Question for any Beanies who may speak Korean.
In ep 6 of Like Flowers in Sand Baek-du uses what’s translated as “we” to speak about himself and Doo-shik. Her “husband ” is upset over the word. I am pretty sure I’ve seen this before, the jealousy over that word. So I’m curious if there is more meaning behind it than “we”.
Also, I swear more translators are using names instead of noona, oppa, hyung, and so on. I hate that.
I don’t speak Korean (very well at all), so other Beanies with more knowledge can come along and correct me in a bit. But my understanding of this is that the “we” is implying a closeness, almost like family. I think about it in a similar way to someone in Korea using “our” where I would use “my”, as in “our mom” or “our house” even if they are the only person living there, or an only child. It sort of connotes a single unit, a collective made up of you and the people closest to you (your family), so when someone uses it in reference to another person it can mean that they consider themselves to be in the same unit or collective group as the other person. But at the end of the day it’s also just a plural pronoun, so inevitably the meaning gets misinterpreted in dramas. I would love to know if this is a thing people get miffed at in real life!
It might be hard to avoid! Women/girls can always call their male upperclassmen “seonbae” instead of “oppa”, but (in dramaland anyway) there are still tons of misunderstandings when they call their actual brothers “oppa” because there isn’t another word that isn’t so multi-faceted! But again, I have no idea if people are actually suffering from this misconception in real life.
I think to make it clear that the oppa you’re talking about is your brother you’re supposed to say “shin-oppa”. Shin is like “real”.
Also, oppa/hyung/noona/unnie is for a “closer” relationship than “sunbae”, I think. So it could be that a “sunbae” (that’s also older) feels close to their hoobae and told them to just “call them in a more comfortable way”. And that’s why the hoobae uses hyung/noona/oppa/unnie.
Yes, you can say that to differentiate, but no one calls their brother that. I’ve only seen anyone use “chin oppa” to clarify when talking about their brother after someone has already misunderstood. And it’s definitely a closer term, but I’ve read that lots of women in Korea don’t use “oppa” for most of their (older male) friends because it’s too ambiguous what you mean by it, and they don’t want to be misunderstood to be flirting. But I’m sure it’s just individual peoples’ discretion! Addressing people is so complex in Korean.
Oh, I get what you mean.
Yeap, it could create many unnecessary misunderstandings. Even in languages with everything very “defined” people love to put some “hidden meaning” to something you say to someone or how you call that someone. So I guess the ambiguity could make that way worse.
Beverly
January 5, 2024 at 1:33 PM
Question for any Beanies who may speak Korean.
In ep 6 of Like Flowers in Sand Baek-du uses what’s translated as “we” to speak about himself and Doo-shik. Her “husband ” is upset over the word. I am pretty sure I’ve seen this before, the jealousy over that word. So I’m curious if there is more meaning behind it than “we”.
Also, I swear more translators are using names instead of noona, oppa, hyung, and so on. I hate that.
Unaspirated
January 5, 2024 at 2:12 PM
I don’t speak Korean (very well at all), so other Beanies with more knowledge can come along and correct me in a bit. But my understanding of this is that the “we” is implying a closeness, almost like family. I think about it in a similar way to someone in Korea using “our” where I would use “my”, as in “our mom” or “our house” even if they are the only person living there, or an only child. It sort of connotes a single unit, a collective made up of you and the people closest to you (your family), so when someone uses it in reference to another person it can mean that they consider themselves to be in the same unit or collective group as the other person. But at the end of the day it’s also just a plural pronoun, so inevitably the meaning gets misinterpreted in dramas. I would love to know if this is a thing people get miffed at in real life!
Beverly
January 5, 2024 at 2:32 PM
Thank you. That makes sense. I wonder how, if it does cause offense, it should be worded if you don’t want to imply that sort of closeness.
Unaspirated
January 5, 2024 at 2:56 PM
It might be hard to avoid! Women/girls can always call their male upperclassmen “seonbae” instead of “oppa”, but (in dramaland anyway) there are still tons of misunderstandings when they call their actual brothers “oppa” because there isn’t another word that isn’t so multi-faceted! But again, I have no idea if people are actually suffering from this misconception in real life.
tabong is ironing the crosswalk
January 5, 2024 at 4:15 PM
I think to make it clear that the oppa you’re talking about is your brother you’re supposed to say “shin-oppa”. Shin is like “real”.
Also, oppa/hyung/noona/unnie is for a “closer” relationship than “sunbae”, I think. So it could be that a “sunbae” (that’s also older) feels close to their hoobae and told them to just “call them in a more comfortable way”. And that’s why the hoobae uses hyung/noona/oppa/unnie.
Unaspirated
January 5, 2024 at 6:26 PM
Yes, you can say that to differentiate, but no one calls their brother that. I’ve only seen anyone use “chin oppa” to clarify when talking about their brother after someone has already misunderstood. And it’s definitely a closer term, but I’ve read that lots of women in Korea don’t use “oppa” for most of their (older male) friends because it’s too ambiguous what you mean by it, and they don’t want to be misunderstood to be flirting. But I’m sure it’s just individual peoples’ discretion! Addressing people is so complex in Korean.
tabong is ironing the crosswalk
January 5, 2024 at 6:53 PM
Oh, I get what you mean.
Yeap, it could create many unnecessary misunderstandings. Even in languages with everything very “defined” people love to put some “hidden meaning” to something you say to someone or how you call that someone. So I guess the ambiguity could make that way worse.
tabong is ironing the crosswalk
January 5, 2024 at 4:09 PM
What I’ve noticed is that instead of “we” they would say “X and I”. X being the person’s name, the pronoun, or the title (hyung, oppa, sunbae, etc).