Holy cow. Amazing. I thought it would never happen. (Still might not.)
South Korea mulls ending arcane age system to match rest of world
Believe it or not, the phrases “happy birthday” and “how old are you?” are unrelated in South Korean culture. They’re completely separated concepts. So, when an English (that is to say, ESL) book links age and birthday together, Korean kids are confused.
Yet, if I were to buy a car made June 2, 2018, it would be one year old. On the other hand, a Korean baby born on the same day would be three! Go figure.
I think a question to drive the point home is, “How long have you been alive?”
But does this mean we all have to start calculating our age from conception? Now there’s something I don’t want.
If you stick with the Korean age system, don’t blame anyone if they laugh hysterically when you say your newborn is two years old.
I say, pick a standard and go with it.