-speed control
🌐 Translate
Live Jeju-eo translation
See Jeju-eo → standard Korean → English at a glance, with notes on the dialect's distinctive endings and vocabulary.
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Notes on Jeju-eo endings (-kkwang, -masseum, -gang, …)
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Detailed explanations of how it differs from standard Korean
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Saved history of recent translations
✍️ Write
Write it yourself
Put a given sentence into Jeju-eo yourself. Use the word bank or type freely to build up your range of expression.
- ✓
Free writing with word-card hints
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Mistake analysis and suggested alternatives
- ✓
Adjustable difficulty (single words → whole sentences)
🔗 Match
Match the meanings
A game-style drill that pairs Jeju words with standard Korean. Repeated exposure fixes the vocabulary naturally.
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Timed rounds to sharpen focus
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Extra practice on your weak words
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Themed sets (market, restaurant, directions, …)
📱 App
Anywhere, in five minutes
If a class feels like too much, start with the app. Pick today's session from the home screen — five minutes on the commute is enough.
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Progress tracking and learning streaks
- ✓
Per-session accuracy and a review word list
- ✓
Reminders to keep the habit going
Authenticity
Recorded by the people
who actually speak it
Every clip in Modamal was recorded by a Jeju resident.
Hear the living language you can't get from a book.
이거 얼마꽝?
How much is this?
호끔만 기다려봐
Wait just a moment
무사?
Why?
이거 얼마꽝?How much is this?
호끔만A little
-마씸Polite ending
도새기Pig
무사why
Carrying a fading language forward
Jeju-eo is listed by UNESCO as an endangered language. Modamal is a learning app and, at the same time, a record of Jeju's language and culture for the next generation.
✦ UNESCO endangered-language preservation project
Passed the “Startup for All” preliminary round
So we decided to build it ourselves.
We saw first-hand how much language holds back the foreigners who live on Jeju.
A Jeju-eo learning app, a translator, and real recorded voices
— we're a student team bringing all three together.
Get notified before launch
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Modamal is being developed as part of “Startup for All,” an initiative led by Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
Free · Coming to iOS & Android · 1-minute survey