How does age work in korea

You can download the following list here. Why do many Korean people ask your age when you meet them for the first time? How does age work in Korea? Sillyejiman naiga eotteoke doeseyo? Excuse me, but how old are you? Unlike in Western cultures where you use the same level of politeness regardless of age, in Korea there are various levels of politeness. This is one of the reasons why age asking is so important to native Koreans—they need to find out the age so that they can figure out how to address one another.

Usually, you will find that your classmates are the same age as you—you are a part of the same age group with the same experiences-everyone goes to school together, and moves up in age together at the beginning of every year.

It is a great ice breaker and you find yourself becoming close friends when you find out that you are the same age. Myeot nyeonsaengiseyo? What year were you born? This is a common question asked by native Koreans when asking age, as they will likely figure out how old you are in Korean age by the year you were born. So instead of answering with your actual age, you could simply reply by giving your birth year as an answer—just let them know the year you were born, or you could just cite the last two numbers of the year you were born: Example:.

In Korea, the school year starts in March. This means the deadline to make it to a certain grade would be late February. For example, say a child was born in February, The parents used to have two options—did they want their child to enter school as the youngest, or did they wait a year and let their child enter school as the oldest student?

Depending on the decision that has been made, the child ended up going to school with friends who were born in , or, those who were actually a year older than them. Just remember that these phrases are also used by native Koreans to refer to blood siblings, as well as non-related people who are senior to them. Now if you ask someone their age and realize that they are younger than you, you can take the initiative and address them informally.

However, in most cases, you will likely continue to use polite phrases until the recipient asks you to speak to them informally. And if you find out that someone is older than you, remember to use polite phrases and suffixes. Please note: JavaScript is required to post comments. Your Next Lesson. First Encounters Throwback Thursday. Learn about greeting someone for the first time. Second, you age another year because of the turn of the calendar year. In contrast, if you are a baby born in the USA, then you are considered to be one day old on the day after you are born.

Your age increases by one each time your date of birth passes. In Korea, on the day of your birth, you are considered one year old; the time you spent in the womb counts as the first year of your life despite it only being nine months. Because of this, your Korean age is always at least one year higher than your international age.

Then the change of the year on January 1st automatically advances your Korean age by one. You can read more about Korean months here. One of the easiest and simplest ways of knowing your age in Korean is to add one year to the current year then subtract your year of birth.

This method will make you one year older than your Western age. And lastly, use the Korean age calculator. Pick whichever one you like the best among these.

We recommend using the Korean age calculator last. Using the Korean Age Calculator is super easy; just input your birth year. We recommend using the formulas above first, and then check your answer by using the Korean age calculator after.

If you want to calculate a Korean age on a different date, use formulas 1 and 2. In this example, your birthday is September 21st, Knowing how to say your Korean age in the Korean language is really useful to know when learning how to speak Korean.

You can say your Korean age by using this sentence. The Korean age calculator and formulas above will help you get the correct Korean age to use. You can substitute your age by using the chart below. Actually, the idea behind this system is not that complicated. There are two main differences between the Korean age system and the Western age system:. Let's go through a quick example of both kinds of calculations so that the question "What is my Korean age?

Let's say someone was born in the year , and the current year is In the Western system, someone born in will be 26 years old in Let's look at a real-world example. If you're a fan of Korean culture, you might be curious to find out how old is Jungkook. Here's one more striking example of the differences between Western age and Korean age. In Korean age, however, you would say that this 1-day-old baby is two years old. That is because:. When you meet someone for the first time in Korea, one of the first questions you hear will probably be " How old are you?

This applies even in totally informal situations and close relationships. To avoid confusion, when talking with people from other countries, many Koreans ask for their "international age" and make the calculations themselves.

Interestingly, while Korean age is the one Koreans usually refer to in conversations, the legal age limits for such things as drinking, smoking , driving, etc. As for the extra year added on January 1st, some experts claim that it is connected to the Chinese year calendar cycle.

They believe that ancient Koreans placed their year of birth within this calendar cycle at a time with no regular calendars. Therefore, they tended to ignore their day of birth and add a whole year on the first day of the lunar calendar instead.

As Koreans later began to observe the western calendars, the extra year is now added on January 1st.