I was thinking about how Korean age works, since my birthday is in less than a month ….just wondered how old I was and how to calculate it 🙂
There are a lot of You.tube videos that tell you how Korean age works but honestly it was all very very confusing ~
Korean Age calculators and what not that seem not to tell me how it’s actually worked out, which is nothing but irritating 🙂 but put simply I eventually found a pretty simple explanation ~ the one I was looking for that was straight forward about the whole thing.
So basically for Korean age =
Current year (2012) – Birth year (1994) + 1 = Your Korean Age 😀
So in Korean age I am 19 years old 😀
How cool is that?
Does that mean that in January I turn 20 haha?
That’s not really correct all the time ^^ Yes, you are considered one year old in Korea when you are born, but since they add +1 on the beginning of the year instead of their birthday, difference between your “western age” and “Korean age” can be 1 or 2 years.
For example, if you are born on 31st of December, next day you are 2 years old in Korea, on only one day old in the western world. 🙂
Okay! So I am born 23 December so how old would I be? Since I’m just a week a way from the next year, would it be two years added to my birthday? But its so weird this Korean age thing 🙂 its fun to try and figure it out but totally weird 🙂
It’s actually simple: You are 1 year old at the moment you are born (because of the time you spent in your mom’s belly ^^) and you add +1 on the 1st of January instead of your own birthday.
If you were born on 23rd December 1994. then:
23. December 1994. – 31. December 1994. = 1 year old
1. January 1995. – 31. December 1995. = 2 years old
…..
1. January 2012. – 31. December 2012. = 19 years old
For you, from 1st January to 23rd December it is your-western-age + 2, and from 23rd December to 31st of December your-western-age + 1.
Yeah, it is unusual for us. But I’m sure our way is weird for Koreans. 🙂
Okay you explained it better than me haha 🙂 and I got it right 🙂 so simply put I take it to the next year (being January 1st 1995) then add a year onto that which makes me 19! I feel old now haha ^_^
Yeah different culture 🙂 but I love it haha ^^
I think it’s more of you’ll be 20 (if you are born in 1994) on Feb 10th 2013 (Lunar New Year) instead of January 1st.
I am born 1994 🙂 so in Feb 2013 with the turn of the Lunar New year I get a year older? Correct?
And you’ll stay 20 until Jan 30th 2014. There’s also what they call ‘early birthday’ and ‘late birthday’ to probably give the poor babies born at the end of the year (or January) and have to suffer having almost 2 more years their ‘real’ age. So say A is born on March 1994 and B is born on December 1994 and C is born on January 1995, all of them will turn 20 on February 10, 2013. But you can say that although all of them are 20, A has an early birthday while B & C have late birthdays letting the listener know that technically A is way older than B & C.
So I never actually tell my age when asked by Korean friends (nor I ask them their age) since 1. I hate computing and 2. We don’t use lunar calendar so I don’t really know by heart when exactly is the lunar new year (without checking the internet first) 3. it will just make the conversation long because they will ask afterwards, “Is that Korean age or International age 만나이?” So I usually answer, I was born on 1984 (84년생) (and let them compute for themselves if they want to) and I just ask them what year they were born, that way I can easily figure out how old they really are (based on my own point of view).
I’m that poor baby born at the end of the year (December) so technically it works with the Lunar calender and then you count from then on using the Lunar calender (starting with 1994) and going from the adding one year to your birthday!
December 1994 + 1 year = 19 years then at the turn of the Lunar New year in 2013 I have a birthday again which makes me 20 then again following the Lunar calender I then turn 21! Yes that would be easier to just say (94년생) simple then no more questions! Exactly having everyone figure out ages for themselves is better than doing your head in with calculations 😀 I don’t have the energy for that 🙂
Thanks 🙂
I think I found an easy way to compute for your Korean age:
1.) Dismiss your birth month. Pretend your birth month is on the first week of February (or the date of the Lunar New Year to be exact).
2.) Add one year to your age (again, while thinking that your birthday is on Feb).
Hahaha. XD
hahaha that’s a pretty straight forward way to calculate it 🙂 no need to actually have any heavy counting 😀
Simple ~!!
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