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Why can't Koreans understand Western ages?
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isisaredead



Joined: 18 May 2010

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

that's even more stupid.

i've got a very simple answer to the OP's question, but it's not very nice, so i'll just keep it to myself.
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atwood



Joined: 26 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CentralCali wrote:
I chalk it up to the way so much of the education here seems to be of the "There is only one right answer" variety. Adding a different paradigm is introducing an additional right answer. It just simply does not compute. After some point--different point for each individual--the concept is grasped.

Yes, you're always better off giving one answer rather than trying to explain alternatives.

BTW, they tried to introduce daylight savings time in Korea, but the experiment failed because too many people just couldn't figure it out.
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T-J



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AtmaWeapon wrote:
I've been here a year and I still don't fully understand how it works. When you are born you are 9 months old and then everyone turns a year older on LNY, which is a different date every year? Jesus that is confusing. Are there any other countries in the world that have age systems like this?


Yea, as other posters have stated it's not counting from conception.

But here is another one for you to blow your mind. Koreans are pregnant for 10 months, not nine.



It's really the same 40 week gestation. 40 weeks divided by 4 gives you 10 months each with 28 days. It's a lunar calendar thing.
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isisaredead



Joined: 18 May 2010

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

T-J wrote:
AtmaWeapon wrote:
I've been here a year and I still don't fully understand how it works. When you are born you are 9 months old and then everyone turns a year older on LNY, which is a different date every year? Jesus that is confusing. Are there any other countries in the world that have age systems like this?


Yea, as other posters have stated it's not counting from conception.

But here is another one for you to blow your mind. Koreans are pregnant for 10 months, not nine.



It's really the same 40 week gestation. 40 weeks divided by 4 gives you 10 months each with 28 days. It's a lunar calendar thing.


such purity of genetics and blood requires an extra long gestation.

/me vomits
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T-J



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

isisaredead wrote:
T-J wrote:
AtmaWeapon wrote:
I've been here a year and I still don't fully understand how it works. When you are born you are 9 months old and then everyone turns a year older on LNY, which is a different date every year? Jesus that is confusing. Are there any other countries in the world that have age systems like this?


Yea, as other posters have stated it's not counting from conception.

But here is another one for you to blow your mind. Koreans are pregnant for 10 months, not nine.



It's really the same 40 week gestation. 40 weeks divided by 4 gives you 10 months each with 28 days. It's a lunar calendar thing.


such purity of genetics and blood requires an extra long gestation.

/me vomits


You apparently missed the explanation. Same gestation period, just a different way of counting the same time.
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isisaredead



Joined: 18 May 2010

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i should've used an * to denote sarcasm and humour. my apologies.
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jvalmer



Joined: 06 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

atwood wrote:
BTW, they tried to introduce daylight savings time in Korea, but the experiment failed because too many people just couldn't figure it out.

False, and good thing they don't, half the world doesn't and DST's usefulness is questionable. If they wanted too, it would be best to coordinate with Japan and China, and those two countries have tried and also didn't see the need for DST.
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myenglishisno



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Location: Geumchon

PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Captain Corea wrote:


OP, I've never met a Korean adult that can't understand actual ages.


I've met plenty of adults that haven't heard of it before, though. They can understand it after it's explained.
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Captain Corea



Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

T-J wrote:
AtmaWeapon wrote:
I've been here a year and I still don't fully understand how it works. When you are born you are 9 months old and then everyone turns a year older on LNY, which is a different date every year? Jesus that is confusing. Are there any other countries in the world that have age systems like this?


Yea, as other posters have stated it's not counting from conception.

But here is another one for you to blow your mind. Koreans are pregnant for 10 months, not nine.



It's really the same 40 week gestation. 40 weeks divided by 4 gives you 10 months each with 28 days. It's a lunar calendar thing.



To add to this, they often also start counting from the last menstrual cycle instead of the actual date of.... The dirty deed. Wink

That can sometimes add some more confusion into the mix.
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thegadfly



Joined: 01 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

isisaredead wrote:
T-J wrote:
AtmaWeapon wrote:
I've been here a year and I still don't fully understand how it works. When you are born you are 9 months old and then everyone turns a year older on LNY, which is a different date every year? Jesus that is confusing. Are there any other countries in the world that have age systems like this?


Yea, as other posters have stated it's not counting from conception.

But here is another one for you to blow your mind. Koreans are pregnant for 10 months, not nine.



It's really the same 40 week gestation. 40 weeks divided by 4 gives you 10 months each with 28 days. It's a lunar calendar thing.


such purity of genetics and blood requires an extra long gestation.

/me vomits


Naw...Koreans are just better at getting the numbers right:

"In humans, birth normally occurs at a gestational age of about 40 weeks, though a normal range is from 39 to 42 weeks."

40 weeks = 10 months....
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greasylake



Joined: 28 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The whole 9 month-10 month thing can just be a matter of semantics. I remember when all of my married friends starting having kids and I would ask how many months pregnant they were, they would reply with answers like "I'm in my 5th month." The stress is on the word "in." If one is 9 months and 3 weeks pregnant, it is almost always referred to as "in the 9th month."(in the states anyway) Hence why everyone always calls it 9 months.
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Privateer



Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I believe the 10 month thing is because the traditional reckoning is in lunar months, i.e. months of 28 days. 28 * 10 = 280 days = roughly 9 months on the modern solar calendar.
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T-J



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Yup, you're right. Explained that in my post (white text below the blue, click and drag)
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Skippy



Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya they are so strange with counting here. Like 25 hours in a day or 366 days a year(not counting leap years). It took me a while and actually still confuses me when you see a convenience store that say something like 7 and 25.

It is like zero does not exist.
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vermouth



Joined: 21 Dec 2009
Location: Guro, Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't really understand how Koreans keep track of this in their own minds.

I mean like they have all these parallel systems of age and calendar that are completely different from what they use in the rest of their lives.

Like they use a solar calendar and have a system of time and numbers which starts at zero and goes up continuously and then they have a set of ages that sort of works totally differently.

I don't know how you organize that in your own head to not be massively incongruous--but then again I'm probably just overlooking similar contradictions in Western life.
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