Ask your digital tracks related questions here

Please comment the questions you have in relation to digital sales, I will come up with FAQ on it by Wednesday 24th.

However, it would be very much appreciated if you could also read other comments made by others so I don’t have to clear my way through the original questions.

I am posting this because many mentions get missed when the questions are asked on twitter – please from now on refrain from asking questions related to digital sales track on our twitter accounts.

3. When to add ‘-ah’ after someone’s name

Watching videos of SJ, you may have seen people being called not only with their names, but with a suffix afterwards.

For example, Donghae would say ‘Ryeowook-ah’ when he’s talking/calling Ryeowook, in a friendly manner.

The ‘-ah’ (아) addition after a name is only for calling that person, or when you are talking to them, and you can only do so, if that person is of the same age, or are younger than you. Also, you must be familiar to them. If you’ve met them for the first time, and you’re not a child, you would be offended to be called ‘Name-ah’.

The addition of ‘-ah’ is however, restricted on their usage, actually. It’s OK to add it after all of the members’ names, but it’s incorrect to use it for Jungsoo, Hyukjae and Donghae. BUT You can add it after Leeteuk and Eunhyuk.

Why is that so? Notice how Jungsoo, Hyukjae and Donghae all have vowel ending names. Now go through all the other members (and Leeteuk and Eunhyuk). See how they all end in a consonant?

So the rule is, to use ‘-yah (야)’ instead when calling those names with the vowel ending. So Donghae would be Donghae-yah, Jungsoo would be Jungsoo-yah, not Donghae-ah or Jungsoo-ah (but Leeteuk-ah is OK) when calling them ^^

2. Confusion with age (part 2)

It’s been a while, hope you’ve all had a good week. This post is a continuation from my first post, https://haedonist.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/1 .

So hopefully by now, you can work out your Korean age.

Today I’m going to explain the system of ‘띠’, which tells you of the animal of the year you were born in. The system of the animal representing the year has a long tradition behind that even I don’t fully understand, but here I’ll just explain it as simply as I can, with only bits that are vital for your understanding with SJ age.

Each year for the Chinese and for the Koreans (and perhaps other countries too, I’m not sure), one of the 12 animals from Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig, represents it in a cycle.
This year is the year of the Rabbit and since this year is the year of the Rabbit, next year would be the year of the Dragon.

Do you remember seeing this article at the beginning of the year?
Ryeowook was interviewed because he was also born in the year of the rabbit.
http://news.nate.com/view/20110102n07682 (click!)

So does that mean next year is the year of Kyuhyun?
Well, traditionally, no. If we go back to the 3rd of Feb, 1988 of the Solar Calendar, his birthday is the 16th of December, 1987.
The system of ‘띠’ goes by the lunar calendar, and Kyuhyun’s year if the year of Rabbit. This is what makes Kyuhyun legitimate to call Ryeowook and Kibum by their names, rather than ‘형/hyung’, and same goes for Kangin and Sungmin to Yesung and Shindong, respectively, since their birthdays are in January, even earlier that Kyuhyun’s.

However, Korea only uses the lunar calendar for the traditional events, such as the New Year, the Harvest and the determination of 띠.
The older generation and some of the newer generation uses the lunar calendar for their birthday, but certainly the majority tends to use the Solar system.

I’m just going to borrow Changmin of DBSK to explain something else now. I know he’s not SJ but because he’s one of the closest friends of Kyuhyun, I wanted to explain something.

His birthday is also in February of 1988, just like Kyuhyun. He also calls Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Kibum by their names, but he was born on the 18th.
On the lunar calendar, this date is the 1st of January, 1988! So he’s actually meant to call Kyu and the others hyung. He doesn’t though. It’s not necessary for him because now conventionally, those who you attended the school years in, becomes your friend (same age, 동갑). Remember, those who were born before March would enter in the year before, and Changmin did so too, therefore that makes him legitimate to call the others by name, since the Koreans are now more lenient with the age being specific with the lunar calendar.

Luckily(?) in 2000/2001, the Korean government changed the rules so that those who were born in a particular year are able to enter school, 8 years after they were born, in March, regardless to your birthday. You still have the option of choosing to go early if you were born before March though, but it’s not really necessary.

Finally there are some exceptions to this. Some people don’t like following the Jan-Feb rule, and regard everyone born in the same year the same age. Some people may apply the rule to some of their friends, but not to other friends.

Mithra Jin of Epik High was born on the 6th of January 1983. Heechul calls him by his name, but Leeteuk calls him ‘형/Hyung’, even though Leeteuk is OLDER than Heechul by 9 days!

So the rule only works as a guide, and usually followed strictly when necessary. In SM Entertainment, the order of hierarchy is regarded as an important issue, especially when the group is made, which is why I think they made sure of the order of age. It’s more lenient, outside the professional environment.

Here ends my guide to the age tutorial. If you have any questions or want to clarify things that seem unclear still, please use the comment section of this post, so that when I answer it, others can see it too.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time! xx

1. Confusion with age (part 1)

Hi everyone, I created this wordpress in order for you to know why certain things are like how they are in Korea, especially related to SJ.

Usually I’ll probably post things about the Korean language, such as when it is correct to add the morpheme ‘-ah’ after a name for example, but today my post is going to be on the “Korean Age” and how the “elder brother (hyung)” is established. Most of you are probably aware of this anyway, but this is something to clear up the confusion that some of you may have come across.

So, age.

Some of you may have learnt the Korean numbers, and come to realise that Donghae was born on the 15th of October, 1986. That would make him 24, as of today’s date, which is the 19th of May, 2011. However, you probably heard him say that he’s 26, on whatever Korean show he was on etc.

Surely he must know his own age?

Well, this is something that one must get accustomed to when trying to understand the Korean culture. Basically, everyone who was born on the same year will have the same Korean age, which goes up every year, on the 1st of January. When you are born, you become 1 year old automatically, therefore, even on the 3rd of July, which is 2 days after Jungsoo’s birthday and 7 days before Heechul’s, they are still of the same age, because your Korean age just doesn’t increase with your birthday.

Now here’s something to confuse you even more.

The above fact would make Kangin and Shindong the same age, because they were both born on 1985. This would also make Sungmin be the same age as EunSiHae (remember Siwon’s real birthday is 7th of April, 1986), and Kyuhyun would be a year younger than Ryeowook or Kibum.

So why is it that Kangin is called ‘hyung’ by Shindong, and Kangin does not call Yesung ‘hyung’? Why is Sungmin called ‘hyung’ by EunSiHae? Why doesn’t Kyuhyun call Ryeowook or Kibum ‘hyung’?

Let’s have a look at Kangin’s birthday.

He was born on the 17th of January, 1985.

Shindong calls him hyung (older brother/person). Shindong’s birthday is on the 25th of September, 1985.

Sungmins’ birthday is on the 1st of January, 1986. He doesn’t call Shindong ‘hyung’, but is referred as ‘hyung’ by EunSiHae, who were all born in 1986.

Can you see that both Kangin and Sungmin were born on January?

What about Kyuhyun? Well, he was born on February.

The thing with the Korean government before they  changed the rules in 2000 with the entrance of elementary schools is that the 8 year olds who are allowed to enter must be those who were born from March. This is really weird, right? So if you were born on either January or February, you are too old, you would be over 8 years old. So those 8 year olds who were born on Jan/Feb of the same year as the other ones who are entering, would have already been entered in the previous year, as a 7 year old, attending the school. This is why Kyuhyun graduated high school at the same year Ryeowook did, and so on.

It’s weird but there’s a reason behind this. Some of you are probably aware of the Lunar New Year system and the year of the animal business.. well, it’s linked to that.

My next post will be continued from this post, because this is getting too long to read.

If anyone has any questions or corrections to make regarding this post, please feel free to let me know. I try not to make typos or grammatical errors, but I’m human, and a sleep-deprived one at that. 🙂