Sixth Cultural Post: Attitudes about Time in the Target Culture
Time in Korea is more of a loose concept. While in America, when someone says “I’ll meet you at 7:30,” they mean for you to actually meet them at 7:30, Koreans use rough approximations when talking about time. For example they can say “I will meet you around 10 mins,” and that gives them a greater variation of time to meet someone.
In America if you are late consistently, people think you are disrespectful, and they will not think you can be trusted with important tasks. However, Korean time is much more relaxed. It is okay to be tardy in Korea. It is not seen as a sign of disrespect or disregard, but a common behavior of most people. After researching this further, I personally believe it has to do with the culture and what is emphasized in the workplace. In America, responsibility and independence is emphasized. You always have to work hard for yourself, otherwise people will take your spot. No worker is irreplaceable, and people can either choose to work hard or not. However, in Korea, I believe it is a different mentality. I think people in the workforce know they have to provide for those dependent on them. I think it is more of the norm for everyone to work as hard as they can in Korea, because they have greater people relying on them for support. Therefore, they do what they can do the best of their ability. Some responsibilities come before others, and sometimes times have to be malleable. That is my personal take on it. I can definitely wrong about it, just a disclaimer.
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