사람을 만들다 – Korean Idioms #18
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We are not alone. We are affected by and affect others. There are many good influences and others are bad.
To give someone a good influence and make him or her a better person is called "사람을 만든다" in Korean. 사람 is a person or a human, 만든다 is to make, so 사람을 만든다 means making a human.
It sounds like it has something to do with making a man from nothing as God did of the dust of the ground, but the origin of this expression has nothing to do with it.
그 아이들이 빵을 만들기 전에 우선 사람을 만드는 중이다.
I am making them better people before they make breads.
그곳에는 참 많은 불량배들이 있었다. 하지만 그분께서 그 아이들을 전부 사람 만드셨다.
There were so many gangsters, but he made them better people.
사람은 책을 만들고, 책은 사람을 만든다.
People make books, and books make people.