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Welcome back to the Kpopmap "Korea Insights" series, where we answer readers' questions about Korea. Our goal is to provide you with the best insights and answers.
The Korean language can be a bit tricky, even if you have a good level of proficiency. It seems that one of our readers has also found themselves in one of these situations. Let's find out about their question below:
"Hello, I have been living in Korea for several years and have a good level of Korean. I am used to greeting people like the security guard in my office building, the staff at my apartment, or my landlord when I see them. However, they often respond with ‘네’ or ‘예’ (which means ‘yes’) when I say ‘안녕하세요’ (which means ‘hello’). Interestingly, they all have something in common—they are all elderly. At first, I thought it was just one person, but it happens quite often. Some of my superiors at work also do not reply to a greeting with ‘hello’ and instead say ‘yes.’ I believe this might be due to cultural differences or something being lost in translation. Where I’m from, a greeting like ‘hello’ is usually answered with another ‘hello,’ but here, a ‘hello’
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