Daily Busan
밥 먹었어요?(Did you eat?)
During an interview, Sakura Miyawaki, a Japanese member of the K-pop group Le Sserafim, expressed how she had trouble adapting to the nuance of Korean greetings. The popular singer said she didn't understand why Koreans kept asking her whether she had eaten.
Sakura's dilemma is common for people learning a new language. Like any language, Korean expressions have underlying meanings that non-native speakers may be unable to grasp.
Typically, when Koreans ask, "Did you eat?" they are not specifically asking if you are hungry; rather, they are asking about you generally.
So, the next time someone asks you if you've had a meal, consider it as if they had asked, "How are you?" In reply, you could say, "I did, how about you?" ("네, 먹었어요. 당신은요?") and that would be enough.
<Vocab Spotlight>
nuance: 뉘앙스
grasp: 파악하다