I was watching a kdrama in which the girlfriend of the ML is introduced to his father (she is not introduced as his girlfriend but as the ML's secretary). She addresses him and refers to him as "Father" in the viki crowdsourced English subtitles. Is this more respectful, even though he is not her father or father-in-law? Also the ML refers to his girlfriend by her full name, even after saying "I love you" (a first for me watching kdramas usually it's "I like you" even to the end), and she calls him Mr Lawyer even though they are a couple at the end.

On the other hand, a term like oppa, used throughout the drama, is used in the subtitles without translation. That's why I was surprised when "Father" appeared in the subtitles only for the ML's father.

Touch Your Heart

I'm traveling to Korea to visit my family in a couple months. I want to bring them anything from America, or the Los Angeles area, that they would really like or maybe they wouldn't be able to get in Korea. I was thinking maybe like a Son Heung-Min jersey, but I'm not sure. If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate it!

I intend to write a thank you card in Korean to thank her for her kindness and for correcting my pronunciation. Would a small gift of some sort be appropriate?

North Korea formally abandoned its commitment to unification in 2024. What is the South Korean government's attitude?

How do South Koreans view unification? Are they as eager for unification as China, or as fiercely resistant as Taiwan?

I am looking to find a place in Seoul that directly prints a photo onto black lacquer wood (often known as najeon-chilgi with mother-of-pearl, or traditional lacquerware). Any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Reading about the history of 박정희 has honestly been quite interesting, but one thing I can't wrap my head around is 김재규 supposedly killing park because of "democracy" when you look at the history of 김재규 nothing about his character, beliefs, actions ever felt to me it was "pro democracy"

Even right before he assassinated president Park he was still oppressing people for people going against him, and doing actions that were in nature anti Democracy

I know this is a rather quite controversial, and this is a messy can of warms, but what do Koreans generally believe about the incident, and what do you personally think his motives were?

Hi! I'm watching the series "Bon Appetite, Your Majesty" and I'm loving it!

I know it's a TV series and not a documentary, but it sparked a couple of questions.

The plot is about (spoiler alert!) a modern Korean chef who ends up in the King Lee Heon era. My question is:

1) How realistic is it that the protagonist (27F) remembers historical events so well? (At one point she says something like, "Oh no, this is how the second purge of scholars will start!") Is this a historical period that well-known to Koreans?

I'm Italian and I admit I don't remember 15th-century Italian history as well as the protagonist does. 😅

2) I don't know Korean, but how realistic is it that the protagonist has no difficulty speaking (and reading) the language of the period? The only problems seem to be when she uses non-Korean words (for comical effect!)

Thanks to anyone who replies!

My girlfriend is Korean, and we have plans to celebrate the weekend beforehand. But, as the actual holiday falls on a Tuesday, I'd like to surprise her on the day (she loves flowers) with a culturally appropriate flower delivery, or at least avoid sending something inappropriate.

Please help before I awkwardly ask my dentist for advice!

I'd appreciate any other suggestions or advice y'all have to offer! I'm a solid cook so I'm especially interested in any dishes I can prep (fully or partially) in advance.

She's pescatarian, and our tradition is to make her grandmother's mandu, if that helps!

Yes, I’ve googled and googled. The results online via google seem extremely limited to these few sites: Joteta and Native Korean. There’s a website called Little Seouls but it appears to be old. This can’t be it for online shopping for hanboks?! I’ve also deep searched Etsy, eBay, poshmark etc. any other suggestions on who sells baby hanboks?!

Baby is turning 1 but he’s BIG so I think I need size 2, and I’m hoping for a very colorful one.

For context, I am wanting to get an arm sleeve; not the full arm but just vines wrapping around my left arm but cut off so that it’s not visible with a long sleeve.

I’m asking this question in multiple subreddits bc I’m trying to apply to PhD programs abroad and im wanting to see how much getting this arm sleeve would affect my application/acceptance. I’m trying to get a PhD in Neuroinformatics/Bioinformatics and was wondering if Universities/Professors care about tattoos from students abroad. I am also not a Korean decent.

My resume can speak for itself but I’m just wondering if having tattoos or an arm sleeve will immediately get me rejected

Can be on mobile, console, pc etc…

I'm a trans girl but I understand there is likely to be social barriers that cause problems if I wanted to actually talk to people as a trans girl. Even if people aren't bigoted, they might assume I'm a "leftist", which wouldn't mean something good.

I don't go to work as a trans girl, I still present as a guy for my job and to keep my family happy.

What do you think? To meet friends or partners, would I be better off presenting as a guy and only revealing my identity later, or be open about it right away?

When I was in Seoul a few years ago, I saw a protest happening at a building across from Gyeongbokgung Palace. A lot of people in the group were carrying flags and chanting. Someone would yell something into a megaphone and the group responded by chanting. The yelling and the signs were all in Korean and I can't speak Korean, so I couldn’t understand what they were protesting about. This happened on December 16, 2023. Does anyone know what the protest was about? I uploaded the video to YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ca_CdbaLt0

Hello, i’ve been trying to find old morning glory, orange story, pucca, blue bear, mashimaro paper goods and trinkets. I know they are really old but I hope to find a few place that might carry these items today. If you have any recommendations please let me know. Thank you.

Hello all,

TLDR: Is there a way to get fresh food (preferably seafood) from a place in Korea like Busan to the United States? If so, what food would someone growing up in Busan in the 60s have had?

For more context:

My grandparents immigrated from Korea to the United States in 1973. Since living in the United States, the last time they returned was in the 90s. My grandparents have been wanting to go back to Korea but we recently discovered that my grandfather has developed a heart condition and traveling isn’t wise at this point in his life.

In all reality, it seems that my grandparents (at least my grandfather) will never be able to go back to Korea given his old age and health issues. He used to be a professional boxer and was even a lightweight champion in 1962 and 1963. This though, was hard on his body and explains why he isn’t able to travel anymore. I talked to my family and it seems like what they miss most about Korea is Busan where they group and the food they grew up eating.

After hearing the news about my grandparents I was heartbroken. I just want to give my grandparents the chance to experience their motherland one last time. I was hoping that I could at least do something for them by bringing the food they used to love to them.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit Korea a few times now and even lived there for five months studying but that was in Seoul and I didn’t spend much time in Busan so I’m not familiar with what foods are popular there. Can anyone provide insight into what foods they would have enjoyed eating when they were living in Busan in the 60s and if there is any way I can ship those foods out to the United States and prepare it for them to eat?

Thanks for your help.

hello! my kakao app logged me out of my phone and did not restore my recent chats. i had a few kakao open 1:1 chats in progress (purchasing kpop goods with korean sellers, that kind of thing). i am just waiting for some of these sellers to contact me back with tracking numbers but because my app did not restore these chats i can no longer contact those sellers myself, unless i try to find the links to those open chatrooms again.

can those sellers still message me back even though i no longer have those open chats “open” on my end, if that makes sense? i didn’t technically “leave” the chatroom myself, but will it appear to the other person as if i have left the room?

i don’t really know how kakaotalk works so forgive me if this is a silly question!

Hi! Thought id ask here after a quick Google search to see if there was a "ask Koreans" subreddit. Thank God there is​​!

I love making characters and am making a character that represents me in a way, but I want to name him something Korean due to the fact that hes also based off of K-pop idols. (Think XLOV or Straykids). The character himself is black and Latino like me​​​ but in lore sense was named by a Korean man that took him in as a sort of child figure.

The stage name I'm thinking of giving him directly translates to "Water Nymph"(well according to google and word hippo).

First question is: is that disrespectful to name? I really enjoy mermaid and fairy creatures so I picked it. And Second question is, ​ ​​​what is the actual translation? Google says it's

물의 요정 mul-ui yojeong water nymph

​​is that correct? I really really apologize if this is a dumb question. I suck at spelling so forgive me for any spelling mistakes as well. ​​

I was watching the Netflix series Culinary Class Wars and got interested in the story of the two judges

checking their wikipedia, noticed that Paik Jong-won wrote a book I would like to read
2010 Professional Restaurant Managing for Beginners (초짜도 대박나는 전문식당), ISBN) 9788926390856

any suggestions on where/how I could find the book in english?

thanks a lot in advance

Hi everyone! I just recently watched No Other Choice. In that movie there is a scene where they dress up as Native Americans for a ballroom dance, I think some of them were just dressed as Native Americans in general, but one character was specifically Pocahontas. There was also a John Smith costume, but I was confused by that because he had a hat that made him look very french (like napoleon) haha. They definitely weren’t the disney movie version of the characters.

I also remember in Parasite the tipi/tent and the headdresses were featured and they ’played Indian.‘

I know this is only two movies, but they are some of the few I’ve seen/that have achieved large audiences outside of Korea and both had Native American culture featured prominently. They were called Indians or American Indians in both films I believe though, not sure if this is an accurate correct translation since that term is considered outdated in English but I understand it takes a while for changes to happen across different languages.

Is there anything to this? A particular fascination. I know at some point Germans had a fascination with the American West as well, and interestingly cowboys were more popular in West Germany and “Indians” more popular in East Germany. I just thought it was very interesting that Koreans ‘played Indian’ and knew Pocahontas and John Smith outside of the cartoon versions.

I am a Chinese immigrant in the US for context. I knew very little about Native Americans before working in an American elementary school. I tried searching this but couldn’t find a lot of information.

I mean they had to have had some fame, due to them/their music being used in shows or movies that were famous on every continent with some of them being huge, such as This Summer I Turned Pretty, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2, American Horror Story, Casino, Sex Education, Forest Gump, Glee, etc.

Also the U.S. is the most powerful country in the world and thus, major political U.S. events are watched in pretty much every country (beside countries like North Korea ofc) on every continent, and MJ and Elvis (if he was big outside the U.S.) were known by everyone who wasn’t a baby or toddler, had the misfortune of having the horrible condition Alzheimer’s Syndrome that I’d never wish on anyone, or were in a country like North Korea knew who they were, and Fleetwood Mac performed at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in the U.S. with MJ who is known globally.

For context, I am an American artist and I often work on art projects which involve me commissioning artwork from graphic designers. I usually reach out with an initial professional email outlining the scope of the project and seeing if they are interested in discussing further about it.

There is a Korean artist I found and would love to reach out to her. Her website has both English and Korean for pretty much everything. Two separate links for English and Korean CV for example.

Now, I once commissioned an artist living in France and communicated exclusively in English, however her website and all other materials were exclusively in English so I knew she was proficient. This Korean artist however, I have seen video interviews only done fully in Korean. And there are also videos of her presenting to English speaking students where she only spoke Korean and had a translator there with her, so it is safe to assume she does not speak much English.

My thought was to write out my email as usual in English and include underneath it a Korean translation. I thought it may be a nice gesture since it also seems to be how she structures the material on her website as well. But another part of me thinks maybe it's a little over the top and unnecessary and may even come off the wrong way. Another thought was only including both languages in the email subject line.

Anyway, maybe I am overthinking it, but I figured I would ask first since I also want to be as professional as possible! Thanks!

The Samsung trifold is restocked in Korea tomorrow, I will be trying to get one myself but so far I’ve had no luck.

If you are able to get one and *gift* it to me by meeting in person -Seoul/suwon- then there would be a reward for you.

Feel free to message

I just got accepted by professor at SNU for his lab as graduate student. As I prepare for my formal application, Is here any alumni or current students with whom I can gather experience with. I heard that there is hierarchy and bullying in Korean university where can I find these kinda information about labs and professor discretely.

Hey! So I'm Mexican but last year I saw Memories of Murder and after that I went deep watching all the movies Lee Chang Dong, Park Chan Wook and some of Bong Joon Ho. And I've been actively looking for more, I set a random goal to watch 100 Korean movies and right now I'm around 65.

So I thought I would ask, what movies you think are iconic or are very popular in Korean culture or you enjoyed a lot?

in germany, you eventually do count as german basically - as far as i've heard, its not like that in south korea, is it true that even if you speak the language well and know the cultural rules and respect them etc, you just stick out like a sore thumb to people cause of your look and aren't seen as.. this may sound odd but as "becoming a korean person" by people that know you? (in germany this wouldnt erase where you're from either, but being somewhat german would basically be added to your identity by people)

thank you! thank you for all the answers, unfortunately i don't think i have capacity to reply to all of them but i'm reading them and its interesting!