EPS TOPIK Vocabulary: Daily, Workplace and Safety Words

What Vocabulary Does EPS-TOPIK Test?

EPS-TOPIK tests the Korean a worker needs to live and work safely in Korea, not academic Korean. HRD Korea names three content areas: Korean language ability, understanding of Korean culture, and occupational safety and health. The reading and listening sections then put those areas into real situations, such as reading a sign, following a work instruction or understanding a short conversation.

That mix explains why a general beginner list is not enough. Everyday words such as 시간 (time) and 돈 (money) appear, but so do workplace words such as 기계 (machine) and 조립 (assembly), and safety words such as 위험 (danger) and 출입 금지 (no entry). The listening section also has candidates match a description to a picture, so a word is tested with its picture or its sign, not only with a gloss.

The groups below follow the test. Work through them in order, and treat each word as something you can see in a scene, not just a translation. The official Standard Textbook for EPS-TOPIK, published by HRD Korea, uses the same areas, so these words fit the chapters you will study there.

This page belongs to the EPS TOPIK section. When you have the words, the next step is the how to pass EPS TOPIK study plan, which puts them into a schedule.

Everyday Words You Must Know

These ten words appear in almost every daily-life question. They are the safest place to start, and three of them (안녕하세요, 감사합니다, 죄송합니다) are full phrases you will use from the first day.

Work and Tools

These ten words describe the factory floor and the workshop. The reading section often asks candidates to match a tool or a task to a picture, so learn each word with a simple scene.

Safety and Warning Words

These ten words carry the safety content that HRD Korea lists as a tested area. Many of them appear on signs, so a good study method is to make a small sign for each word and read it aloud.

Workplace Phrases

These ten phrases let you survive a workday even with limited grammar. They are polite and safe to use with a supervisor, because each one ends in a polite form.

The words only work when you can say them, and several change sound in normal speech, so the next section covers pronunciation.

What Are the Three Content Areas in Detail?

HRD Korea names three content areas for EPS-TOPIK, and the four groups above map onto them. Knowing the areas helps you decide what to study when your time is short.

The first area is Korean language ability. This is ordinary beginner Korean: greetings, numbers, time, family, shopping, directions and simple grammar. The everyday group above covers the core of it, and the official textbook teaches it chapter by chapter with dialogues.

The second area is understanding of Korean culture. This area checks that a candidate can follow the small social rules that come up at work, such as polite forms, greetings, and how to ask for help or repeat a request. The workplace phrases group supports this area directly.

The third area is occupational safety and health, and it is the one candidates most often overlook. It covers signs, warnings, protective equipment and safety instructions, all of which appear in both the reading and the listening sections. The safety group above is built for this area.

A practical way to use the three areas is to give each one a fixed share of study time. A common split is half to language ability, a quarter to safety, and a quarter to culture and phrases. Adjust it to your weak points, but do not drop safety, because those questions are predictable and the words are finite.

How Do You Pronounce These Words?

Korean pronunciation changes some sounds at the end of a syllable. Because the listening half of EPS-TOPIK is spoken at a natural speed, these changes matter. The table shows the words that surprise learners, with the way they really come out and the rule behind the change. Rule names follow the National Institute of Korean Language (국립국어원) standard pronunciation rules (표준 발음법).

Three worked examples show the words inside full sentences. Play each line, then read it aloud and slow the clip if a sound change is hard to hear.

A useful habit is to read a sentence aloud twice: once in your head from the spelling, then once from the bracketed sounds. When the two readings match, your ear is ready for the listening section. If the audio seems fast, slow it to 0.8 speed, listen again, then return to normal speed. Do this with three or four sentences a day, and the common sound changes become automatic within a few weeks.

How Should You Study This List?

Study these words in four steps, and keep the audio on, because half the test is listening.

1. Learn Hangul first. Reading the alphabet quickly is the base for both sections. If the letters are new, the Hangul lessons cover them.
2. Learn each word with a picture or a sign. For safety words, draw the sign: a red border for 위험, a green square for 비상구. The reading section tests signs and pictures.
3. Say the word aloud after the audio. Copy the sound change, not the spelling. For 출입 금지, practise [추립끔지] until it is automatic.
4. Read the word again in the official textbook. The Standard Textbook for EPS-TOPIK puts each word in a sentence and a situation, which is how the test uses it.

An expert rule of thumb: learn a word with the sentence you will hear it in. 위험 alone is a gloss; 위험하니까 조심하세요 is a real instruction, and instructions are what the listening section plays.

What Mistakes Do Learners Make?

Five mistakes show up again and again among EPS-TOPIK candidates.

• Studying only general beginner Korean. The test adds workplace and safety words that a general course meets late or never. Add this list to your textbook.
• Ignoring signs and pictures. The reading section shows photos, signs and notices. Learning a word without its sign leaves half the question unanswered.
• Learning without listening. Reading a word silently does not prepare you for the listening half. Use the audio every time.
• Skipping the sound changes. Hearing [추립끔지] as "churip geumji" in your head will slow you down on test day. Practise the spoken form.
• Translating word for word. Work-site Korean is short and direct. Learn the phrase as one unit rather than assembling it from single words.

What This List Does Not Cover

Forty words are a starting set, not the whole test. EPS-TOPIK draws on a wider vocabulary that the official textbook teaches over its chapters, including numbers, counters, family terms and many everyday nouns and verbs. Treat this page as the high-value core, and keep the textbook as your main list.

This page also does not quote the test's scoring or eligibility rules, because those change. They are explained, with the cautions, on the EPS TOPIK hub page. Grammar is outside the scope too: the phrases here are fixed expressions, and how to build your own sentences is taught in the grammar section, not here.

Finally, the sound-change notes cover the words on this page only. Any Korean word with a final consonant can change sound, so as your vocabulary grows, keep the standard pronunciation rules in reach and check new words as you meet them.

Practice

The flashcard deck below uses the same 40 words as the tables. Recall the meaning from the Hangul, then the Hangul from the meaning, then take the quiz.

What to Learn Next

These words feed straight into the how to pass EPS TOPIK plan, which turns the list into a weekly schedule. For general test vocabulary, the TOPIK flashcard decks work between sessions, and for how this test compares with the main exam, read TOPIK vs EPS TOPIK. More general words live in Korean Vocabulary, and the EPS TOPIK hub gathers the rest of this section.

The Bottom Line

EPS TOPIK vocabulary is a working vocabulary: daily words, tools, safety terms and short polite phrases. Learn each word with a picture or a sign, say it aloud with the right sound changes, and meet it again in the official textbook. Forty words will not cover the test on their own, but these are the ones that unlock the most questions, and the study plan shows how to build the rest around them.

Frequently Asked Questions