Korean Job Discussion Forums

[endofthewor1d]

does anyone know the ins and outs of the language and culture enough to give me the real story about the word 'chingu' and how it relates to a western concept of 'friend'?

when i got here at first, it kind of irked me that two students in my class couldn't be considered friends just because one was a year older. they had to be older and younger brother/sister.

what i would like to know is whether that is just a translation problem, and that they just have a different spin on the concept of age than most of us do? or do they really believe that one year makes a difference in the kind of intimacy you can have with another person?

second question. does anyone know the true story behind the barber poles? i've heard all the rumors. does it really make a difference whether the shop has one, two, or more poles in front of it? i'm not above doing the research myself, but you see, i don't have any hair to fall back on if i'm mistaken. how embarrassing.

[kimcheeking]

Chingu translates as friend but has a much narrower definition. Yes if someone is older or younger than you then they "can not" be your friend. Instead they become your "senior" or "junior" even if you hang out the same as you would with any other friend. This is one of the concepts that I spend a lot of time in class teaching.

culture pervades language and as long as you think in your 1st language you will never speak completely fluently in your 2nd.

"senior" "junior" can also translate as acquaintance, colleauge, classmate or any number of similar words.

Senior is sonbae ����

Junior is Hubae ��

my korean spelling may be wrong, I'm much stronger at speaking. As for the barbershop pole, I've only heard rumors and can not confirm anything.

[maxxx_power]

Watch out for those barber poles...erp, I heard...that some have dudes working there!

[kangnamdragon]

Also, someone whom you just met and is your age may call you his chingu. Anyone of the same age would be a chingu. There is a difference between chingu and chin-han chingu, which is like a close friend. My best friend, who happens to be Korean is 2 years younger, but we a closest friends. However, if we were both Korean, it might not work.