[USFK Forums] Romanization in limbo I Feedback

[C. Y. Lee]

Updated: Monday, October 17, 2005

[A message from C. Y. Lee] Folks subscribing the Korea Herald should have read its editorial appeared in its issue of Friday, October 14, 2005. I have wrote a letter to the editor to express my opinion that resulted in an an-mail as follows:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

KoreaHerald News

webmaster@heraldm.com
05-10-14(금) 17:27:10 05-10-15(토) 23:05:36

mrcylee@yahoo.com;<br>mrcylee@naver.com


[EDITORIAL] Romanization in limbo

More than five years have passed since the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the new Romanization system of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, but we still now see the southern port city of Busan hosting the Pusan International Film Festival, proof that the new system is far from being universally used. Organizers of the annual motion pictures event say that they could not change the title to conform to the new Romanization style because PIFF has become a familiar acronym among movie makers and fans abroad over the 10 years of its existence. It is inspiring that the film festival in Koreas second largest city has earned a high reputation in such a short period of time, but its English title causes a significant confusion.International portal sites refer Pusan to Busan, but a foreigner who searched Pusan on the internet before coming to the film festival must have wondered for a moment if the two names mean the same place. It would have been better if the PIFF organizing office, which is subsidized by the culture ministry, changed the spelling to Busan and BIFF earlier, in accordance with the MCT style.Over the past five years, most public organizations have followed the MCT Romanization system in transliterating Korean names. But road signs are utterly confusing; some follow the 70-year-old McCune-Reischauer System while others are written in the MCT style or just irregularly. And, it will take decades for world map publishers to adopt Koreas new Romanization system.Personal names are in even more disarray. Everybody uses his or her own style in making name cards with English subtitles. Many people in fact do not know that there is the fixed transliteration system provided by the government. There is a quite plausible proposal to have the Foreign Ministry award every passport applicant an English name in strict application of the MCT system, rejecting the use of individual style. This way, most Koreans will have correctly Romanized names several years from now.All administration offices are urged to make sure that the new Romanization system is in use in their respective business territories. Without such extra efforts, we will see the two different systems coexist in Korea forever. 2005.10.14


From : mrcylee@korea.com

[For writing a Letter to the Editor of the Korea Herald on today's Editorial: Romanization in limbo]

Dear Editor:

There was an editorial on the Korea Herald in its issue of July 6, 2000 on "Confusion over Romanization." that was essentially against the adoption of new Romanization system by the government (Search Word: Romanization > 280 Ed. Confusion over Romanzation I 2000/07/06).

You have changed your policy to start using the new system only sometime in May 2001 while the Korea Times has always been sticking to the modified version of McCune-Reischauer adopted in 1984 by the government that became official on and after January 13, 1985.

Thus, the Korea Herald became a turncoat. We have successfully hosted the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, using the modified version of McCune-Reischauer system. Pusan shall remain as Pusan, not Busan. In theory, the new system is to spell "Pyongyang" as "Pyeongyang." "McCune-Reischauer, formally official in South Korea and a variation of which is currently offical in North Korea, and common in popular literature." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki_Korean_romanization).

Therefore, "Pyongyang" shall remain as "Pyongyang," not "Pyeongyang." Likewise, "Inchon" shall remain as "Inchon," not "Incheon." The new system was announced by former Minister Park Ji-won on America's 224th Independece Day that was an irony as if South Korea was against McCune-Reischauer system, the American-created version.

Let's wake up for an in-depth review once again. There is a saying "Maturity and wisdom don't necessarily go together!" Last but not least, may I add that this is not a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Sincerely,

C. Y. Lee
Ilsan, Koyang (not Goyang)



Copyright 2001 ~ 2003 Herald Media INC. All rights reserved.Contact webeditor@heraldm.com for more information.

[mike]

It will be tough to expect the military or expats in Korea to conform to this new policy if most Koreans are not. This film festival is proof of this. Additionally, the Korean government will have to do more than simply pass a law. They will have to have informational packets sent to all new military members and expats entering Korea. Currently, all military are inbiefed when they arrive Korea and given an informational guide about Korea. They should insert a 1-5 page informational packet on this policy. Until the Korean government spends the money and gets serious, little will change.

[C. Y. Lee]

Monday, October 17, 2005

Having read Mike's view on this, let me tell you of all members of the forums that it is not a law enacted by the National Assembly, lacking enforcement.

C. Y. Lee

[Mr. Joe]

I'm not completely clear on exactly where we are heading here, so I will simply state that I am FOR "Pusan", "Taegu", "Inchon", "Suwon" "Cholla Puk Do" "Kunsan" and other words that more closely match the Korean pronunciation.
If anyone thinks that Suweon, Jeonra Bug Do, Incheon, Gunsan and the like will improve American pronunciation, they simply don't know,or didn't know, what they are/were talking about. For instance, Daegu, pronounced by an American in the middle of Kansas, who has never been to Korea or heard the word, will make a sound like "DAY- goo". That is close, but Taegu is closer. This is a difficult comparison, because there is no perfect way to convert Korean sounds into English "tay-GOO" that is instantly recognizable by all speakers. You have to add caveats like "Soft T" for Taegu, with accent on the second syllable, etc. [The actual sound is between "D" and "T"].
Sadly, the Ministry of Culture mandated English spellings in good faith, but obviously without consulting expert native English speakers. They are also still suffering some from British English teacher's influence which has not completely disappeared, as well as the lack of distinct R, L, and F sounds.
They will have to live with "our interpretations of their interpretation" of what some Korean THOUGHT was proper. Korean Government mandating some official's idea of how one spells one's name in English is ludicrous! What if a U.S. Government official with little knowledge of Korean, decided how you should spell your name in Korean? Maybe someday the guy who went to Cambodia and changed it to Campuchea and changed Peking to Beijing will knock on our door. Standardization is a long way off-but talking about it may engender the cooperation necessary to at least improve understanding.
If you are still not thoroughly confused, go read Mike's "Konglish" Photo Gallery.

[mike]

Good post Mr. Joe! I agree, I like Inchon over Incheon, etc.

Mike