Dong-Yoon Lee, knows Korean
In South Korea
-We are considered one year old on the day we are born. All parents follow this custom with their newborn babies.

在韩国,我们出生那天被认为是一岁,所有的父母对他们的新生儿都遵循这一习俗。

-All children are taught about honorific by parents, strictly and in detail, right after they have learnt to talk. It’s too usual to notice that it is a important feature of us. For honorific, we have 7 level system and we use 4 of them when talking and writing. In historical dramas, all levels are used.

所有的孩子在学会说话之后,父母都会严格、详细地教他们敬语。这对我们太平常了,以至于没有注意到这是我们的一个重要特征。关于敬语,我们有7个级别,我们在说话和写作时使用4个级别。在历史剧中,所有的敬语级别都会被使用。


Kids usually bow for greeting.But these girls are not doing that. They are just making up for their insufficient sleeping time.

孩子们打招呼时通常鞠躬,但这些女孩不这么做,她们只是在弥补睡眠时间的不足。


And the variation of suffixes is complex. The Table below gives the usual variation of ‘Do’ in Korean. But that is just a part of a whole. All children are good at this. We know the difficulty of Korean language well. So, we are sincerely surprised by foreigners that are good at Korean. But the rules are more regular than in the Japanese language.

(韩语)后缀的变化是复杂的。下表给出了韩语中“Do”的常见变化,但那只是整体的一部分。所有的孩子都擅长这个。我们很了解韩语的困难,所以,我们对擅长韩语的外国人感到由衷的惊讶。但跟日语相比,韩语更有规则。


-Usually, children have not learnt the ability to read and write scxts only after entering school, but before entering school by practicing it with the help of their family.The children are very impressed that the scxts they learn are the scxts invented by the king who had pity for the people, and that the scxts are written in a world-class scxting system. This is the first moment at which Koreans start to become respectful towards historical figures and to be proud of their nation. Two other things are the excellence of their ferment dish Kimchi, and the records of Yi Sun-sin''s perfect victories.

一般来说,孩子并不是在入学后才学会读写文本的能力,而是在家庭的帮助下在入学前学会的。让孩子们非常印象深刻的是,他们学习的文字是由同情人民的国王发明的文字系统,这套文字系统是一个世界级的文字系统。这是韩国人第一次开始尊重历史人物,为自己的国家感到自豪。另外两件事是他们卓越的发酵菜——泡菜,以及李舜臣的完美胜利记录。

-The color of hair is just black. (The photo is taken from North Korea.) Their love and pride of homogeneity is strengthened without reluctance.

头发的颜色都是黑色,这张照片拍摄于朝鲜。他们对同质化的爱和自豪在自愿的情况下得到了加强。


-Old people eat chili pepper with chili paste. Though sometimes they come across a very hot chili pepper.
We also like raw garlic with chili paste. But It is not that everyone likes it. Per person we consume 8 kilograms of garlic yearly.
We often eat food wrapped in leaves.Various leaves make us happy.
We like cold noodle(NeangMyun.). There are many kinds of cold noodle dishes.
We eat instant hot noodle much. An average Korean consumes 76 hot noodle portions per year.Once a dish in a restaurant was very hot. My mom told me it was because the restaurant cooks would add capsaicine paste, a concentrated substance extracted from chili pepper to make a dish taste hotter.

老人们吃辣椒酱,虽然有时他们会遇到非常辣的辣椒。我们也喜欢生蒜配辣椒酱,但并不是所有人都喜欢吃。我们每人每年消耗8公斤大蒜。我们经常吃用树叶包裹的食物,各种各样的树叶让我们很开心。我们喜欢冷面,冷面有很多种。我们经常吃方便面,韩国人平均每年消费76公斤热面条。有一次,餐馆里的一道菜很辣。我妈妈告诉我,这是因为餐厅的厨师会加入辣椒酱,一种从辣椒中提取的浓缩物质,使菜肴尝起来更辣。

-The world knows well that we eat lots of chili peppers and garlic, but they do not know that we eat lots of raw green onion. Green onion(‘Dae-pa’ or ‘Pa’) is not exactly viewed as a delicious dish by many inhabitants of other nations in the world. Raw green onion is added to the stew or is eaten in seasoned. Korean children experience sharp pain in their stomach for the first time. But swallowing green onion is a "mandatory passage ceremony" when you are being a Korean. Approximately a person in Korea eats 13 kilograms yearly. There are many kinds of green onion around the world, but the large green onion that Koreans eat has the sharpest irritant flavor and taste. Thus Koreans endure the sharpness of other types of green onions such as Shallots and Scallions very easily.This is because Dangun''s father, HwanWoong, encouraged native Koreans to eat strongly fragrant vegetables in order to suppress the habit of eating meat. He thought it could civilize the Aborigines and he succeeded. This habit of Koreans eating green onion originates from this event, though the fragrant vegetable was not green onion at that time.

世人都知道我们吃很多辣椒和大蒜,但他们不知道我们也吃很多生的绿洋葱。在世界上其他国家的许多居民看来,绿洋葱并不是一道美味的菜肴。生的绿洋葱可以加到炖菜中或调味后食用。韩国孩子第一次尝试也感到胃疼。但如果你是韩国人,吞下绿洋葱是“强制性的通行仪式”。在韩国,一个人每年大约吃13公斤。
世界上有很多种类的绿洋葱,但韩国人吃的绿洋葱有着最强烈的刺激性和味道。因此,韩国人很容易忍受其他种类的葱,如青葱和大葱。这是因为檀君的父亲桓翁鼓励韩国本地人吃味道浓烈的蔬菜,以抑制吃肉的习惯。他认为这样可以使土著居民开化,他成功了。韩国人吃绿洋葱的习惯就是从这个事件开始的,虽然当时辛辣的蔬菜不是绿洋葱。

[My hypothesis start] But a half of the native Koreans refused to eat fragrant vegetables just to suppress their habit of consuming excessive meat. Those are Aztec people. Later they left the Korean peninsula and built the Aztec civilization in Mexico. The cultural customs of native Mexicans are exactly the same as ours, except from the the fact that they sustained a habit to favour meat. [My hypothesis end]

(开始我的假设)但有一半的韩国人拒绝只是为了抑制他们过度吃肉的习惯而吃辛辣的蔬菜。比如那些阿兹特克人。后来他们离开了朝鲜半岛,在墨西哥建立了阿兹特克文明。当地墨西哥人的文化习俗和我们完全一样,除了他们一直有喜欢吃肉的习惯。(我的假设结束)

-We like living octopus.We often use scissors when we cook or when we eat. Of course we use different scissors for various instances.We went to a tourist spot and ate pupa food as a street food there. It was not good-looking but delicious. Perhaps the old people started cooking because they didn’t want to throw away silk worms.

我们喜欢活章鱼。我们做饭或吃饭的时候经常用剪刀。当然,我们在不同的情况下使用不同的剪刀。我们去了一个旅游景点,在那里吃了作为街头小吃的虫蛹。虫蛹不好看,但很好吃。也许这个老人就是因为不想扔掉蚕蛹,所以用蚕蛹做菜。


-Though the trend has weakened these days, Korea has been making so many different kinds of gang films over the last 30 years. Gangs still occupy a role in society that is often reflected in many movies.I think this is the reason why gangs are so popular in movies. Having existed on the periphery of the continent, gangs adopted the role of an unilateral cultural receiver and reflected the idea of unconscious identification with barbarians who wanted to keep their self-respect in the background.And all kind of Korean movies, even gang movies, have some amount of contemporary social messages.

在过去30年里,韩国制作了很多不同类型的帮派电影,。虽然这一趋势现在有所减弱,但黑帮在社会中仍然占有一席之地,这在许多电影中都有反映。我想这就是为什么黑帮在电影中如此受欢迎的原因。由于生活在(亚洲)大陆的边缘地带,帮派成员扮演了一个单方面的文化接受者的角色,反映了一种无意识地认同野蛮人的想法,这些野蛮人希望保留他们的自尊。所有类型的韩国电影,甚至是帮派电影,都反映了一些当代的社会信息。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处



-Players who fail to receive medals in the Olympic Games or in big games say they are sincerely sorry to the people or cry severely. People tell them “No problem! Good job!”.
Children call all very familiar men and women as ‘Uncle’, ‘Aunt’.
Our policemen/policewomen are very kind.They have no gun, we only see guns in movies.

在奥运会或大型比赛中未能获得奖牌的运动员向人们表示真诚的歉意或痛哭。人们告诉他们“没事!你很出色!”。
孩子们称所有非常熟悉的男人和女人为“叔叔”,“阿姨”。
我们的男女警察都很和蔼,警察不配枪,我们只能在电影里看到枪。


-Sometimes, we say we are all descendants of Dangun grandpa. People often say ‘Since Dangun, it is the {best,biggest,worst} blah blah’. The only point we confuse is the fact that his mother was just a bear. Actually the mother was a bear, who turned into a woman.Many people claim so accurately that we are the smartest in the world (But there has been no Nobel science prize winner yet.). It is said that our geographical location is difficult because we are surrounded by the great powers. We often worry about problems caused by the geopolitical environment. The reason we like hot dish is that many times it makes us happier and eases to forget the feeling of depression.

有时候,我们说我们都是檀君爷爷的后代。人们常说:‘从檀君开始,我们就是(最好的,最大的,最差的)等等’。我们唯一混淆的一点是他的母亲只是只熊。实际上,他的母亲是一只熊,后来变成了一个女人。许多人言之凿凿地宣称我们是世界上最聪明的人(但至今还没有诺贝尔科学奖得主)。据说我们的地理位置很差,因为我们被大国包围着。我们常常担心地缘政治环境造成的问题。我们喜欢吃辣的原因是,很多时候吃辣能让我们更快乐,也能让我们忘记沮丧的感觉。

-If the government shortens the legitimated working time, people think. ‘It’s ok? Do we become too lazy people?”.
-The international value of Korean currency is very low compared to that of the economy. That is because Korea places top priority on exporting industrial products. Even though there are many damaged foreign-goods purchasing and tourism to foreign sites, people do not complain.
N-Math is gradually acknowledged by an uation tool nationwide to measure one’s smartness. It has replaced the role of Chinese characters which had had the role for long time. We have abandoned memorizing ability and began to admire logical-thinking ability. A decade later, Koreans will be famous for their high math ability.

如果政府缩短了合法的工作时间,人们会认为这是好事吗?我们是不是变得太懒了?与经济总量相比,韩国货币的国际价值非常低。这是因为韩国把出口工业产品放在首位。即使这伤害到进口外国货,也不利于到国外旅游,人们也没有抱怨。N-Math逐渐成为全国范围内衡量一个人是否聪明的评估工具。它取代了汉字长期以来所扮演的角色。我们已经放弃了记忆的能力,开始钦佩逻辑思维的能力。十年后,韩国人将以其高超的数学能力而闻名。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


-Many soldiers wear glasses. Almost conscxted soldiers are university students before entering army.-2nd grade Middle school students are the strongest group. They are hidden forces. They don’t fear anything. Their actions are totally unpredictable. Every other groups fear them.
-This is the typical picture of border for us. If you cross the border without permission of the country, you will be shot and killed. We feel weird thinking of other countries where one can enter and leave freely.

很多士兵都戴眼镜,被征召入伍的士兵几乎都是大学生。初中二年级学生是最强的群体,她们是隐藏的力量,什么都不怕。他们的行动完全不可预测,其他群体都害怕他们。
这是典型的边境景象。如果你未经国家允许而越境,你将被射杀。想到其他国家可以自由进出,我们感到很奇怪。



-There are tidal flats at the western coast only one hour from Seoul. Various animals live there.Large tidal flats have a width of 5 km in maximum, and the difference in vertical height between tide and ebb is 10 m. The eastern coast only three hours from Seoul has very deep sea. From the mountains behind the beach to the sea, there is a steep incline. So the deep sea is near the land. The usual depth is 5 or 6 kilometers. So the water is clean and popular as a resort.

从首尔到西海岸只有一个小时的路程,各种各样的动物生活在那里。大型潮汐滩最大宽度为5公里,潮落垂直高度差为10米。东海岸距离首尔只有3个小时的路程,那里的海洋非常深。从海滩后面的山到大海,有一个陡峭的斜坡,所以靠近陆地的海很深,通常的深度是5到6公里,所以这里的水很干净,是一个很受欢迎的度假胜地。

-The southern coast is confusing whether it is a mountainous area or a sea. So, no one knows the exact number about how much islands are.In the war in 17th century with Japan (''Imjin war''), this kind of terrain helped Korean navy to defend themselves. They succeeded in blocking the Japanese navy''s food supply route and save the country. So Koreans love the land and sea like lovely members of their family.And this islandlets are especially special for us. We feel for this small island called Dokdo as if it were a human baby.

南部海岸是山区还是海洋让人困惑,因此,没有人知道岛屿的确切数量。在17世纪与日本的战争(“壬辰之战”)中,这种地形帮助韩国海军自卫。他们成功地阻断了日本海军的食物供给路线,拯救了国家。所以韩国人喜欢陆地和海洋就像喜欢他们可爱的家庭成员一样。这些小岛对我们来说是特别的,我们觉得这个叫做独岛的小岛就像一个人类婴儿。

-One can take the Seoul metropolitan subway to the gates of high mountains. The little ants are actually people.
-A huge river called the Han river flows through Seoul. There are also well-preserved uninhabited islands. There is also a movie depicting the life of a ‘Robinson Crusoe’-like story on the uninhabited island.
-Foreigners are proud of their tall buildings, but we hate our tall buildings. We call this building the Tower of Sauron. Building a tall building can make us arrogant. We are wary of that.

你可以乘坐首尔地铁到达高山的入口。这些小蚂蚁其实是人。
一条叫做汉江的大河流经首尔。还有一些保存完好的无人居住的岛屿。还有一部电影描述了一个类似“鲁滨逊漂流记”在无人岛上生活的故事。
外国人为他们的高层建筑感到骄傲,但我们讨厌我们的高层建筑。我们称这座建筑为首尔塔。建造高楼会让我们变得傲慢自大,我们对此很警惕。

-This is our indoor amusement park. Many facilities are buried in the walls. There is an amusement park of similar size outside of it.
-We posses over 1500 years old crowns, and they are extremely well preserved, as if they were crafted ago yesterday. They appear to have been made using modern technology and craftsmanship.

这是我们的室内游乐园。许多设施都埋在墙里。外面还有一个差不多大小的游乐园。
我们拥有超过1500年历史的王冠,它们保存得非常完好,就像昨天制作的一样。它们似乎是使用现代技术和工艺制作的。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


-A little bit boring story about the clan culture of Korea-Every Korean belongs to certain clan and has a genealogical record. The first records of many genealogies usually date back to 2,000 years, and some clans derived from China go up to 3,000 years. Recently, there are many foreigners who try to integrate themselves in Korea, and many of them establish their own clans. The government controls all of their clan records(but for just name of clans and belonging information of individuals). Marriage is banned sometimes under between clans or members of the same clan. Some explain those restrictions as a practical way to avoid unintentional marriges between close relatives, especially in a small but high population density country.Korea is a museum and shelter of many clans. In recent years, the number of clans has increased eight-fold. This phenomenon is presumed to have existed in ancient times too. Koreans encourage foreign clans to record their history. Korea as a group acts like a single grand clan.

下面是一个关于韩国氏族文化的无聊故事:每个韩国人都属于某个宗族,并且有家谱记录。许多家谱的最早记录通常可以追溯到2000年前,一些起源于中国的氏族甚至可以追溯到3000年前。最近,有很多外国人试图融入韩国,他们中的很多人建立了自己的家族。政府控制所有的氏族记录(除了氏族的名字和个人的归属信息)。
婚姻有时在某些氏族之间或同一氏族的成员之间被禁止。一些人解释说,这些限制是一种实用的方式,可以避免近亲之间的意外结婚,尤其是在一个人口少但密度高的国家。韩国是一个博物馆和许多宗族的避难所。近年来,宗族的数量增加了8倍。据推测,这种现象在古代也存在。韩国人鼓励外国家族记录他们的历史。韩国作为一个群体就像一个大家庭。

-In Korea, there is a crime called ''crime that damages the honor of the dead person''. The interesting thing is that it’s not important when he/she lived, and his biological descendants can become delators. In 2014, the director of the film, "Myung-Ryang" that gathered 17 million of the 50 million Korean inhabitants , was sued by the descendants of the general Bae-Sul who died in 1599. The moviemakers are deemed guilty of undermining the honor of the figure with the story. The court is seriously dealing with the case.

在韩国,有一种犯罪叫做“损害死者荣誉的犯罪”。有趣的是,他/她什么时候出生并不重要,他的亲生后代可以成为控告者。2014年,吸引了5000万韩国居民中的1700万人观看的电影《鸣梁海战》的导演被死于1599年的Bae-Sul 将军的后代起诉。电影制作人被认为用这个故事破坏了人物的荣誉。法院正在认真处理这个案件。

-There is a criticized culture in Korea regarding the descendants of infamous national traitors, if they do not recover their clan’s honor. Kim, Koo, the interim government chief secretary who led Korea''s independence movement during the Japanese occupation, is a descendant of Gen. Kim, Ja-Jeom who was the leader of the northern army during the second invasion of Jurchen in 1636~1637. He did not come to help the king of Seoul, because he was worried about damage, and the king had to give a disgraceful surrender ceremony to the King of Jurchen. The descendants of Kim, Ja-Jeom lived as poor despised farmers while hiding their identity, and Kim, Koo was one of them.
He finally succeeded with a desire to restore the honor of his clan. Kim, Ja-Jeom was restored to honor as Kim, Koo’s ancestor. There are quite a few cases among Korean lawmakers. There is a male lawmaker is a descendant of an admiral who was a rival of respected figure, and a female is a descendant of a famous corrupted government official. Many people blame them sometimes, so they all are struggling to restore the honor of their clan. Today, Kim Koo continues to be the most respected figure of all the legislative investigators in Korea. And his family is regarded as one of the most honourable families. This is the most successful outcome.
For reference, in Korea, damaging a person’s honor is called a crime, even when other person tells the truth. Often degradation of honor is considered a very serious crime because it can lead to suicide.I think that you can understand why we consider honorifics in everyday language as so important in daily life. Because, what is first taught to us (immediately once we have learned how to talk) is the feeling of honor, and to respect elder people.

在韩国有一种关于臭名昭著的叛国者的后代的批评文化,如果他们不能恢复家族的荣誉的话。日本占领时期领导韩国独立运动的临时政府政务司司长Kim Koo是1636-1637年第二次女真入侵期间领导北方军的Kim Ja-Jeom将军的后裔。他没有来汉城帮助(朝鲜)国王,因为他担心利益受损,而国王不得不给女真之王举行可耻的投降仪式。
Kim Ja-Jeom的后代们隐藏自己的身份,过着受人鄙视的贫穷农民生活,Kim Koo就是其中之一。他最后成功实现了恢复家族荣誉的愿望。作为Kim Koo的祖先,Kim Ja-Jeom被恢复了名誉,韩国立法者中就有不少这样的例子,有一位女性立法者就是一位著名的腐败政府官员的后代。许多人有时会指责他们,所以他们都在努力恢复家族的荣誉。
今天,Kim Koo仍然是韩国所有立法人员中最受尊敬的人物,他的家族被认为是最尊贵的家族之一,这是最成功的结果。参考一下,在韩国,损害一个人的荣誉被称为犯罪,即使别人说了实话。贬低荣誉通常被认为是一种非常严重的罪行,因为这会导致(对方)自杀。我想你现在可以理解,为什么我们认为敬语在日常生活中如此重要了。因为,一旦我们学会了说话,我们首先被教导的是荣誉感和尊敬长辈。