How to Say “Seeing is believing” in Korean: 백문이 불여일견

백문이 불여일견

baengmuni buryeoilgyeon

Situation: Proverbs & idiomsLevel: Advanced (TOPIK 5–6)

Meaning

Seeing is believing.

This is the Korean reading of 百聞不如一見: hearing something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once. It is often used to encourage travel.

Romanization follows the Revised Romanization system and is a guide to pronunciation.

Syllables: 7 · Words: 2

In natural speech, sounds link and shift across words. The table below reads each word separately, as it sounds when said on its own.

Syllable	Letters (consonant + vowel + final)	Romanization
백문이
백	ㅂ+ㅐ+ㄱ	[뱅] baeng
문	ㅁ+ㅜ+ㄴ	[무] mu
이	ㅇ+ㅣ	[니] ni
불여일견
불	ㅂ+ㅜ+ㄹ	bul
여	ㅇ+ㅕ	yeo
일	ㅇ+ㅣ+ㄹ	il
견	ㄱ+ㅕ+ㄴ	gyeon

A ㅇ at the start of a syllable is silent; at the end of a syllable it sounds like “ng”.

Nasalization: a final ㄱ, ㄷ or ㅂ becomes ㅇ, ㄴ or ㅁ before ㄴ or ㅁ (and a ㄹ after ㅁ or ㅇ becomes ㄴ). 백문이 → [뱅무니]
Linking: when a syllable ending in a consonant (patchim) is followed by a syllable that starts with a vowel, the consonant moves over to the next syllable. 문이 → [무니]

Style: Set expressionSentence type: Statement or set phrase

There is no verb ending, so the phrase has no politeness level of its own: it is a short fixed expression or a noun phrase.

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Question 1 What does “백문이 불여일견” mean?

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Answer: Seeing is believing

Question 2 How do you say “Seeing is believing” in Korean?

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Answer: 백문이 불여일견 baengmuni buryeoilgyeon

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