How Old Are You? I mean, in K-Age.
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What is the first question people ask each other on their first meeting? Saved from the champion only by ¡°What is your name¡±, there is ¡°How old are you¡± in Korea.
Sometimes we even ask age before name. It may be regarded as a personal question or even a rude one in Western culture, but between Koreans, you should know their age not to be rude.
Age matters in Korea. Koreans respect elder people and take care of younger people. In Korean language, there are two ways of speaking. One is polite way(Á¸´ñ¸»), another is casual way(¹Ý¸»). Younger person is supposed to speak in polite way to the elder counterpart. That is why Koreans try to figure out which one is older in personal relationship. (Age also differentiates the titles we use to call each other such as ¡®Oppa(older male)¡¯ or ¡®Dongsaeng(younger person)¡¯. Let me cover this on the next column.)
Understanding Korean Age System
But you know what? You may not be the same age you were in your home country, when you come to Korea. It is unexpectedly complicated to decide how old you are in Korea. We have unique age-calculating system which is not even shared with nearby Asian countries like China or Japan. Let me explain how to calculate Korean age. It might sound absurd at first but actually quite legitimate and not that difficult.
1. Your age +1 : After Birthday
When a baby is born in Korea, he/she is already one year old, instead of one day old. Because babies stay almost a year in womb, we give them some credit. You should add one year to your original age, when you are in Korea.
2. Your age +2: Before Birthday
However, if you did not celebrate your birthday yet, you should plus two years to your original age. This is about WHEN you get older. In Western culture, you get older on your birthday. But in Korea, you get older on the New Year¡¯s Day!
All Koreans equally get older on January 1st. It does not matter when your birthday is. Every Korean born in the same year shares the same age for the whole year. We say that we become older by having a bowl of Ddeokguk, traditional soup made with rice cake. There is a typical childhood episode about Ddeokguk that kids finish several bowls of Ddeokguk with the hope to be an adult quickly. (I did that too!)
There is another issue about different calendar system. Although we celebrate Lunar New Year¡¯s Day as a major national holiday, Solar New Year¡¯s Day makes us older. But still, some families consider they grow older on Lunar New Year¡¯s Day. They even celebrate their birthdays according to lunar calendar. My parents still do, while my brother and I celebrate solar birthdays.
So¡¦ How old am I? I was born in 1990 and already celebrated birthday in 2014. I am 24 internationally and 25 in Korean way. (I can even be 26 because of the ¡®Early Enrollment¡¯ system for the kids born in January or February. This is the tricky part that makes Korean age 100 times complicated. I will explain this in the next column.)
Don¡¯t worry; to a math-sucker-like-me¡¯s relief, Koreans officially use international-standard age which is called ¡®man(¸¸)¡¯ age, meaning ¡®full¡¯ age. So you can keep your original age in Korea!
In the next column, I will cover the titles differ according to age and the tricky Early Enrollment System.