Many years ago, my boss, a very smart and knowledgeable Korean man, told me that, while Chinese restaurants are commonly called 짱깨집, he said it was a pretty bad slur.

I brought this up with my ex and her best friend (this was also many years ago), and they insisted it wasn’t a slur.

I opted to side with my boss’s opinion, because he was really intelligent, and it actually caused a huge rift between my ex and her friend, because the friend thought I was calling \*her\* a racist (which I went out of my way to say I wasn’t trying to do).

Anyway, this just popped into my head while I was thinking about Chinese-Korean food.

I Wonder where Korean can legally betting on esport. League of legends esport is very popular so.

ody: Hello! I'm working on a cross-cultural poetry project blending French lyricism with Korean, and I have a quick question about language and imagery for native speakers.

I wrote a piece featuring a cosmic metaphor—using the traditional millstone (maetdol) alongside a river and the Milky Way to represent time and human "debts" (bit).

As a creator, my biggest fear is a clumsy literal translation that sounds awkward or mundane (like picturing a small kitchen tool in the middle of a river instead of a philosophical wheel of time).

For native speakers, does this kind of imagery (Cheonsang Bang-at-gan style) evoke a natural, poetic sense of destiny or Samsara, or does it feel disjointed?

Here is a short snippet:
https://suno.com/s/zLc1RpnQOfhqqtBH

I'd love to hear your honest thoughts on how these words resonate culturally. Thank you!

Emmanuel

Id be around an hour and half away from centum city imax and since midnight show tickets are easier to grab I was wondering how I might commute back and would it be safe to wait for the metro til 5? If anyone has experience midnight imax shows in korea or has any idea about what I can do about being there around 3/4 in the morning after the show please let me know

I'm trying to talk to a few friends but neither of us can send out the text or start a chat. I keep getting an error message that says "User protection measure"

You are currently not allowed to create group chats or invited friend in accordance with our user protection measures. This is a temporary measure to provide a safe service, and the user protection measures can be relaxed when your complete user identification via the Talk Safety Pass. Once the protection measures are relaxed, you can create chats at a certain time intervals.

I'm having trouble planning this leg of my trip. I love nature, rural environments, the sea and non touristic destinations. I leave busan the 6th of October and fly from Yeosu to Jeju on the 10th.

Map of the area in question: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.83513,128.1799705,11z/data=!4m2!10m1!1e1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

PS: There are a ton of info of what to do in Busan, and some places where I asked this centered on things to do there. I'm thankful for every recommendation, but I'm not looking for advice in that area, just west of Busan. Places further west than Yeosu are also welcome

Hello everyone.

I often hear that South Korea is a highly education-oriented society, and that competition in education is extremely intense.

However, I only graduated from high school in my home country (Japan), didn't go to university, and wasn't a particularly outstanding student at school. In fact, I was the type of person who struggled with studying.

So, I started wondering, "What do people in South Korea who struggle with studying, like me, do?"

For example, I've heard that Japanese and Korean have similar grammar.

If that's the case, then I feel like the areas where people struggle with English might be similar, too.

For example, I struggled with English questions where I had to rearrange words into the correct order.

I started learning English at age 12, and by the time I was 13, I already felt that English was impossible for me.

I don't know if similar questions appear on exams in South Korea, but if Korean and Japanese grammar are similar, then surely there are people in South Korea who struggle with rearranging English words, just like me?

Not everyone in Korea is as fluent in English as BTS's RM, right?

But South Korea has a very high university enrollment rate, doesn't it? (Japan's university enrollment rate is less than 60%.)

Every year, Japanese TV shows scenes of Korean students being taken to their exams on motorcycles.

Every time I see something like that, I find myself wondering, "What do people who aren't good at studying do in Korea?" and "If even people who aren't good at studying are expected to go to university, wouldn't that be incredibly difficult for them?"

What's the reality of the situation?

(I apologize if there are any inaccuracies or unnatural parts in the translation, as I used a translation tool.)

Going to H Mart today!!!!!
I’m Indian, vegetarian (no meat/fish/eggs), good spice tolerance, but don’t love strong fishy flavors.
I LOVED the marinated burdock root I got last time.
Also completely confused by the soy sauce aisle — which one should I get?
Any must-try sauces, banchan, noodles, frozen foods or snacks? Drop your favorites!

I possibly cant be the only one whos afraid my peptides will be flagged and taken by customs (ordering from america), so does anyone have a solution

I was thinking what movies do people living in Korea enjoy. I have seen some Korean classics and I am curious to see what the Koreans have to say about their films and movie culture.

Hi guys, does anyone know any pickup laundry services available in seoul? this is kinda urgent, so it would be helpful if you could let me know. thank you!

When I browse Google Earth, I can see that the roofs of many buildings in South Korea are green, whether they're ancient tiles or modern high-rise rooftops.

Does green roofing have any special meaning in Korean culture?

I paid approximately 6,577 KRW for gimbap rolls,

but was not allowed the small 30 ml side dish portion of kimchi that I used to be able to get,

as it is only for customers who order through a certain platform now.

Maybe I'm just being petty, but it seems outrageous that I can't get the kimchi. 😔😔😔

I've always found it a little confusing when people use words like "liberal" and "conservative" to describe Korean politics, because I'm not sure how well those labels translate to American politics.

In the U.S., being conservative usually comes with a pretty recognizable set of positions on taxes, immigration, guns, abortion, religion, LGBT issues, government spending, etc. But when I read about South Korean politics, the dividing lines seem pretty different. North Korea, relations with Japan and China, housing, gender issues, and the military seem to play a much bigger role.

So when someone in Korea says they're conservative, what does that actually tell you about their political views? How much overlap is there with what Americans would consider conservative?

I'm looking for a good amount of scholarship at a Korean university as an international student. I have a good high school GPA(maxed GPA) AND IELTS above 7.

(My preferred course -Computer Science English track)

According to AI, some universities (like sejong) provide automatic merit based scholarships (partial) based on my profile mentioned above for the first semester. For the upcoming semesters, if I maintain a good GPA they'll provide me further scholarship for the second semester and so on. How true is it? If true, how hard is it to maintain grades? Last questions, are lectures fully english? I've seen some reddits saying it isn't.

thanks 🙏

I was looking into Korean immigration and noticed that it seems like way fewer Koreans permanently move abroad now compared to the 90s and early 2000s.

Growing up, it felt pretty common to hear about Korean families moving to the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. There are obviously huge Korean communities in places like LA, NYC/NJ, Toronto, and Sydney that were built partly from those immigration waves.

But it seems like that slowed down a lot. Koreans still study and work abroad obviously, but permanently packing up and immigrating seems much less common.

Did attitudes toward life in places like the U.S. and Canada change significantly within the last decade or so?

For Koreans who remember the 90s/2000s, was moving abroad viewed differently back then?

Title: Recommendations for English books about Korean independence fighters?
Hi everyone! I recently became interested in learning about Korean independence fighters after seeing the controversy involving an actress who was criticized for showing off her family’s wealth. The discussions around her family history led me down a rabbit hole about Korea’s history under Japanese occupation and the people who fought for independence.

Can anyone recommend good books in English that I can buy? I’m especially interested in biographies or personal stories about figures such as Kim Ku, Ahn Jung-geun, Yu Gwan sun , Yun Bong gil, Kim Won bong, and other lesser known fighters, including women. I would prefer something accessible for a beginner rather than a very academic textbook, but I’m open to any good recommendations. Thank you …

Hi all -

I am a Korean Adoptee and I am hoping to find out information about my biological father and the traffic accident that lead to his death. I have his first name and the date/year of death.

I am wondering, is there any way to find any old news articles or postings about this?

The date of accident/death was 1/01/1997.

Any help is appreciated.

Hello, I am a a Korean American who used to attend Saturday Korean school as a child in my American hometown with lot of Korean community surrounded. When I moved to here in my later years of childhood, there were no resources and Korean Schools for Korean American kids in my small rural town but there were Korean people who lived here thought the community wasn’t as diverse/big as previous hometown in usa, so I ended up forgetting the basics like some Hangul (im back in kindergarten level again or less) and bada soogie? (Idk I think it’s like essay writing intro for 1st/2nd graders.. it’s been a while.. like a decade or so), so i essentially want to learn back the the basics and speed run it and hopefully progress fast until I end up to middle/high school knowledge including the current cultural experiences and slang of my generation? (I am 19). What is the best way to self learn as someone lost, should I try textbooks for foreigners/ or little kid level textbooks for Korean elementary students and get a Korean tutor and occasionally ask my dad? Please let me know your thoughts and experiences/ suggestions! I would appreciate it! I would like to learn all this before July of next year so I can communicate with family in Korea and try to get around places without relying on my crappy Korean level and translate not understanding 💯.

They are fully dressed and in normal clothes as far as I can tell. And they also have all of their belongings stacked next to them. This can’t be comfortable but some of them looked too well dressed to be homeless??

My parents and I were talking about mandatory military service in South Korea, and it turned into a pretty interesting debate. I’d love to hear perspectives from both Koreans and people outside of Korean culture, especially people from countries with or without mandatory military service.

In South Korea, men are required to complete military service, while women aren't. Since this can delay a man's university/work life by around 1.5–2 years, military service can count as career experience for things like salary steps (호봉) in some public-sector jobs.

My family had two sides to this.

The argument for giving men credit: Men lose around two years to a compulsory obligation, so it seems fair that those years are recognized when they enter the workforce.

The argument against it: Women who graduate and immediately start working are actually gaining two years of work experience. If men receive two years of career/salary credit for military service, they could potentially start at a higher salary step than women who are entering the workforce at the same time. So some people argue that everyone should simply start from the same point.

What do you think is fair? Should military service count as career/work experience, or should everyone start at the same salary step/rank? If men should be compensated for the time they lose, what would be a fair way to do it without disadvantaging women?

There were also two other arguments that came up.

I said that historically men have started most wars, so I didn't think it was necessarily unfair that men are the ones required to serve. My dad disagreed and said that's wrong because men today didn't personally start those wars, so we shouldn't use historical events to justify imposing an obligation on men today.

Should historical gender patterns have any relevance when deciding who serves today, or should we only look at the circumstances of people living today?

Finally, we discussed the argument that “women give birth, so men should serve in the military.” My mum pointed out that women aren't legally required to become pregnant or give birth, whereas eligible Korean men don't get to choose whether they complete military service.

Is comparing childbirth and mandatory military service a reasonable argument for gender equality, or are they too fundamentally different to compare?

I'm genuinely not looking for people to agree with me or my family. I'm really interested in seeing how people from the same AND different countries/cultural backgrounds view this, because I imagine the perspective could be different.

Step by step some countries are getting closer, makes some kind of unions to compete with other parts of the world.

For instance europeans or turkic states union.

In the future, if north regime somehow falls and korean unification is completed, would korea form a union with japan to compete with china?

How would koreans feel about such a union with japan? I mean something like european union. For instance some schengen-like rules, like a japanese can settle in korea and vice versa, without any visa or something?

Hi everyone! I’m looking for recommendations for a professional shoe care/restoration shop in Seoul or Suwon.

I left a few pairs of my leather and suede shoes in a storage space over the summer, and unfortunately, because of the humidity, they’ve become really moldy over the past two months...

I’d really like to have them professionally cleaned/restored rather than trying to clean them myself, especially since they’re leather.

Does anyone know of a reputable shoe care, leather restoration, or shoe cleaning shop that has experience dealing with mold/mildew on leather and suede?

I’d especially appreciate recommendations from people who have actually used the shop and can vouch for the quality of their work. Seoul or Suwon are both fine!

Thank you so much! 🙏

For historical reasons, there are more than one million ethnic Koreans living in the People’s Republic of China today. They are Chinese citizens. After South Korea’s economic development, ties between ethnic Koreans in China and South Korea became closer, and many ethnic Koreans from China went to South Korea for work or long-term residence. Apart from a minority who have acquired South Korean citizenship, most still retain Chinese citizenship.

How do South Koreans (South Koreans of Korean ethnicity) view ethnic Koreans with Chinese citizenship (including both those living in mainland China and those working or residing long-term in South Korea)? Do South Koreans tend to regard these ethnic Koreans from China more as fellow Koreans, or more as “foreigners”? Do they care more about their shared ethnic identity, or are they more concerned about issues such as their social behavior and conduct and crime rates in South Korea? In the future, does South Korea intend to facilitate the settlement and naturalization of as many ethnic Koreans from China as possible as South Korean citizens?

Would anyone be willing to answer the questions above?

Thank you.

I am planning on traveling to Korean next Summer, when should I buy my tickets to start off and my bus tickets/ setting up the Apple Pay or kakao pay or whatever payment they take there (I may need to ask my aunts for help when I get there with that). That is number 1.

Number 2, is plane tickets.. from and back. Tickets from the states where im near are around $993-$2000/$3000+, and that doesn’t include the flight back from Korea to the states which is around $700-$1000+ I believe as I searched it up. I know it doesn’t include the hidden fees and stuff probably included. I would need 2 tickets, one for my sibling and one for myself.. so I am guessing roughly $8000+ for tickets. I would need to drive a hour or 4 to head to the nearest plane station that goes to Korea also, so including gas fees it would be around $8000-$9000 is my guess in between.

Number 3, hotel or place to stay in. I heard that instead of a hotel apparently a Airbnb is a better choice in pairs of 2, with a friend who I was originally supposed to travel with but different things popped up so that friend will go solo during winter break of their college. It wouldn’t be manners to stay at my relative’s house for long there since I never met them before and it is their home, so it could possibly strain our relationship if we freeload in their place and crash there looking like bums. I will be staying with my younger brother who will be 17 by the time we travel. I heard there are regulations on trash sorting there that can get fines so I would like more info about that, and since I will be rooming with my brother, I want there to be enough space so that we won’t clash as often and fight over petty stuff as well as having our own respective privacy. Will there usually be food included in these services and amenities such as electricity and food, drinks like water and clothes racks, WiFi, bathroom showers, tooth paste/brushes, sanitary goods and toilet, outlets, etc already formed in the package? How many rooms are ideal for siblings and usual price for say a month like 36-42 days or even less like 17 days.

Number 4:
Delivery fees (comparable to the usa), cultural differences and unspoken rules to know of, currency guide and exchange (from usd to won) and traveling out alone at night (dangers to scams etc) and more.

I heard that foreigners are more prone to scammers targeting them (obviously) what are most common scams there and how should I act/ dress like to fit more in with the crowd to be less noticed as someone that is traveling so that I wouldn’t be as frequently targeted by them. What are the most shocking cultural norms and things here that Americans would not be used too/ would need to learn before coming. Like for instance I learned that Koreans don’t steal laptops left in the open in cafes/ public spaces and that elders obviously need to be treated with lot of respect and lot of rules for that(like when drinking you spank your bottle down?). American culture tends to encourage free speech and talking in public spaces, but from what I seen it seems like it is looked down on if one person tries to defy the norm of their society by for instance maybe talking in a subway in English/ another language may seem disrespectful to some while in Korea? Fact check me if im wrong and have outdated/ incorrect information since I heard this one online. The not stealing policy society I learned from my family, which was a complete culture shock.

Number 5.

Communication.

Would there be a big fee to call/ text using my us number to others in the states/ Korea etc? Would I need to start getting in the habit of using kakaotalk or other apps to communicate with family and friends and is WeChat also okay for my friends in the states to talk to? If I don’t lock in learning my Korean basics again by the time I travel, I may need to end up using translation apps since I won’t be able to get around with my broken Korean/ have hard time understanding normal level of Korean since I have a very pre school/ elementary knowledge about it.

Number 6.

Clothes/ Makeup/ cosmetics/ beauty standards and app reccs

I know Korea has lot of samples when it comes to free makeup and cosmetics and such. What apps should I download for translation, deals and promotions and food etc. I know the toxic beauty standard thing is more chronically online type of thing, but realistically, how would it affect modern young men and women in Korea who may be subject to it (travelers and people who resides there). As I saw a “fat positivity” ad there where the model would be considered more normal weight as opposed to fat in the states.. so I am thinking of maybe dieting so I won’t be made fun of a lot in my stay there. What makeup styles and clothes/ hair styles etc should I start looking into before going (as someone still experimenting with their style).

Essential Navigation and Connectivity Apps:

What apps would I need for accurate navigation and would I need a small pocket trash can as I heard no public ones are there rarely? How would I obtain a T-money card and what is it? Is it money used for trains, subways and buses solely, how to reload and pay and does it connect to u.s Apple Pay/debit and credit cards. How much won would I need to carry outside since I heard lot of street food stand and vendors etc don’t take card often, and for the convenience. How would I need to change my plan for WiFi and calls before going, or no need?

Should I download Naver Map or KakaoMap for more accurate maps then apple map and use Papago for translation? Is it a free software and easy to install and does it do speech to text out loud? Would I need a travel visa to go there (I believe I have Korean citizenship automatically since I am registered in both Korea and America by parents since I was born), though I am American born. Any other etiquettes to know?

How would I talk to family and cousins and grandparents for the first time meeting?? I feel like it would be very awkward since I never been there and met them before and have missed out on all the family function like Korean thanksgiving or something? How would I greet my elders? A casual bow and annyeoghaseyo okay? Would I need to call my older cousins unnie/oppa and my younger her ones call me unnie or is it not as important since im American (which I highly doubt) I still want to be respectful and seen good by the family’s first meeting. Not a disgraceful lazy American defying the rules of their household/ country with no manners and regards to the house rules. Please help!! Would I need to buy a separate charger in Korea cause different outlets? I’m not sure? Any help and suggestions and critics etc would help!! Thank you for taking the time to read my messy thoughts and cries for help.!!

https://tripwis.com/things-to-know-before-traveling-to-seoul/ (will read this later, let me know how accurate this is as well)