Are any of you currently working in Korea? Since I teach many business learners, I get asked like “선생님, why do we say 연차를 내다 (literally ‘to submit or hand in annual leave’)?”
I’ve been working as a freelancer for almost 10 years now, so I’m not sure if the work culture has changed, but in Korea, we have something called 연차 휴가(annual paid leave).
Koreans shorten 연차 휴가 to just 연차. 연차 literally means “annual.” By the way, we also have 월차, which means monthly leave.
To make a long story short, back when I worked at a company like 10 years ago, no matter how many days of leave I wanted to take, I had to physically write a report. I had to state who was taking the leave, when, and at least a brief reason why. ike 개인 사정(personal circumstances). Then, I had to get approval from my team leader. Because we had to physically submit or hand in that paper request, the expression 연차를 내다 was born!
While we are on the topic, when you look up the word “vacation” or “holiday” in a dictionary, you’ll see several different Korean words. Here is a quick guide.
- 방학 is for “school vacation”. It only relates to academic breaks.
- 공휴일 is a public holiday. 공 means ‘public,’ and 휴일 means ‘day off.’
- 휴가 is a general term for “vacation” or “leave” that can be anywhere from a single day to several months. Since 휴가 on its own is very broad, we usually attach a specific word before it to clarify what kind of leave it is.
- 여름 휴가 (Summer vacation)
- 단기 휴가 (Short-term leave)
- 장기 휴가 (Long-term leave)
- 유급 휴가 (Paid leave)
- 무급 휴가 (Unpaid leave)
- 출산 휴가 (Maternity/Paternity leave)