In the languages of my ancestors, for example, if someone was 14 years old, they would be “14 år gammal” in Swedish (14 years old) and “14 Jahre alt” in German (14 years old), but in Italian, they would say “ho 14 anni” (I have 14 years).
Spanish: Tengo catorce anos == I have fourteen buttholes
And this is why you shouldn’t skimp on your tildes.
Wait until you realize where the word verano comes from
que no mires!
In my first language (English) a 14-year-old would day “I am 14 years old” which means “I am 14 years old”
In my distant second language (Spanish) they would say “tengo 14 años” which, like Italian, means “I have 14 years”
Don’t forget the common colloquial “I’m 14”.
In French it’s like in Italian, ‘j’ai quatorze ans’ (I have 14 years).
Sometimes people are saying their next age, ‘je vais sur mes quinze ans’ (I am going to my 15 years).
It’s just <Number>살 for us. The way the age is counted is a bit different. If you were using the standard way of calculating the age, you add 만 in front of it.
A few years ago, iirc, the Korean government instructed people to stop using the traditional system and to use the international system instead. Has that had much of an effect in practice, or are people largely ignoring it? Or do you think it’s something that younger generations will pick up more over time while older people continue using the traditional system? (This last option being sort of what happened in Australia when we transitioned to metric through the '70s.)
Also, what happens to someone born on 1 January? Are they born du sal, and thus the youngest of their sal, or born han sal and remain han sal for a whole year?
