The administration is working with foreign advisors and Korean language scholars to overhaul the official romanization system for Korean to make it easier for foreigners to understand, the head of a presidential council said Wednesday.
The current system, adopted under former President Kim Dae-jung in 2000, replaced the McCune-Reischauer (MR) system, which had been the romanization standard in Korea since its invention in 1937 by Americans George McCune and Edwin Reischauer.
``There have been a lot of complaints from foreigners that the current system is confusing and difficult to use,'' said Kang Man-soo, chairman of the Presidential Committee on National Competitiveness. ``We have to change the system before it is too late.''
Kang pointed out that his council and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have not made any decision yet on whether to revive the MR romanization system or give a minor facelift to the current one.
However, he indicated that the administration prefers the old method, saying, ``If we change romanization, it should be globally accepted and more convenient to use for foreigners.''
The MR system is widely used by many non-English-speaking countries in romanizing their own characters. North Korea uses it, also.
The same Korean characters are spelled differently under the MR system and the revised one. For example, the city of Busan is spelled ``Pusan'' under the MR system; Daejeon is ``Taejon,'' Dongdaemoon is ``Tongdaemun,'' and Gimpo is ``Kimpo.''
The name of famous Korean writer, Yi Mun-yol, is spelled differently in various English publications, due to the different romanization systems. His English name sometimes becomes Lee Mun-yeol, Lee Moon-yul or Lee Moon-yeol, according to the committee.
``South Korea is the only country that has a unique romanization system. But the problem is that it is confusing,'' said the former finance and economy minister.
Kang said the government will soon form an advisory group, including Korean language scholars and foreigners, and ask for help from language institutes to find the best alternative.
The biggest challenge is a lack of consensus between Korean scholars and foreign advisors.
Hangul scholars have claimed the MR system is inadequate for the ``globalization'' of the Korean language, while most foreigners prefer the old system over the current one, according to Chairman Kang.
``Foreigners expect Korea's romanization system to serve their needs first. They complain that Korean linguists `Koreanized' the romanization. Korean scholars, however, say the current one helps non-Koreans speak Korean words more like Koreans than did the MR system,'' a spokesman from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on condition of anonymity.
Chairman Kang believes all the confusion among foreigners about Korea's romanization system is not helpful for the country's global competitiveness.
``It is time to put this controversy to an end,'' Kang said.
After the government revised the romanization system in 2000, John Holstein, author of ``Guide to Romanizing Korea, the McCune-Reischauer System'' said, ``Since non-Koreans throughout the world almost exclusively support the MR system for the purpose of for which it was intended as do a majority of Koreans, this system will most likely continue to be widely used within Korea and outside.''
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Please stay on topic.
philly (218.154.17.157)
06-25-2009 22:47
Does anyone here actually use either system? Hangeul is so easy to learn and actually intelligible, why bother with the alphabet version. I mean, "eo,eu,tt,dd,ss" these aren't any sounds I recognize. If anything its the hangeulization of English that needs help. Hangeul lacks about 15 different sounds. how about adding some letters?
iGEL (213.61.103.4)
06-25-2009 21:22
I think it would be best to change the Korean romanisation system every three months. Otherwise, somebody could understand it or even use it. ^^
Leave the current system. There is no perfect romanisation, but the current is easy to learn (characters are always the same: Jeju (now) <> Cheju (before)), easy to use (No strange characters like before) and it's easy to revert to Hangeul.
Amerkrean (203.247.44.118)
06-25-2009 15:47
At the time the present system was adopted, it was done so over the objections of most people familiar with the MR system. No one wanted the change, and there have been objections to it ever since. The government instituted the new system with no consultation with anyone - just rammed it through. Does that sound familiar? But that was done in the KDJ era, not the present.
YCee (76.102.215.158)
06-25-2009 13:46
"It is time to put this controversy to an end," Kang said. Yes, by leaving the current system alone. Give it a time to grow. Educate foreigners. Abolish MR.
IMHO (222.106.184.11)
06-25-2009 11:35
I would leave it as is because then you have the opportunity to change id's rather easily and open bank accounts for yourself under "different" names....ha ha ha...I know, pretty bad...just kidding! Btw, I also hope that the US actually starts adapting the world standards such as metric system, GSM etc, England/Japan/HK starting to drive on the "right" lane etc....
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