An investor meeting in Korea needs a Korean–English interpreter who knows fund terms like net IRR, DPI, and capital call and converts 억 and 조 accurately; test each candidate on your own deck and an LP question, in both directions, before booking.
As of
Author: Paul Dahoon Kim (Founder, MetaPret. Working Korean-English interpreter, ~100 engagements)
Last updated: 2026-10-09
Read time: ~6 minutes
Summary: For foreign managers pitching Korean LPs and Korean companies meeting foreign investors: the fund terms and number units that trip interpreters, what LPs ask, the glossary to send, confidentiality, and a skill test before booking.
An investor meeting in Korea needs a Korean–English interpreter who already knows fund vocabulary and can convert 억 and 조 into millions and billions without a pause. Test each candidate on a short passage from your own deck and a mock LP question, in both directions, played once, recorded, and scored against a rubric. Send the deck, a term glossary, and the NDA well before the meeting.
Who this guide is for
Foreign GPs and asset managers presenting a fund to Korean institutional LPs (public pension funds, insurers, mutual aid associations or 공제회), Korean companies running a roadshow or non-deal roadshow (NDR) with foreign investors, and Korean LP teams doing due diligence on a foreign manager. One side speaks English, the other Korean, and the meeting turns on numbers and defined terms.
What makes an investor meeting different
Fund terms are not general vocabulary
Fund terms have exact definitions, and several sound alike. The ones that go wrong most often:
- IRR vs MOIC. IRR is an annualised return that reflects the timing of cash flows; MOIC (multiple on invested capital) is a multiple such as 2.1x. Rendering "2.1x" as a percentage changes the track record the LP hears.
- Gross vs net. Gross is before fees and carry; net is what the LP receives, and what LPs compare. Dropping "net" from "net IRR" is a costly slip.
- DPI and TVPI. DPI (distributions to paid-in) is cash already returned. TVPI adds remaining NAV. LPs ask about the gap between the two.
- Committed vs called. Commitment (약정, 약정액) is what the LP agrees to; a capital call or drawdown (출자 요청, often just 캐피탈콜) is the GP requesting part of it; putting capital into a fund is 출자. Mixing them changes the amount.
- Hurdle, carry, fees. Hurdle or preferred return is commonly 기준수익률, carried interest 성과보수, management fee 관리보수.
- Management fee offset. Transaction or monitoring fees credited against the management fee. It is not a discount, though it often gets rendered as one.
- Vintage, NAV, co-investment. 빈티지, 순자산가치 (often just NAV), 공동투자.
Korean LPs have their own terms: 위탁운용사 (a manager selected by an LP to run a mandate), 블라인드펀드 (a blind pool fund, assets not identified at commitment), and 수익자총회 (the investors' meeting of a trust-type fund). An interpreter should recognise these on first hearing.
Numbers and units
Korean groups large numbers by ten thousand: 만 (10⁴), 억 (10⁸), 조 (10¹²). English groups by thousand. So 1억 won is 100 million won, 1,000억 is 100 billion, and 1조 is 1 trillion; USD 200 million is 2억 달러 and USD 1.5 billion is 15억 달러. Under time pressure, this is where zeros get lost.
150bp, 1.5%, and 1.5x are three different numbers. A good interpreter writes figures down as they hear them. Agree in advance that currency conversions are left to the speaker.
What LPs actually ask, and why rendering matters
The Q&A is where the allocation decision forms. Korean LPs commonly ask about:
- Track record. Realised vs unrealised deals, net returns by vintage, attribution of past deals to the current team.
- Team stability. Departures, key person provisions, succession, and how carry is shared inside the team.
- Fees and alignment. Fee basis after the investment period, hurdle, offset, GP commitment, co-investment rights.
If the LP asks directly about two senior departures and the rendering becomes "could you share a bit about the team?", the GP gives a general answer to a specific concern, and the LP notices. If a GP's hedge ("that is the target, not a forecast") is rendered as a firm statement, it becomes a commitment the GP never made. The interpreter carries the exact weight of each question and answer.
Presentation, Q&A, and format
Presentations usually run in consecutive, a slide at a time, and Q&A stays consecutive because precision on figures matters more than speed. A roadshow with many meetings a day repeats the same deck, which helps accuracy but tires the interpreter, so plan breaks or a second interpreter. Large investor days with a booth move to simultaneous, with equipment and two interpreters per language pair. See Consecutive vs simultaneous. Presentation and negotiation work like this is a typical fit for a Senior-grade interpreter.
Confidentiality
Investor materials carry performance data, portfolio details, and, for listed companies, information that may not be public. Have the interpreter sign an NDA before anything is sent, and state in writing that materials are not forwarded or kept after the engagement. If your compliance team keeps a list of people who received non-public information, add the interpreter.
Where to look
Each route can produce a good interpreter, and each needs the same skill check.
- Interpretation agencies in Seoul. Ask how they assess fund vocabulary, not just the language pair.
- Referrals from placement agents, law firms, and other GPs. Ask what kind of meeting the interpreter handled.
- Professional associations. AIIC, the international conference interpreters' association, keeps a directory; graduate school alumni networks are another route.
- Platforms. Ask whether skill is tested on finance material and whether you see the result before choosing.
Confirm the interpreter is eligible to work in Korea and available on all roadshow dates.
How to check skill before booking
- Use your own material. Two minutes from your deck, such as a track record slide with gross and net IRR, MOIC, DPI, and fund size, plus a Korean LP question about fees or departures.
- Test both directions. The presenter's English into Korean, and the LP's Korean question into English.
- Play it once and record. No replay, no preparation time.
- Score against a rubric. Content fidelity (every figure, unit, and "net/gross" intact), target-language fluency (correct Korean fund terms, natural English), and delivery (pace, register, how directly the question came through). Have a bilingual colleague from your finance team check the figures.
For a full walkthrough, see How to verify an interpreter's skill before hiring.
What to send beforehand
- Final deck and DDQ answers, in English and Korean if you have both.
- A term-sheet glossary. Each defined term from the LPA or term sheet, your preferred Korean rendering, and the figure it attaches to. Mark which figures are gross and which are net.
- Attendee list with names, titles, and institutions.
- Expected hard questions and the agreed answers.
- Sensitive points. Portfolio names under NDA and anything not to be said.
- NDA and handling rules, signed before materials go out.
A 30-minute briefing call the day before, walking through the track record slide, is worth more than any single document.
How MetaPret handles an investor meeting request
When you submit a request with the language pair, field, city, dates, and format, MetaPret builds a short interpretation test from that engagement's field (for an investor meeting, finance material), covering both directions of the pair. Candidates are sourced and tested for the city and dates of each request. Each passage plays once, and the recordings are scored in each direction on the three axes above.
Assignment runs in this order: eligibility to work at the location, availability on the dates, then the interpretation test. On a private comparison page, you see each candidate whose test was confirmed, under a pseudonym, with their scores. Names appear after you pick one. Open requests are posted on the MetaPret board.
Verified supply is deepest in Seoul today; verification travels to wherever your meeting is. The full method is at How MetaPret tests. See also Finance interpreters and the Seoul page.
FAQ (FAQPage schema)
Q: Does an investor meeting need a finance-specialist interpreter?
A: In practice, yes. Fund presentations turn on defined terms such as net IRR, MOIC, DPI, and capital call. An interpreter who drops "net" or confuses commitment with called capital changes the numbers the LP hears.
Q: Consecutive or simultaneous for an LP meeting in Seoul?
A: Consecutive suits most LP meetings and roadshow sessions. Simultaneous suits large investor days with a booth and needs two interpreters per language pair.
Q: How do interpreters handle 억 and 조?
A: 1억 is 100 million, 1,000억 is 100 billion, and 1조 is 1 trillion. A prepared interpreter writes figures down as they hear them and leaves currency conversion to the speaker.
Q: Should the interpreter sign an NDA?
A: Yes, before any materials are sent, with written rules that materials are not forwarded or kept after the engagement.
Q: How do I test an interpreter for an investor meeting?
A: Use two minutes of your own deck plus a Korean LP question, in both directions, played once and recorded. Check every figure and every "net" or "gross" against the original.
About the author
Paul Dahoon Kim is the founder of MetaPret and a working Korean-English interpreter with around 100 professional engagements across military intelligence, international cooperation, and corporate business interpretation. He still personally takes on a small number of high-stakes engagements every quarter to stay current with the field.
About page · Contact: cs@metapret.net · LinkedIn