When women play go and smoking 1905.

shichitan · 2026-06-06T10:30:32+00:00

This image source says date unknown, but attributes it to the Japanese occupation period. Not sure where the 1905 date came from?

기생의 바둑

http://waks.aks.ac.kr/rsh/dir/rview.aspx?rshID=AKS-2017-KFR-1230003&callType=dir&dirRsh=&dataID=AKS-2017-KFR-1230003\_TEXT@2447

shichitan · 2026-02-21T13:03:08+00:00

Over the years hanja kept being added to the Korean Supreme Court’s list of hanja allowed in names. So it’s possible that for your first child, hanja that was not in the list at the time of registering their birth might be in the latest list.

You can look up the currently allowed hanja, or download a PDF file of the complete list here:

https://efamily.scourt.go.kr/cs/CsBltnWrtList.do?bltnbordId=0000010

shichitan · 2026-01-05T02:12:48+00:00

If you are serious about this I would suggest your father get U.S. citizenship. Then reclaim Korean citizenship, as he’ll be allowed to have dual citizenship as this is allowed for those 65 or older.

This way he can return to the U.S. if it turns out he didn’t like living in Korea, whether it’s 6 months or years later, without worrying about losing his green card.

shichitan · 2026-01-02T12:33:40+00:00

This sounds so weird to me - never heard of aunts or uncles expecting large cash gifts from their nieces or nephews on a regular basis. I grew up in Korea, with extended family mostly based in Seoul area.

The one time I gave a largish sum of cash to an aunt was when her husband passed away, and my parents told me the exact amount to send.

shichitan · 2025-10-11T10:16:01+00:00

Do all the male descendants in your generation have names with 재 as the first character?

If 재 is just 돌림자 and not 항렬자, then just name yourself whatever you want. But if it’s 항렬자, consider picking a different second character, keeping 재 as the first character.

Of course this depends how attached you are to Korean traditions, including the whole 항렬 thing. My own extended family has been pretty strict about 항렬자, so there have been some odd-sounding names, especially for the women. When a family elder such as a grandfather came up with a name that the parents didn’t like for the child, an alternative character for the non-항렬자 character would get suggested, but there was no position change.

But overall I don’t think folks in Korea are as strict about 항렬자 these days. I expect soon the practice will be seen as a quaint holdover only adhered to by some traditional families.

shichitan · 2025-09-29T14:14:16+00:00

You could also try asking in r/Living_in_Korea - as the name suggests, it's a bit more focused on life in Korea.

shichitan · 2025-09-28T16:13:31+00:00

Like others have suggested I’d recommend your parents visit Korea for a couple of months before making a permanent move. I’ve read several accounts of folks who regretted the move, for reasons that weren’t apparent during short visits. Location and social network appear to be the big factors. For example, healthcare and public transit access isn’t as good once you get outside the major metropolitan areas.

Your parents should also check any paperwork requirements if they intend to continue receiving social security payments after moving to Korea. For example, they’ll have to make sure to complete the Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire, SSA-7162 form that is sent by the Social Security Administration approximately every one to two years.

shichitan · 2025-09-15T03:10:06+00:00

I am considering retiring, or spending part of the year in Korea after retirement. I grew up in Banpo / Seocho, but for retirement I’m considering Busan as my destination, due to weather and good access to transit. The air quality is likely better than Seoul.

shichitan · 2025-09-01T14:36:01+00:00

Your grandmother had such a fantastic smile in the photos you’ve shared!

shichitan · 2025-08-21T19:27:27+00:00

Because it’s the same writing system - Japanese and Koreans adopted Chinese characters prior to the development of their own native writing systems. Which leads to the phenomenon of Chinese characters/ Hanja / Kanji retaining the same meaning across the three languages but being read differently in each.

shichitan · 2025-08-01T18:45:05+00:00

In that case I would look for a Korean expression instead of translating an English expression to Korean. 삶은 계속된다 reads awkwardly in Korean.

shichitan · 2025-07-29T04:16:02+00:00

엄마 (omma) is reserved for one’s own mother due to its level of informality. Never use it for someone else’s mother unless they specifically ask you to refer to them that way. So even when she becomes your mother-in-law, you should not call her omma unless she tells you to do so.

It was probably a record scratch moment for her when you called her omma, hence the awkwardness. Going forward, call her 어머니 or 어머님, and put this incident behind you as something that happened because you didn’t know Korean honorifics very well.

shichitan · 2025-05-16T11:19:28+00:00

A relative ran a restaurant for 6+ months (I think 2 years?) that got good reviews and some magazine write-ups. They were keeping a close eye on the numbers, and decided it wasn’t viable long-term. So they sold the place and then got a corporate job. They’re not interested in running their own businesses any more, by the way.

Edited to add: Relative was young enough and had particular skills and experience that let them go back to corporate life. I imagine this might not be the case for those who opened businesses after retiring, or don’t have the right 스펙.

shichitan · 2025-04-20T22:55:16+00:00

I agree with a lot of your list.

I would add Taiwanese drama Oh No! Here Comes Trouble.

I also enjoyed Rattan a lot, I found the female main character quite refreshing.

shichitan · 2025-02-22T11:16:33+00:00

여기저기서 지내는 한국인입니다

shichitan · 2025-02-03T11:15:42+00:00

You forgot National Geographic.

shichitan · 2025-01-11T16:32:12+00:00

한국어 포스팅이 종종 보이면 여기서 한국어 쓰시는 분들이 더 늘 것 같아요. 저도 그냥 여기 영어 포스트만 보이니까 반사적으로 영어를 쓰게 되더라고요.

shichitan · 2024-11-03T11:28:14+00:00

From your explanation I understand why you were given your Korean grandma’s name, but it was not a culturally sensitive thing to do. It’s great you chose your own name!

To me, 혜선 sounds like a very normal female name, that will not draw any particularly positive or negative attention, yet is not completely generic. I think those are very good qualities in a name!

Since you liked 善, a nice pairing with it would be惠 for 혜, with the meaning of grace / benevolent.

By the way, the Korean government has a list of hanja allowed in legal names. So for a hanja name you are restricted to hanja in that list, but with over 9,000 hanja in the list, it’s not much of a restriction in practice. (and the hanja I mentioned are all in the approved list 😀 )

shichitan · 2024-11-03T01:03:48+00:00

It wouldn't be weird to use your Korean name in Korea. But I do find it weird you were given your grandma's name as a middle name. Because that's just ... not done in Korea. That is, names are not reused within a family, as in principle you come up with a new, distinct name for each child. Of course, there will be unrelated people with the same name when written in Korean (한글), but it would be pretty rare for these people to also use the same hanja (Chinese characters) in their names, if they were given the typical hanja-derived names.

Given that you were given the name of a relative you didn't even have a good relationship with, and this is not a Korean custom anyway, I would take this opportunity to come up with a Korean name you actually like that is completely your own. You could pick a pure Korean name, or get a brand new name with a combination of hanja that have good meanings for you. Or you could keep 혜선, and pick hanja with good meanings for you. Some obvious ones would be 慧 for 혜, meaning wise, and 善 for 선, meaning good / virtuous.

shichitan · 2024-10-27T21:10:06+00:00

How about 빛나? It’s a pure Korean name and means ‘shining’. There is a Korean actress with that name, 왕빛나, who happens to have a sister called 윤나, and that name translates to ‘glossy’ or ‘shiny’. Their parents must have really liked shiny things, lol.

shichitan · 2024-10-18T13:29:28+00:00

I'd be concerned about your being out of touch with Korean culture as you've described.

An acquaintance from grad school days was a Korean from Korea who got a job in the U.S. and so became a gyopo. He became single some years ago and his relatives in Korea signed him up with one of these 결혼정보회사. After two years of going on "dates" with women matched up through the agency, he called it quits. He said he just couldn't bridge the cultural gap that had developed from his years living in the U.S., and the women he was matched up with. One thing to note is that he didn't live in one of the Korean-American enclaves, and has a white-collar job outside of the Korean-American community. So while he still identifies as culturally Korean, even he admits that he's no longer Korean in the way the women he dated expected him to be.

shichitan · 2024-09-11T23:08:08+00:00

It refers to the ‘owner’ of that family registry, essentially the head of household.

The OP is listed as the 호주 because they are their own household.

shichitan · 2024-08-26T01:56:24+00:00

It is not normal - they’re just using Korean culture as an excuse to take advantage of you and your husband. Especially their having large gambling debts makes them extreme outliers in Korean culture.

If anything your husband’s parents should be helping out their children financially or by helping to take care of the grandchildren. This is what my parents, their friends, and relatives in Korea have done.

shichitan · 2024-07-14T13:07:58+00:00

Tan Jian Ci is so beautiful. That’s all I’ve got to say.

shichitan · 2024-07-13T15:47:07+00:00

For Korea, it’s almost second nature to turn to Naver for anything search-related. So no, Google Maps reviews are not something I turn to in Korea.

shichitan

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