The Minimalist Guide to サラリーマン and OLオーエル

There’s absolutely no doubt that white-collar workers who are called “サラリーマン” which most Japanese think this word should be English because they think サラリーマン means “salary-man”. So I’d say a bunch of Japanese may often use both words of サラリーマン and OLオーエル for you guys as the words in English. So some people may be complicated about them, first of all, and you might want to know them because we often talk about our job after being friends, don’t we? I hope that after reading this article, you could easily figure it out even if natives say サラリーマン and OLオーエル.

サラリーマン / OLオーエル

White-collar worker / Office worker / Nine-to-fiver / Businessperson / Businessman (only for サラリーマン) / Businesswoman (only for OL)

Refers to employees whose job entails, largely or entirely, mental or clerical work, such as in an office. Most employees in the workforce are either considered blue who are basically called 肉体労働者にくたいろうどうしゃ or 土木作業員どぼくさぎょういん or white collar workers who are called サラリーマン for men and OLオーエル for women. While blue-collar workers typically perform manual labor for an hourly wage, white collar workers are typically paid a salary and are almost always college educated or highly skilled in their fields. White collar workers often wear dress shirts or suits and work at offices or schools in managerial or professional positions.

Example

仕事しごと何なにしてるの？ (What do you do?) (你在做什么工作) (직업이 뭐야?) (Cậu đang làm công việc gì?)

サラリーマンだよ。 (I’m a white-collar worker.) (我是上班族。) (샐러리맨이야.) (Tớ đang làm nhân viên công ty.)

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お仕事しごとは何なんですか？ (What do you do for living?) (你的工作是什么？) (직업이 뭐예요?) (Công việc của cậu là gì?)

普通ふつうのサラリーマンですよ。 (I’m just an ordinary office worker.) (我普通的工薪阶层哦。) (평범한 샐러리맨이에요.) (Tớ là nhân viên công ty thông thường thôi.)

仕事しごと何なにしてるの？ (What’s your job?) (你是做什么工作的。) (직업이 뭐야?) (Cậu làm công việc gì đấy?)

OLオーエルだよ。 (I’m a businesswoman.) (我是白领。) (OL이야.) (nhân viên nữ văn phòng.)

妹いもうとは何なんの仕事しごとしてるの？ (What does your younger sister do?) (你妹妹在做什么工作？) (여동생은 어떤 일 하고 있어?) (Em gái cậu đang làm việc gì?)

1年位いちねんくらいOLオーエルしてるよ。 (She’s been a nine-to-fiver for about a year.) (我做白领工作大约一年了。) (OL된 지 1년 정도 됐어.) (nữ nhân viên văn phòng khoảng 1 năm.)

日本人にほんじんの90%以上いじょうはサラリーマンなんだってー。 (More than 90% of Japanese are white-collar workers.) (超过90％的日本人是上班族。) (일본인의 90% 이상은 샐러리맨이래.) (Người ta bảo rằng hơn 90% người Nhật làm nhân viên công ty đấy.)

日本にほんのOLオーエルのイメージってどんなの？ (What’s your image of Japanese office workers for women?) (日本OL的形象是什么？) (일본의 OL은 어떤 이미지야?) (nữ nhân viên văn phòng ở Nhật thì kiểu như thế nào nhỉ?)