Is it time for Korea to fix their age calculation system?

[sayuridoll.livejournal.com]

Article: Two years old just a day after being born? Until when will Korea keep its age system

Talks about how people have divided opinions on Korea's current age system, which counts every year you were alive whether your birthday passed or not. So a baby born on December 31st will be counted as a one year old and then a two year old on January 1st.

1. [+2,102, -75] Yeah, let's please fix this

2. [+1,725, -119] I gave birth last week... I wanted to wait until next year but obviously that wasn't something I could control;;; I'm so sad that my child will be two years old just after a week that he's born... his milestones will be compared to other two actual two year olds his age.. let's please just fix something like this!

3. [+1,660, -76] My nephew was born on December 31st and then "turned two" just a few hours after he was born. Korea is the only country in the world that uses this age system where it's calculated as your age + 1. It confuses me so much at world events like the Olympics. Times are changing, this needs to change too..

4. [+153, -7] This is even funnier:
Someone born on December 2015 with a three month age gap between someone born on March 2016 is considered their hyung... but someone born on March 2016 with a 10 month age gap between someone born on December 2016 is considered the same age/friends.

5. [+133, -3] As if getting older isn't sad enough, let's all get younger by fixing this system!!

6. [+113, -3] Most countries just go by whether your birthday has passed or not. That should be how it's done.

7. [+94, -5] I'm turning 30 next year, let's fix this. I want to stay in my twenties ㅠ

8. [+77, -4] It wouldn't matter if age was just a number but so many things in society are decided by age, this definitely needs to be fixed.

9. [+72, -1] My eldest daughter was born on December 29th, 2011... she's technically only 4 years old but is counted as a 6 year old ㅜㅜ she's so tiny compared to her peers and everyone looks so shocked when I tell them she's turning 6 and tell her to eat more and grow up big... she already eats a lot.. ㅜㅜ

10. [+65, -1] I keep telling the baby in my belly to just wait 3 more days... something is way too weird about having him turn 2 years old in just three days.

11. [+61, -3] The entire world calculates your age by your birthday.. and isn't it better to be one year younger than one year older? I think change is needed while we can.

12. [+60, -1] I get confused on legal documents too... whether I should write my Korean age or the birthday age.

13. [+51, -1] My kid was born on December 18th and so he got placed in school a year faster and kids around this age obviously show huge gaps in development and it's so frustrating to see him being treated like he's behind when he's not.

Source: Nate via Netizenbuzz

What are your thoughts, Omona?

Comments

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

As a non korean, I really don't have much say in this. If the majority of Koreans are for changing it to make their lives better then I say why not.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

it certainly seems like it would make things simpler. but, just like how america persists in using a different system of measurement than most of the world, it could be one of those things that's too culturally ingrained to go away.

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

yup and when you have a culture that insists on using honorifics even between friends who are one year apart, it's gonna be next to impossible to enforce it.

[classicfire.livejournal.com]

Never really thought Koreans were bothered by it since they grew up with that system. It does make things unnecessarily challenging for these families. I live in the US and I was actually about a year behind in school because my birthday is in February. Placement should be based on aptitude instead of age in either circumstance in my opinion.

[natywentz.livejournal.com]

yes! please, this angel is not 27!!

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

LOL the worst is that he'll be 28 in a couple of days.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

i never knew korean people were mad about this ... sure, for us foreigner its weird but because we grow up with another system , i guess they would get used to it because after all they invented (?) this age calculation system

i'm with netizen #5 ... just fix it and everybody will get a year (or 2) younger lol

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

they invented (?) this age calculation system
As my friend from China once said: "Korea copied us."

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

wait, so i get that you get older as the new year comes around, but are you a one year old the day you are born too?

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

yeah. the system is basically "how many calendar years have you been alive in." a baby born today has been alive in 2015, so that's one year.

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

Thinking that a newborn can be considered 2 years old doesn't really make sense, so I'd personally fix it but like other people have said, I'm not Korean so it's up to Korean citizens to decide if they want to keep using that system or changing it.

[cafetin99.livejournal.com]

This is an obsolete system.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

i have no horse in this race but your comment paired with your icon is cracking me up.

[tjmok125.livejournal.com]

From what I know, I thought the whole age system was because people especially kids were not living to an old age ( back in the days when korea was extremely poor) so something like the baby living until birth was a real milestone as a result they counted that 1 year in the womb. This isnt a problem anymore so I see no reason to have the system, especially since they add a year with lunar new year anyway.

Its somewhat confusing also not even in just my standards as a westerner ,but for a culture where age=respect I would be kind of ticked to have to treat a kid 3 months older than me as an elder. Plus what do they do about school? here you can only start school if you have certain birthdays otherwise you just wait a year, I wonder that they do in Korea.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

Changing something so culturally ingrained would be hard. Especially since age is so important to Koreans. I wish we'd change to the metric system, it would make everything so much easier

[xxhna.livejournal.com]

I wish we'd change to the metric system

omg yesss. i despise converting things all the time.

[wi-arae.livejournal.com]

I remember when I was learning how to say my birthday in Korean, my teacher laughed when I told mine.
Yep- I was 2 years old for Koreans while being technically only 4 hours old.

Honestly even without the added year, as a 31rst of December baby i must say there's a huge gap when you're young between Jan/Dec children of the same year. I can understand why it must be so frustrating for some parents.
There are standards for each age for your children and it doesn't help at all, it doesn't take into account how the child is supposedly younger than all the others.

[hongaerin.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday :)

[v-glace.livejournal.com]

I mean, I'd like them to change it just for clarity's sake but yeah, it's their country and how they've been doing things. It's nice to see others find it unreasonable though.
On the school front, I do feel like the smarter kids tend to be on the older half of the grade. I think the main problem is how many things in Korea depend on your age, from who-is-hyung to (I guess) starting school.

[aneeleniffum.livejournal.com]

I work with Koreans and every time we talk about age, they will just go, "Korean age I'm xx but international age I'm xx," It confuses everyone honestly.

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

Yeah living in Korea I just say what year I was born because it's easier tbh

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

I'll stay in my lane as a filthy American who can barely use the measurement system, lol. So I'll go with the Korean public on this one.

4. [+153, -7] This is even funnier:
Someone born on December 2015 with a three month age gap between someone born on March 2016 is considered their hyung... but someone born on March 2016 with a 10 month age gap between someone born on December 2016 is considered the same age/friends.

This is confusing. I've seen it the reverse with those born in Dec and Mar being friends, but someone born in the same year Dec and Mar are hyung-dongsaeng. Even Jan and Mar are considered as such.

[921227.livejournal.com]

I had to reread that comment a couple times to make sure I understood, but it's correct. I've seen it explained that it was easier to think of in terms of when they start school so, someone born in Dec 2015 would go to school with kids who were born as early as March 2015 and as late as Feb 2016 making them 'same aged friends' but they would be a hyung(/noona/unni/oppa) to someone born in March 2016 because that person would start school a year after them even tho, in reality, they're only 3 months younger.

[welljustguess.livejournal.com]

this is funny bad sad.. but this is culture hence must be hard to change this

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

I didn't know people used the Korean system on official paperwork and sending your kids to school etc... I can understand how that would be confusing/frustrating, especially the parents who mentioned their children being compared to older children in terms of developmental milestones.

[ariellm13.livejournal.com]

If Korea plans on changing the parts that this age system supports then sure but if not then it would just be a mess. They mostly do seniority based on birth year and most other places don't. I have talked about international age with people before but a lot of Korean people have gotten confused because everywhere else, we go by the exact date of birth, not just birth year. So, even when they try and not count by the Korean system, some end up confused as to why they are born the same years someone but that someone is claiming to be a year older or why someone is born a year before them but is claiming to be the same age.

[921227.livejournal.com]

I'm not Korean or a part of a culture that has that sort of age system (iirc Vietnam has something similar???) so my thoughts don't matter, but I can see how it can hinder school performance. It's similar to the 'cut off' date in the US, plenty of kids have to start school later because they had the bad luck to be born in late Aug/early Sept when developmentally, they're probably closer to kids born in the months before them, then kids born up to 8months the calendar year after.

[diamondroad17.livejournal.com]

Vietnam does have something similar, but we don't age one year until the Lunar New Year, not Jan 1st. A lot of people started using the western system so I usually hear people ask "ton or ta" after they hear a number so they don't get confused.

[xxhna.livejournal.com]

Its not applicable to me at all but if the people of korea are for it... then yeah! I wonder how they'd change it ... maybe like a majority vote from government representatives or something.

[dorawa.livejournal.com]

I'm super into changing it, but I'm just a foreigner who gets confused on my age and my husband's age lol

[hinadori.livejournal.com]

I am not ready for him to be an "adult"!

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting I'm actually 24 and not 25 because of this. Been here 5 years and I'm still not sure if January 1st means I'm now 26 or...

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

I believe it does.

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

changing it or keeping it is up to korea, i'm kind of surprised so many netizens find themselves confused or frustrtaed witht he current system.

there's just one thing i still haven't figured out: is age calculated strictly with the lunar new year (which changes dates, and even months, every year) or is the cut-off always the last day of february? like, for instance, does someone born 19 february 1985 have to carry around a fucking almanac of their birth year to prove that they're the same age as someone born 12 may 1984? is someone born on 29 january 1993 considered a fast 92'er or not since the lunar new year fell on the 23rd of january?

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

See with idols I've seen some Jan-Feb kids be considered "fast", and they'd be the age as someone the year before, but even in the same groups, it's the case for one and not the other.

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

I understand it, but my same/similar-age friends get what we do too. It seems really confusing especially if you put what is really a 4 year old with a 6 year old. It's detrimental.

[alleybetwixt.livejournal.com]

+1 to the metric system comments. As someone from the US who is terrible with numbers by default... going metric would have been a massive help during my school years.

Anyway, definitely the same kind of ingrained cultural issue.

From the perspective of logic and efficiency it would be better to change it. Especially in a more globalized world where Koreans are increasingly engaging with other cultures and having different kinds of documentation, it would be so much easier.

I wonder if they could try some transitional system where they implemented International age for kids up to the age of 18. Doesn't make much difference for adults, but it absolutely makes a difference in early life and education. I could see some attempt at reform for kids first. It'll be interesting to see what happens. It's at a level of unnecessary complication that I can't imagine would last for another 50 years.