[Korean Culture & Language] Titles in Korea

 


Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!


How do you usually address someone? Do you call them by their names or say “hey”?


There are specific rules for Koreans to address someone. Everyone should be called by their titles like “언니,” “오빠,” “선배님,” “교수님”. That is except for their friends. And in Korea “friends” only refers to people the same age. If you call someone “friend” and they are younger or older, they would look at you weird and say “You’re older than me!” or “You’re younger than me!” 


It is shocking for a Korean to see a student call their professor by their first name too. It is rude in Korea because professors are not just a higher status, but are usually older. 


This is all because Korea has a 장유유서 culture, where seniority is crucial. Seniority can be based on age or position, and you call people accordingly. If a woman is older than you, you call them “언니” or “누나”. If a man is older than you, you call them “오빠” or “형”. However, you can’t call them by name or “야,” which means “hey”. 


A popular K-drama “My ID is Gangnam Beauty” reflects this cultural expectation well.. “선배” culture can be really bad sometimes. The literal definition of “선배” is “senior,” but in Korea it’s usually someone in a higher grade. 


It’s one thing to want to respect the elders, and another to be forced to respect and obey them. 


(39) [드라마픽] 똥군기 잡는 꼰대 선배 퇴치! 차은우 사이다 모먼트 | 내 아이디는 강남미인 | JTBC 180803 방송 외 - YouTube


This is a cool scene because Kyung-seok saves Mi-rae from the bad “선배” who is also a “꼰대”. (“꼰대” is a fun word, too. It comes from the English word “Condescending,” but it’s actually calling someone a “know-it-all” or “boomer”.) If you call someone a “꼰대,” it’s like saying “Okay, boomer”. In this scene, Mi-rae followed the “선배” in the room only because the he was a “선배” and he asked her to. Because “선배”is above you, you are expected to obey what they say or else you will get in trouble. It’s so cool how Kyung-seok comes into save her though!


There are many other titles like 아가씨, 아저씨, 아주머니, 할머니, 할아버지, and we should use the titles accordingly. We will get into those in the next article. 

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