Are you seeing someone?

Hey everyone, this is a common question you ask when you want to know if someone is dating someone. You might also hear:

"Are you married?"

This also sounds like you are interested in the person you are asking... so be careful~!

"Are you single?"

Now, this question can lead to cultural miscommunications in Asia. When I lived in Korea I was really surprised to find out that single for Korean people it means "not married" and then when I moved to Japan I was surprised to find out that single (独身の) also means "not married".

This can leads to a case of cultural miscommunication, because for western people single means that you are not married and have no boyfriend or girlfriend. You are completely alone and free to date anyone you want.

So often western guys in Korea ask a girl "Are you single?" and she says "Yes, I am." so they start to date... and months later he finds out she has another boyfriend~! Then they break up... this kind of thing happens pretty often and it is because of a cultural miscommunication caused by two different interpretations of the word single!

So sometimes people have problems because words have different meanings in different languages. It is important to try and learn about these differences to avoid problems when communicating.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson, it is August now and I am enjoying my summer holidays so I will only be posting 4 blogs this month instead of the usual 8.

Enjoy your summer vacation~!

Phil