Something I wanted to ask about naming conventions is whether or not the split syllables are both capitalized or not. Iโve seen multiple examples of both and unfortunately canโt find a definitive answer online (if there is one) so I was wondering if you knew?
Well, my answer to this is that it's entirely dependent on preference.
In Korean, there is no "correct" way to romanize, as Hangul cannot truly be transcribed perfectly into English letters. Certain phones overlap, yes, but English doesn't have anything like a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative (ใ ; 'j/ch')... so naturally the romanization has to improvise.
There are a couple of official recognized romanization systems, but some are stranger than others, and my only concern (when it comes to fic/au writing) lies in consistency. For example, how you prefer to write the female given name ์ ์ is entirely up to you (within reason), as it can be romanized as Yujeong, Yujung, Yoojung, Yoo-jeong, Yu-jeong, Yu Jeong, ๋ฑ (etc)...
If you have a character named Yujeong and a character named Minseok, for consistency sake it would be best to write them both in the same romanization pattern. Writing Yujeong but then splitting Min Seok just feels a bit odd.
I suppose capitalizing both parts of a split given name "feels" more correct, and to a reader unfamiliar with Korean names, it might signal to them that the secondary part of the name is still a proper noun.
That's probably why you couldn't find a concrete answer, as the romanization process itself is that of preference :0
Hope this helped!
(my own personal preference is to not split the names at their syllables. It feels a lot more smooth to me... but again, this isn't the gospel or anything, so what I prefer isn't the only correct choice.)
(additionally, in the BTS fandom people often joke about the romanization of the member Jeon Jungkook's name. He uses Jungkook in group work, Jung Kook as a soloist, and fanfic writers infamously like to write his name as Jeongguk. All three variants are correct in their own right).
Hi! I saw a post of yours saying we could ask if we had a question about Korea
And I was wondering something about the school system: since the school year last from March to February, could two people born in different years be in the same grade? Like would someone born in December 2001 and someone born in January 2002 be in the same grade or not?
Thank you!
There aren't typically stressed "cut off dates" for schooling periods within South Korea like there are in some western countries, namely the United States where schooling cut offs can happen mid-year.
Everyone within your grade is usually your age. There are a few instances in which those born in the first two-ish months of the year might have the capability to maybe slip into the grade above (known as fast birthdays, I believe... but even then I think this system was phased out, could be wrong though)... But I must stress that the concept of Korean age and how everyone automatically gains a year within the coming of the new year (albeit retired) makes this a little more uncommon.
The age hierarchy cuts deep in the country; they even have a word to specify same aged friends (same age as in born the same year, not the same month/day), ๋๊ฐ ์น๊ตฌ dong-gap chingu, ๋๊ฐ meaning "same age" and ์น๊ตฌ meaning "friend".
hi! I hope this isn't overstepping, but can I ask a question about your Korean tidbits information post? it's super useful, but I'm curious, when you say that 'legacy names' are common between siblings, would it come across as strange if siblings DIDN'T have that? Like, for instance, if Jinu's sister had a name that didn't make use of the jin hanja or woo hanja. Would that also be considered normal, or would it be something that comes across as slightly surprising/unusual?
Either way, thank you for that post! I try to do my research on cultures before I write anything for them, but it can be hard to gauge sometimes what's considered common and what's not. Like, I can try to research what Korean people... eat for breakfast, for example, but it's hard to figure out what the "common" answer is and what's more like "technically people sometimes eat this too, but only one type of person/it's not super common/they'd get strange looks". So posts like yours explaining what's the standard versus what stands out in a story as not-culturally-normal are super useful.
Well, in the modern era, I'd say it's also completely normal for siblings and/or cousins to not always share a character within their names, so it's also acceptable for you to make characters that have siblings without them. As time has progressed in Korea, the usage of a shared name among cousins is on the decline.
In some ways I have also observed the trend where generational names have been on the decline for female usage as opposed to male usage, and some families prefer to group the shared syllable by gender rather than blood, so you might see brothers sharing a character but their sister might not share it. Just depends what the family wishes to do.
I don't necessarily think that somebody has to be well versed in a culture to write about characters from a specific country or anything, but boy, when it sticks out, it sticks out. In my opinion, I think it depends on where the fic takes place and how important some of these cultural things are to the plot... then I might take a few hours to research.
I think with K-pop Demon Hunters becoming popular and more people writing for the fandom, I've noticed basic errors within the depiction of Korean culture that these people have probably unknowingly made. Well, I can't get too mad at KPDH fans because some K-pop fandoms have been making these easy mistakes for years.
But anyways, let me list some basic things about Korean culture that I see people mess up the most + some other details I think might make your worlds more accurate and/or interesting.
For naming children, OCs, side characters
I'm sure by now many of you know that Korean names put the last name first before their given names-- but it not like Japan where people will call each other by their last name as a formality before getting closer. Calling someone by their last name without a proper title (not honorific, but title) attached to it is just sounds funny. Like saying Kim is weird, but saying Kim Gyosunim (professor) or Kim Seonsaengnim (teacher) is respectable.
Speaking of last names, if you wish to be thorough, Korean last names are usually associated with clans. That's how you differentiate one's lineage from another.
Also, when Koreans get married, they retain their own last names. Women do not take the last names of their husband, and if you're writing a gay couple, they wouldn't share the same last name either. Of course, if it's for plot reasons, one of the characters can share a last name with their partner, like if they're trying to distance themselves from their own blood.
Children, however, take the father's last name.
Korean names are commonly three syllables (including the surname), with the legal limit for Korean nationals being five syllables.
Korean names often have Hanja (Chinese based script) behind them, but not all of them do. There are a lot of native Korean names that do not utilize this system. Most Koreans only know very basic Hanja and their own given Hanja; it's not common to learn it as thoroughly as they do in Japan with Kanji.
In Korea, it is common for siblings or cousins to share a generational name, meaning they have a shared syllable within their names (the shared portion usually appearing within the same place in the name).
For example, Jeon Jungkook (์ ์ ๊ตญ) from the group BTS has a brother name Jeon Junghyun (์ ์ ํ). Their shared syllable in their name is Jung, or in Korean '์ ', which uses the Hanja for "spindle tree", infusing the name with a wooden element in accordance to the five elements of East Asian mythology.
It is not common for parents to name their kids after themselves or their parents. Filial piety and the family hierarchy is important, as it is a philosophy that has been historically stressed in East Asia for centuries.
Koreans sometimes consult fortune tellers/shamans (๋ฌด๋น mudang or ๋ง์ manshin in Korean. ๋ฐ์ baksu is the male variant of the title) to help them name their children. Korean Shamanism is primarily a female-led religion :o
Also, there is the concept of birth dreams (ํ๋ชฝ taemong). These are often seen as premonitions in a way that detail a child's gender or personality.
Also, when you're naming characters, I recommend sticking to a romanization system so the names remain consistent. I think one of the biggest signs that someone has just googled a Korean name (which hey, no shame) is when all the main cast of characters has no spaces or hyphens, and then suddenly, here comes side characters Eun Mi and Woo-seok. It's just a little humorous to me, but it's not like it's offensive or anything.
For school and youth
The school semester in Korea for both lower and higher education begins in March and concludes in February (with a week and half to two week buffer between the years). The semesters are usually divided as the following: March โ July, September โ February).
College (๋ํ๊ต) in Korea is usually a standard four years. High school (๊ณ ๋ฑํ๊ต) in Korea only lasts for three years (ages 15-18). Middle school (์คํ๊ต) lasts three years (ages 12-15). Elementary school (์ด๋ฑํ๊ต) lasts for six (ages 6-12).
All-boys and All-girls schools are very common in Korea.
High school usually goes on from 8am to 4pm, but many students may engage with yaja (์ผ์, shortened variant of the term ์ผ๊ฐ์์จํ์ต)-- an extended study period where students stay within their own school and complete CSAT (or in Korean, the suneung ์๋ฅ) prep work or other academic activities until about 11pm, or they'll go to a ํ์ hagwon, a private cram school, to receive additional instruction. Fun fact: Yaja used to be compulsory until like the early 2000s. Corporal punishment was also legal in Korean schools until 2011.
Koreans do engage with school cleaning!
The Korean CSAT/suneung only takes place ONCE a year on a Thursday in November. If you sleep in or miss the test, you have to wait an entire year to take it again <3
High school in Korea usually requires tuition money. Uniforms are a must. Some schools in Korea regulate hair and make-up more than others.
You cannot get a driver's license in Korea until you are 18 years of age. You can get a license to drive a smaller motor bike at the age of 16, however.
Fifteen is the minimum working age (you can work younger with special permits). In order to get a job as a minor, you need your parental consent and a couple other legal documents that you might not have to worry about in western countries. Also, no youth can work past 10pm, if my memory serves me correctly.
Honorifics and Titles
Korean honorifics and titles follow a name, they don't come before like Mr. or Mrs. does in English.
~ssi (~์จ) is the most basic/standard honorific in Korea. You attach it to general strangers, those whom are older, and colleagues whom you are not close to.
The more humble and polite variant of ~ssi is ~nim (~๋). ~nim is usually attached to those whom you are showing respect to, to those who are providing a service or who you are providing a service to, or people who have considerable influence (such as teachers and whatnot).
Korean itself is a language that doesn't actually use pronouns such as he or she that often (unless they need to be very specific and the context isn't known), they often supplement pronouns like that with gendered honorifics.
Hyung (ํ) is an honorific that males use to OLDER males whom they are close with. This can be a brother or a close friend. If they're dating, they can also use it to refer to their boyfriend. Hyung is an honorific that can completely replace someone's name or can just come after it. So if you were to say "Jinu Hyung" or "Hyung", they're both correct.
Oppa (์ค๋น ) is an honorific that females use on older males whom they are close with. This can be a brother, boyfriend, or close friend.
Unnie (์ธ๋) is an honorific that females use on older females whom they are close with. This can be a sister, close friend, or girlfriend.
Nuna (๋๋) is an honorific that males use on older females whom they are close with. This can be a sister, close friend, or girlfriend.
Dongsaeng (๋์) is a gender neutral term utilized by an older speaker to refer to someone younger than them, whether it be a younger close friend or a younger blood sibling. You can technically specify gender by using the masculine namdongsaeng (๋จ๋์) or feminine yeodongsaeng (์ฌ๋์) if the context is required.
~ie (~์ด) & ~ah (~์)/~ya (~์ผ) are both suffixes that are attached to the end of Korean names, but they have slightly different functions. Both are forms of informal speech, so keep that in mind. ~ah/~yah are attached to the end of a name when someone is trying to get the attention of someone else. ~ah is attached to names ending with a consonant sound, ~yah is added to names ending with a vowel. Jimin-ah (์ง๋ฏผ์), Rumi-yah (๋ฃจ๋ฏธ์ผ). ~ie on the other hand is a suffix that is attached to names when the (presumably older) speaker is mentioning another person in a conversation. The ~ie form is only applied to names that end with a consonant.
Seonbae(nim) (์ ๋ฐฐ(๋)) is an honorific term that refers to someone who is not necessarily older, but someone who is more experienced within a certain field or industry. In terms of school, it can be used to refer to an upperclassman. People use honorifics when speaking with their Seonbaes.
I think my general pet peeve in this department is when two characters meet and five seconds later the younger character is already using intimate pronouns with the older character despite being strangers. Unless the older character is like really chill, that is a pretty odd occurrence.
Other cultural tidbits
Yes, Korea technically retired the Korean age system, but only in a legal sense (like documentation, legal paperwork, laws, etc). Many Koreans still use Korean age colloquially, so it's not odd to see people tack on an extra year or two to their age.
Korean age functions like this: add one year to your age if your birthday has already passed this year, if it hasn't, add two years. So if you're 26 and your birthday hasn't passed yet, congratulations, you are now 28 in Korea! Koreans essentially all turn one year older on January 1st each year.
Koreans observe the Lunar New Year for three days. It's called Seollal ์ค๋ . Korean Thanksgiving takes place usually in September/October, and it's called Chuseok ์ถ์.
Seaweed soup is commonly consumed on someone's birthday (but that doesn't mean they don't also eat birthday cake).
The adult age in Korea is not 18, but 19. You must be 19+ to purchase alcohol.
All Korean men must serve in the military before the age of 28 (unless they have special exceptions or clauses that allow them to delay it).
It's lowk kinda normal for employees to get crunk with their bosses at a hweshik ํ์ (company dinner). They'll stay out really late too.
Also, back during the Joseon era, the peasant class didn't really have last names. That was privilege of the rich/yangban ruling class
uhhh I'm sure there's probably more but if you have any other questions just lmk
why is it that every time i set out to write literally anything i always end up making it a little sad. like i set out to write smut and now it's just 6k of existential dread like boy if you don't go out and get that dick...
i used to have a really nice tumblr theme on here, but the code for it ended up breaking. the person who made it said they'd update the code, but its been a hot minute, so...
this is a promise to myself to use tumblr more often and actually grow a following here ๐ฅธ i'll reintroduce myself:
I'm Dan (she/her) !! maeumin on ao3 ๐ค
I'm a jikook fic/au writer, you may know me for Shades of Wrong (CEO JK, lawyer JM) but I've written about 18 fics since 2018,,, time flies. Some of my favorite tropes to write are:
Rivals/Enemies to Lovers
Childhood friends to Lovers
Angst with a Happy Ending
LOOOTS of yearning and slow burn!
Seemingly Unrequited Love / Mutual Pining
Found family (I often write about queer joy and the sense of belonging)
CURRENT WIP: F1 Ferrari driver! JK x Idol! JM.
You can find my fic masterlist here.
Hope to see you around! reblog so other readers and writers can find me ๐๐ค
Jimin had become a stranger to him, a molten glass tail slowly cooled into a tear drop. And yet, he still loved Jeongguk. He loved him despite knowing that everything had changed.
( โ or, after six years of being apart, Jimin and Jeongguk are unexpectedly reunited, and the two are confronted with an estranged past and an increasingly uncertain future.)
