Konglish Buster Seoul City Hall infested with 'Konglish' signs

Seoul City Hall

By Hong Dam-young, Lee Jin-a, Lee Han-soo

The Seoul City government recently launched an ambitious project to crack down on errors in English-language signs. But maybe they should take a look at their own building first.

Walking around Seoul City Hall, reporters from The Korea Times spotted several errors in English-language signs.

The first sign that caught their attention was “Vitality Charging Station” at an information display kiosk on the first floor. Referring to a public stage in front of the building, the English wrongly translated the original meaning.

One of the reporters asked a passing Canadian if he could guess the meaning of “Vitality Charging Station.” He thought for a while and said: “I think it means ‘battery’ or ‘male stamina.’

It’s the best guess I can make. I’m not sure what it means, though.”

On left, an English sign referring to a public stage in front of Seoul City Hall is wrongly translated as “Vitality Charging Station.” On right, “Muggyo Annex,” nearby the hall’s entrance, is misspelled as “Emuggyo Annex.” / Korea Times photo by Hong Dam-young, Lee Jin-a

Other English signs around the hall also showed inconsistency in spelling. Inside the Seoul Citizens’ Hall on the first basement level, a public gallery’s English names were all different. They ranged from “Seoul Citizens Hall Gallery” to “Citizens Gallery,” which could confuse foreigners.

One sign near the hall’s entrance had a spelling mistake. Instead of “Muggyo Annex,” the sign read “Emuggyo Annex.”

“I am also baffled by the errors,” Jang Seon-kyung, head of the tourism business division of Seoul Metropolitan City, who also is in charge of the English errors correction project, said when contacted by The Korea Times.

“English signs within the City Hall are all supervised under related advisory groups,” Jang said. “In this case, however, there seems to be a mistake. We will fix the errors after consulting with the general affairs section.”

Reports of wrong English naming in public signs in Korea can be made to The Korea Times at pss@ktimes.com and ghdekadud@gmail.com, or to Seoul City government at visitseoul1@seoul.go.kr, with pictures and detailed information about locations.