Korean Language | An Appropriate Translation For “You”
In Korean language there is no appropriate way to address someone older than yourself as ‘you’. ‘You’ in Korean language is either ‘nu’ (rhymes with ‘the’) or ‘ja-ne’, both of which are informal and are only to be used among peers. There is also the more formal ‘dangshin’, which is more often than not used by mature married couples. Neither of them should ever be used with a stranger as it would be insulting or just plain strange. Thus, speaking to people can prove to be a challenge, as one must always use the third person when addressing them. This is fine as long as you know their name or their title (teacher, manager, CEO), or if it is appropriate to address them as Sir or Ms. and the like. However, other times this lack of a suitable word can lead to unnecessary awkwardness.
Korean Language | An Alternative to Translation
For instance, picture yourself on a plane from Tokyo to Seoul. A young kid is in the seat beside you, and you have a conversation in Korean. Usually, in a conversation in English, someone younger can say to someone older, “I’m a student in middle school. What about you?” However, since you are both wanting to stick to the art of respect but unwilling to go into full formal language territory, the kid does something interesting: he says everything about himself in Korean, but when he wants to ask “what about you” he says the word “you” in English. This is approximately the equivalent of someone saying in English, “What about moi?” or “I’ll see you mañana”. As you can imagine, this form of addressing you is awkward in itself, but in the kid’s eyes, it was better than deviating from the rules of correct Korean behavior.
If you are an aspiring Korean speaker or even dealing with Koreans over business – even when using a Korean interpreting services provider – it would be worth keeping these potential problems in mind in order to avoid embarrassing yourself or even worse, insulting the other person.
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