"You Will Bow!" Top 5 Page for this destination South Korea Local Custom Tip by jburron

About a year ago, when I was living in Seoul, a good friend of mine emailed me that his ex-girlfriend was looking at coming to Korea to teach English and she would need a few pointers. Well, I knew that it was more than: they drive on the left over here--as you might get if moving to the UK....no, it's much more than that.

On of the big things, and something she swore she would not do as a libertated woman (or at least one that feels at least equal to men in many/most/all respects) is bowing. In Korea EVERYONE bows, and if you don't then, well, you don't fit in and if you don't fit in then, well, you're going to have a hard life here.

Some pointers:

(i) Bow when you first meet someone and when you leave.

(ii) Bow when giving something to someone and in receiveing as well.

(iii) Bow when thanking someone or asking permission.

(iv) Bow moreso to those superior to you in age, rank, sex (men are higher, don't think it's sexist, it's Confusionism) and also moreso to those you know less of (friends can become less formal but still something should be done).

(v) You may notice some older Koreans hardly bow to you at all, this is probably because they feel they are superior to you for 2 or more of the reasons above. This is normal.

(vi) Younger Koreans who have been abroad more may not bow as much to you in private, but if an older Korean is around they may be more pronounced in their reverence. This is normal. They do not bow as a way to make you more comfortable (assuming you're a Westerner) BUT having an older Korean around supercedes this and they should be a 'good Korean' in that case as well.

So what happened to my new friend when she got to Korea? She bowed, and she liked it! Her students did it to her (it's a give and take thing) and she wanted her daughter to do it as well. Funny how things outside Korea seem so normal when you get immersed in it.

Photo from here.