网帖翻译

Allen Bruce Ray
I’ve been here going on 23 years now (not continuously), so it must be decent enough! Seriously, it’s an overall good place to live for someone like me who is married but doesn’t have children. I’m at a private 4-year university, and I’ve worked here with many other non-Korean colleagues over the years. Most tend to stay at least 5 years; most stay much longer. The average for this particular group appears to be around 8–10 years. Nearly all tend to be married to Koreans and have one or two children. Having kids here can be one of the primary factors that determine the quality of your life. Often, couples with kids will eventually feel an intense urge to return to their home countries because they don’t want their kids to go through Korea’s education system (see below). Two of my colleagues did just that in 2017. That said, one colleague from the UK has a daughter in university here who did all of her primary and secondary education in Korea without any significant problems.

在韩国生活非常不错，毕竟我在这里已经生活了23年（并不连续）。说真的，总体上对于像我这样的已婚没有孩子的人来说，在韩国生活的确不错。我在一所四年制的私立大学工作，周围很多同事都不是韩国人。大部分人在韩国的生活时间超过了五年，很多人甚至要更久，平均应该是8到10年的时间。几乎所有人都倾向于和韩国人结婚，然后生一两个孩子。在韩国生孩子是决定生活质量最重要的因素之一。通常情况下，有孩子的夫妇最终会强烈地想要回到自己的国家，因为他们不想让自己的孩子接受韩国教育(见下文)。我的两个同事2017年就是这样做的。话虽如此，一位来自英国的同事有个女儿在这里上大学，她在韩国完成了小学和中学教育，没有遇到任何重大问题。

It's changed A LOT in the Republic of Korea socially, politically, and economically since I first arrived here in 1990, let me tell you! At that time, the President was Roh Tae-woo, another one of those former military generals, and there were lots of violent protests against that administration with young university students sometimes self-immolating and hurling themselves off of high buildings. Some of this crazy stuff was fomented by North Korean spies. Lots of anti-American sentiment was in the air here at that time, too, so I had to tread softly. Once they got a civilian president in 1993, though, all of that changed for the better, albeit with lots of ups and downs in between.

我告诉你，自从我1990年第一次来到这里以来，韩国的社会、政治和经济都发生了很大的变化!当时，韩国总统是卢泰愚，此人之前是军队将领，爆发了很多针对政府的抗议活动，年轻大学生有时还会自焚或跳楼。其中有些疯狂的事情是被朝鲜间谍煽动的。当时的韩国弥漫着反美情绪，所以我只能小心翼翼。1993年，韩国迎来了一位文职总统，情况开始朝好的方向改变，尽管其间有很多起伏。

For anyone considering living here, I’ll start with the negatives and end on a more hopeful, positive note.

接下来我会先从韩国不好的一面开始讲起，最后在以好的一面结束。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

The negatives: Confucianism is alive and well. While this system of social organization has some positives in that it creates an ostensibly polite society that values decorum, order, and respect, it also fosters age discrimination and an overtly male-dominated social hierarchy. Age, title, and to some degree even place of birth still matter. Changes are afoot, however, as people are now more than ever openly talking about this very element of their society whereas it would not have been a topic of much open discussion only just a few years ago.

不好的一面：儒家思想仍然存在。虽然这种社会组织体系有积极的一面，有利于创建一个表面上重视礼仪，秩序，尊卑的上流社会，但它同时也促进了年龄歧视，和过度以男性为主导的社会等级制度。年龄，头衔，某种程度上甚至连出生地点都很重要。但是，社会正在发生变化，因为人们现在能更公开地谈论这些社会话题，而几年前情况还不是这样的

For those who have school-age kids, understand that the education system here sucks. It's rote-learning hell, and it really robs a huge percentage of Korean kids of any kind of joyful childhood. Some are studying a total of 16 hours a day in high school when taking into account all the extra cram schools they have to attend. One of the results of this is that Koreans are having fewer children.

那些已经上学的孩子的家长要明白一件事情，那就是韩国的教育系统非常糟糕。韩国的教育崇尚死记硬背，孩子快乐童年的大部分时光都被剥夺了。一些孩子在高中时每天要学习16个小时，而且他们还要额外参加校外补习班。这样做造成的一个结果就是韩国人生育率越来越低
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

These days, it's not uncommon in my university classes that in a group of 28–30 students, at least 5 or 6 will not have siblings. It's so expensive to raise children here. Also, the prevailing mindset is "everyone is my rival". Translated, it means that every couple is in competition with every other couple for their kid to get into the best schools, which invariably means the top three schools in Seoul: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, collectively known as SKY.

我的大学课堂上有28到30名学生，其中没有兄弟姐妹的学生至少有五六个，这种现象非常普遍。在韩国养孩子的成本太高。而且韩国社会中普遍流行一种观点就是“所有人都是我的竞争对手”。这意味着每队夫妻为了让自己的孩子进入最好的大学，必须要和其他家长进行竞争；韩国首尔最好的三所大学是首尔大学，高丽大学，延世大学，这几所大学统称为SKY.

This is really the key to success here, or so people believe. School names matter. That determines whether or not someone will get a job, even one unrelated to what the student studied in university. However, now the economy isn't so hot, and for the last few years, a significant number of college graduates have not had an easy time finding jobs - around 11% were unemployed in 2017. Ironically, many good trade jobs are available, but there's a stigma attached to anything that looks like manual labor, so most parents still think their child needs a uni degree despite growing evidence that this doesn't guarantee anything.

这是在韩国通往成功的关键，至少韩国人是这样认为的。大学的名字非常重要，决定了你能否得到一份工作，甚至是一份与大学所学专业无关的工作。但韩国现在的经济并不好，过去几年，大量的大学生在找工作时遇到了很多问题，2017年失业率大约为11%。讽刺的是，许多不错的销售工作时可以找到的，但任何看上去与体力劳动有关的工作在韩国人眼中都是耻辱。所以大部分家长依然认为孩子需要一个大学学位，尽管越来越多的证据表明这并不能保证什么。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Also consider that in their final year of high school, kids here get one chance to take the equivalent of the SAT, and if they don't pass it, they have to wait a full year to retake it. This makes for a society that has high levels of stress built into it.
Koreans tend to be very stressed out and unhappy. As a result, this country also has the highest suicide rate in the OECD (and one of the highest in the world). Most of these are elderly people who, somewhat ironically, are living a lot longer now due to vastly improved living conditions but who are also doing so without the traditional support system of extended family that used to be in place before the nuclear family became the norm. Now many of them are poor and don't want to be a burden to their families, so they take their own lives. The second highest group in that demographic ranges from teens stressed about school to people in their 30's who can't find work. The majority of these are men.

韩国人往往压力很大，不开心。因此，韩国也是经济合作与发展组织中自杀率最高的国家(也是世界上自杀率最高的国家之一)。有些讽刺的是，这些人中大多数是老年人，由于生活条件的大幅改善，他们的寿命延长了很多，过去韩国的那种大家庭已经被核心家庭所替代，老人们无法再得到来自大家庭的帮助，因此选择了自杀。现在许多老年人都很穷，他们不想成为家庭的负担，所以他们选择结束自己的生命。自杀人数第二高的群体从学业压力大的青少年到找不到工作的30多岁人群。其中大多数是男性。

There's also insane pressure to look good, so cosmetic surgery is nearly as common as rice here. I'm reasonably sure that Korea is considered the plastic surgery capital of the world now. (If it isn’t, it’s certainly in the top 5.) Even teenagers have their eyes widened or their noses re-done, and these days young men have these procedures just as much as young women

韩国人还有容貌上的焦虑，这里的整容手术就和大米一样常见。我有理由相信，韩国现在被认为是世界整形之都了（就算不是，至少也能进前5）。甚至连青少年都会去做整形手术，把自己的眼睛弄大一点或重新做一下鼻子，现在年轻男性做整形的数量和年轻女性的一样多。

Environmentally-speaking, there are sometimes serious issues with air quality, especially in the spring of every year when fine dust from the Gobi Desert is picked up, passed through the filthy air of the eastern Chinese cities, carried across the Yellow Sea, and deposited here. Pretty nasty stuff; it covers cars and houses with what looks almost like a layer of pollen. Some of it actually makes its way to the U.S. west coast via the jet stream. Also, whenever there are fires on the mountains, the particulate matter counts (PM10 and PM2.5) go off the charts, and my phone app reads "very unhealthy." Normally, it's in the 50-60 range ("good"), but this past spring it went up to well over 250 on a few occasions.

就环境而言，韩国的空气质量问题很严重，尤其是每年春天戈壁沙漠粉尘扬起，穿过……的空气，跨过黄海，最后落到韩国上空。这些东西覆盖在车子和房子上，就像花粉一样，很是恶心。其中一些通过气流到了美国西海岸。此外，每当山上发生火灾，可吸入颗粒物(PM10和PM2.5)的数值就会爆表，我的手机应用此时就会显示“非常不健康”的标志。正常情况下，数值在50到60代表良好，但去年春天有时候超过了250.

There are many positives, though, and I could go on and on about them and just about being here:
Tap water quality is actually proven to be quite good though most people don't trust this as a fact and still use water purifiers.
People love it when you can speak even a little Korean. It actually helps encourage anyone wanting to learn this somewhat difficult language. Also, the written form of the Korean language, called hangeul, is surprisingly easy to learn.

但韩国也有好的一面。
韩国自来水的质量相当好，但大多数人不相信这个事实，仍然要使用净水器。
韩国人会很高兴你会说一点韩语。这实际上有助于鼓励任何想要学习这门有点难的语言的人。让人意外的是，韩国的书面语，也就是韩语字母发音表，很容易就能学会。

The service industry is very well developed, which happened rapidly as it was virtually non-existent when I first arrived.
When you order something online and have it delivered, it often arrives on the same day or a day later, and the delivery is free.
Internet connectivity is robust pretty much everywhere.
Anything tech-related is highly advanced here.

韩国服务业很发达，发展速度很快，当我第一次来的时候，韩国还没有服务业。
当在网上购物时，通常会在当天或一天之后到达，而且快递是免费的。
韩国任何地方都能连上互联网
任何与科技有关的事物都很先进
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Korea has a very old and very rich culture that is endlessly fascinating if you take the time to look into it - and you SHOULD! Furthermore, there are quite a few wonderful historical places to visit as well. See all of the relevant places in Seoul, and then hop on a bus or train for Kyeongju, where you can experience some of the country’s most spectacular ancient sites.

如果你花时间仔细研究就会发现韩国拥有古老，丰富又迷人的文化。而且韩国有好几处极佳的历史遗迹可以参观。游览首尔的所有相关景点，然后乘坐公共汽车或火车前往庆州，在那里你可以体验到这个国家最壮观的一些古代遗址。

Public transportation is modern, fast, efficient, well-maintained, cheap, and super simple to use.
As far as crime goes, I’ve personally never experienced any myself. That’s not to say that it doesn’t exist, but I feel one hell of a lot safer here that I would in many places in the U.S. Overall, Korea is a pretty safe place.

韩国拥有现代化的公共交通，快速，高效，维护良好，廉价，而且使用简单
我个人从未经历过韩国的犯罪现象。这不是说韩国就没有犯罪存在，但但我觉得韩国要比美国很多地方安全得多。总的来说，韩国是一个相当安全的地方。

Though fast food is ubiquitous these days - most of my students seem to love pizza, and hamburgers - the standard Korean cuisine is excellent. If you ever get the chance to visit a Korean's home, drop what you're doing and go so you don't miss out on what will surely be a great home-cooked meal!

虽然现在快餐无处不在——我的大部分学生似乎都喜欢吃披萨，和汉堡，但我认为标准的韩国菜却很不错。如果你有机会到韩国人家里的话，那你应该把手头的事情立马放下，这样你就不会错过一场盛宴了

The healthcare system is very good, and Koreans themselves are quite satisfied with it. It covers about 55% of costs, so you need to buy insurance, but all things considered, it's still quite reasonable. If you have to go to the hospital and don’t speak Korean, it’s a good idea to bring a Korean friend with you as most of the staff won’t know much English. Many doctors do speak English reasonably well, however.
Medicine is dirt cheap.
There’s more to say, but that should give you a sense of what it’s like to live here.

韩国医疗系统非常不错，韩国人自己也相当满意。韩国医保覆盖了55%的费用，所以你需要购买保险，但从各方面考虑，这仍然是相当划算的。如果你要去医院，又不会说韩语，最好带上一个韩国朋友，因为大多数工作人员不太懂英语。然而，许多医生的英语说得相当好。
韩国药非常便宜。
还有更多可以说的地方，但这应该足够让你了解住在韩国是怎么样的了。