Waygo helps you hunt down some <em>bulgogi</em> with new Korean translation trickery

Waygo, the neat augmented reality translation app, has just added support for translating Korean into English. That complements Waygo’s existing skills in Chinese-to-English and Japanese-to-English.

As with Waygo’s other languages, the Korean translation works best on signs, menus, and random text you see about your travels. You’ll still need to use a phrasebook on your travels to Japan, China, or Korea, but Waygo will help you in a way that a phrasebook cannot – by helping your eyes make sense of the text all around you. So if you’re in a restaurant with a Korean-only menu, the app can help you find the bulgogi (shredded beef barbecued at the table) and point to it with all the confidence of someone about to get a face-full of succulent beef.

This is what it looks like translating a sign on a door:

Ryan Rogowski, CEO and co-founder of the Sino-US startup, says that Korea is experiencing booming travel growth, which prompted the team to add in Korean as Waygo’s newest language. The app now claims to hold 1.5 million translations across its three languages.

See: Duolingo brings free English language learning to 5 new Asian markets

We first tried out the app in December 2012 when it started out exclusively for translating Chinese menus. The startup went through 500 Startups’ accelerator and later secured US$$900,000 in seed funding from 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, and AngelVest.

Waygo is free to test out on iOS and Android, but lifetime use costs US$6.99 as an in-app purchase, or just US$1.99 for a week of unlimited use.