Busan instead of Seoul — bad idea for learning?

Busan is a genuinely good choice and the accent worry is overblown. The fewer-foreigners point is real but it cuts the opposite way to what you expect.

On the accent: Busan speech (경상도 사투리) differs in intonation and some endings, but classroom Korean at the universities is standard Seoul Korean. Your teachers teach standard, your textbook is standard, and TOPIK is standard. What changes is what you hear on the street — and being exposed to a regional accent while learning standard is a benefit, not a handicap. Students who only ever hear Seoul Korean struggle the first time they leave Seoul.

On cost, the difference is real: rent runs 20 to 35 percent below Seoul for equivalent quality, tuition is typically 200,000 to 500,000 won less per term, and eating out is cheaper. Over a year that is a meaningful amount of money.

On fewer foreigners — this is the part worth reframing. Fewer foreigners means fewer people who will switch to English with you, fewer foreigner bubbles to fall into, and more situations where Korean is the only option. Most students who have done both say their Korean improved faster outside Seoul for exactly this reason. Language exchange partners exist in Busan; there are just fewer of them, and they are keener.

What you actually give up: the density of Seoul. Fewer schools to switch between, fewer part-time job options, fewer events and meetups, and you are further from Incheon for travel. If you want a big city with everything at 2am, Seoul is that and Busan is not.

And the thing people underrate: Busan is by the sea, it is warmer in winter by several degrees, and it is a noticeably calmer place to live. For some students that is the whole argument.