So, having been in Seoul for 3 months now, this is a question I hear a lot from other foreigners, so I wanted to share a little bit of insight from my journey so far.
FYI – I came to Seoul in February with ZERO Korean.
Three months later, I can do the basics. I can read Hangul, I can order coffee and food at restaurants, I have a good base knowledge of words and sentence structure, and I can use past, present, and future tenses in sentences.
My weakness currently is making any form of conversation. I can build statements, but I can’t really hold a conversation yet.
Listening is hard! Koreans speak fast, and lots of things sound incredibly similar at this stage.
However, in answer to the question, I have not struggled with life here despite having limited to zero Korean knowledge, and I want to put that myth to bed.
I came here with my wife, who is also pregnant. We’ve had to get visas, go hospital shopping, find our apartment, decorate it, and prepare for the start of our family. All of this has been possible with a little bit of hard work and determination.
Of course, we’ve needed help along the way from locals — but it does get easier, by the way.
I’m honestly quite proud of how far we’ve come so far, and although on the face of it my conversation skills are terrible, it’s slow progress.
SOME RESOURCES:
TTMIK – I was actually lucky enough to meet the founder of TTMIK, Hyunwoo, a few times. He’s really inspiring, and I’m using 4–5 TTMIK books — mainly The First 500 Words in Korean, which is superb.
Conversing with Teachers – It’s not a resource, but general communication — no matter how broken — with locals is something that cannot be understated.
Podcasts – I listen and absorb content on the way to work. I mix it up with different voices and episodes from various accounts.
Post-it Notes – The old-fashioned way. Our new apartment is caked in Post-its, and you know what? It honestly works so well! I much prefer this to Anki myself. Getting away from the screen and into real life — bathroom doors, fridge, cupboards, bedroom, office — cover the house, no matter how ugly it may appear.
Here is a pic of the TTMIK team who I met recently! Super nice people and a great team 
