I am soooooo soooooo tired of peope reiterating not to use oppa, unnie, appa in stories. LIKE SO TIRED I WANT TO KICK SOMEONE IN THE HEAD BUT I WONT BECAUSE I'M TIRED. First off, I do understand the aversion. We, non-Koreans, do not speak Korean, and hypothetically speaking, the English in our stories are contextually Korean if the setting is, well, Korea. So it is implied that characters are speaking Korean, hence, writing what as mwoh is only cluttering your story. But I do strongly believe that there are things that do not translate well, such as oppa/unnie/hyung/nuna/sunbae... and the like because these titles are only relevant in the cultural context of Korea (and other Asian countries, of course in their own language). The thing is the haphazard use of it detracts from the effect, but I truly believe, coming from an Asian background myself, that in writing, if I use sunbae I am referring to the cultural context of hierarchy and respect, and it doesn't translate to anything. You don't go calling a dude, George-senior unless there's a George Jr, and that would be completely different. At the same time, you don't call anyone in translated hyung or oppa because that would be like saying George-big brother which is awkward and stupid, and the correct translation would just be George, but only because Western culture have this belief that you "earn respect" whereas Asians tend to believe people "deserve respect", so Westerners generally do not use formal titles as they believe all people are equal. And while I understand this value system, I am still raised and culturally wired as an Asian (I have a strong Chinese/Filipino up bringing), and I cringe at translations when they leave out honorifics because as an Asian, I feel.... strangely rude. I have been living in Canada for five years, and I am still baffled at having friends much, much older, and much, much experienced and I just call them by their name. I get the hibby jibees. And my boss wont let me call her ma'am because it makes her feel old, but my Chinese (I dunno, if it's more of a Chinese thing than Filipino) cultural roots feel like it's being pulled and frayed, and I cry a little... on the inside, so I don't look too crazy.

I mean, my husband, Fred, adjusted pretty quickly, but I am quite reserved and I like having honorifics because it's telling the addressee that I respect her/him and also it sets up boundaries (which is again an Asian thing). I have never really seen myself more Asian, god knows I am more white-washed than a lot of my peers, but yes, now that I am here in the West, I am much more Eastern than I thought I am.

But personal anecdote aside, I think Korean honorifics in stories serves a purpose, as I have used Japanese honorifics in my stories IRL because I am trying to portray cultural disparities, power dynamics and those kind of things....

So yeah, stop telling people this is the "RIGHT WAY" to write just because you think it is the "RIGHT WAY"... because you know, not everyone is going the same direction, yeah?