How do I address coworkers in a Korean company? Titles and honorifics confuse me.
I started at a Korean company recently and heard you can't just call people by their first name; you add their job title or '-nim'. Switching my speech depending on someone's age or rank is confusing, and I'm unsure how to share an opinion with a boss without sounding rude. What should a foreigner know to avoid mistakes with titles and honorifics at work?
1 Answer
This trips up almost everyone at first. The basic rule is to call people by title rather than first name — Kim gwajang-nim, Lee daeri-nim (surname + position + -nim) — and if you don't know someone's rank, [name]-nim or seonsaeng-nim is a safe default. Use polite speech (-yo / -seumnida) with bosses and older colleagues, and when offering an opinion, soften it with phrases like in my view or what if we tried, so it doesn't come across as blunt. Defaulting to polite forms with everyone early on keeps you safe, and once people warm up they'll usually invite you to speak more casually, at which point you can follow their lead.