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Revised Romanization of Korean

 

 
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The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language
Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
 romanization
Romanization

In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....
 system in South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
, used as a replacement for the 1984 McCune-Reischauer
McCune-Reischauer

McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000....
–based romanization system. The new system is similar to the older system, but eliminates diacritic
Diacritic

A diacritic is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. The term derives from the Greek language d?a???t???? ....
s and is touted as being more closely based on Korean phonology
Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
 than on western perception of Korean phonetics
Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds , and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception....
.

The Revised Romanization uses no non-alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
ic symbols except very limited, often optional, use of the hyphen
Hyphen

A hyphen is a punctuation mark. It is used both to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word. It is often confused with the dash , which are longer and have different uses, and with the minus sign which is also longer....
.






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The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language
Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
 romanization
Romanization

In linguistics, romanization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Latin alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system ....
 system in South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
, used as a replacement for the 1984 McCune-Reischauer
McCune-Reischauer

McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000....
–based romanization system. The new system is similar to the older system, but eliminates diacritic
Diacritic

A diacritic is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. The term derives from the Greek language d?a???t???? ....
s and is touted as being more closely based on Korean phonology
Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
 than on western perception of Korean phonetics
Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds , and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception....
.

The Revised Romanization uses no non-alphabet
Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
ic symbols except very limited, often optional, use of the hyphen
Hyphen

A hyphen is a punctuation mark. It is used both to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word. It is often confused with the dash , which are longer and have different uses, and with the minus sign which is also longer....
. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on July 7, 2000, by South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Ministry of Culture and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of South Korea is a central government agency responsible in areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports....
 in Proclamation No. 2000-8. The proclamation included the following reasons for the new system:
  • It is convenient to type on computer
    Computer

    A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
    s since it uses only Latin letters and symbols, omitting the apostrophes and breves that were problematic with the McCune-Reischauer
    McCune-Reischauer

    McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000....
     system.
  • It promotes consistent romanization by native Korean speakers by better transcribing important language characteristics.
  • It reduces the confusion caused by the tendency to ignore apostrophes and diacritic
    Diacritic

    A diacritic is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. The term derives from the Greek language d?a???t???? ....
    s.
  • It rationalizes the Korean language with the plain ASCII text of internet domain names.


Features



Notable features of the Revised Romanization system are:
  • ? and ? are written as digraph
    Digraph (orthography)

    A digraph, bigraph , or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined....
    s with two vowel
    Vowel

    In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis....
     letters: eo and eu, respectively (replacing the o and u of the McCune-Reischauer
    McCune-Reischauer

    McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000....
     system).
    • However, ? is written as wo and ? is written as ui.
  • Unlike McCune-Reischauer, aspirated
    Aspiration (phonetics)

    In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of Earth's atmosphere that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents....
     consonants (?, ?, ?, ?) have no apostrophe: k, t, p, ch. Their unaspirated counterparts (?, ?, ?, ?) are written with letters that are voiced in English: g, d, b, j. However, all consonants that are pronounced as unreleased stops (which basically means all except ?, ?, ?, ? that are not followed by a vowel or semivowel
    Semivowel

    Semivowels, also known as glides or non-syllabic vowels, are vowels that form diphthongs with full syllable vowels. That is, they are vowel-like sounds that do not form the syllable nucleus of a syllable or mora ; they are not the most prominence part of the syllable....
    ) are written as k, t, p, with no regard to their morphophonemic value: ? ? byeok, ? ? bak, ?? ? bueok (But: ?? ? byeoge, ?? ? bakke, ??? ? bueoke)
  • ? is always written as s before vowels and semivowels; there is no sh except when transliterating
    Transliteration

    Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system or system of rules for such practice....
    .
  • ? is r before a vowel or a semivowel, and l everywhere else: ?? ? rieul, ?? ? Cheorwon, ??? ? Ulleungdo
    Ulleungdo

    Ulleungdo is a South Korean island in the Sea of Japan . Formerly known as Dagelet to the Europeans, Ulleungdo is about 120 km east of the Korean Peninsula....
    , ?? ? Ba    lhae
    Balhae

    Balhae was an ancient multiethnic empire established after the fall of Goguryeo. After Goguryeo's capital and southern territories fell to Unified Silla, Dae Jo-young, a former Goguryeo general, whose father was Dae Jung-sang, established Jin , later called Balhae....
    . Just like in McCune-Reischauer, ? is written l whenever pronounced as a lateral
    Lateral consonant

    Laterals are "L"-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue....
     rather than a nasal consonant
    Nasal consonant

    A nasal consonant is produced with a lowered soft palate in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The oral cavity still acts as a resonance chamber for the sound, but the air does not escape through the mouth as it is blocked by the tongue....
    : ???? ?     Jeo    llabuk-do
    Jeollabuk-do

    Jeollabuk-do is a Administrative divisions of South Korea in the southwest of South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Jeolla province, and remained a province of Korea until the country's Division of Korea in 1945, then became part of South Korea....


In addition, there are special provisions for regular phonological rules that makes exceptions to transliteration (see Korean language#Phonology
Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
).

Other rules and recommendations include:

  • A hyphen
    Hyphen

    A hyphen is a punctuation mark. It is used both to join words and also to separate syllables of a single word. It is often confused with the dash , which are longer and have different uses, and with the minus sign which is also longer....
     may optionally be used to disambiguate syllables: ?? ?     ga    -eul (fall; autumn) versus ?? ? gae-ul (stream). However, no official publications seem to make use of this provision.
    • A hyphen must be used in transliterations, where it denotes syllable-initial ? (except at the beginning of a word): ????? ? eobs-eoss-seubnida, ??? ? oegug-eo, ??? ? Ae-ogae
      Aeogae Station

      Aeogae is a subway station in Mapo-gu, which is located in Seoul, South Korea. It is served by Seoul Subway Line 5."Aeogae" is one of a very few station names in the Seoul subway system which is not ultimately derived from Chinese....
  • While in principle, syllables in Korean given name
    Korean name

    A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' usually refers to the family name and given name together....
    s are not separated by a hyphen, the rules permit doing just that. Certain phonological changes that are otherwise indicated are ignored between the syllables of given names: ??? ?     Gang Hong    rip or Gang Hong-rip
    Gang Hong-rip

    Gang Hong-rip was a Korean commander-in-chief during the Joseon Dynasty.Under repeated requests from Ming Dynasty, Gwanghaegun of Joseon commanded Gang Hong-rip to help Ming forces with ten thousand soldiers against the Manchus in 1619....
    , ??? ? Han Bo    knam or Han Bok-nam
  • Syllables of Korean administrative units (such as do) are separated from the placename with a hyphen: ??? ? Gangwon-do
    Gangwon-do (South Korea)

    Gangwon-do is a Administrative divisions of South Korea of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Korea in 1945, Gangwon and its North Korean neighbour Kangwon-do formed a single province....
    • One may omit terms “such as ?, ?, ?”: ??? ? Pyeongchang-gun
      Pyeongchang County

      Pyeongchang County is a Administrative divisions of South Korea in Gangwon-do province, South Korea and the third largest county in the country....
       or Pyeongchang, ??? ? Pyeongchang-eup or Pyeongchang.
  • However, names for geographic features and artificial structures are connected to the placename: ??? ? Seoraksan
    Seoraksan

    Seoraksan is the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range in the Gangwon province in eastern South Korea. It is located in a national park near the city of Sokcho....
    , ??? ? Haeinsa
    Haeinsa

    Haeinsa is one of the foremost Chogye Buddhist temples in South Korea. It is most notable for being the home of the Tripitaka Koreana, the whole of the Buddhist Scriptures carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks, which it has housed since 1398....
  • Capitalize proper nouns.


Usage

The Revised Romanization is not expected to be adopted as the official romanization of Korean family name
Korean name

A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' usually refers to the family name and given name together....
s. For example, the common family name, Lee, would be I in both the Revised Romanization and McCune-Reischauer. Given names and commercial
Commerce

Commerce is a division of trade or production, costs, and pricing which deals with the Trade of goods and service from production, costs, and pricing to final consumer....
 names are encouraged to change, but it is not required. All Korean textbooks were required to comply with the new system by February 28, 2002. English-language newspapers in South Korea initially resisted the new system, citing its flaws, though all later gave in to government pressure. The Korea Times was the last major English newspaper, which switched in May 2006 to the Revised Romanization.

North Korea continues to use a version of the McCune-Reischauer system of Romanization, which was in official use in South Korea from 1984 to 2000.

Transcription rules


Vowel letters

? ? ? ? ? ? ?
a eo o u eu i ae
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
e oe wi ya yeo yo yu
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
yae ye wa wae wo we ui


Consonant letters

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
g, k kk k d, t tt t b, p pp p
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
j jj ch s ss h n m ng r, l


The revised romanization transcribes certain phonetic changes that occur with combinations of the final consonant of one character and the initial consonant of the next:
initial ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
final ?   g n d r m b s j ch k t p h
? k g kg ngn kd ngn ngm kb ks kj kch k-k kt kp kh, k
? n n n-g nn nd ll, nn nm nb ns nj nch nk nt np nh
? t d, j tg nn td nn nm tb ts tj tch tk t-t tp th, t, ch
? l r lg ll, nn ld ll lm lb ls lj lch lk lt lp lh
? m m mg mn md mn mm mb ms mj mch mk mt mp mh
? p b pg mn pd mn mm pb ps pj pch pk pt p-p ph, p
? ng ng- ngg ngn ngd ngn ngm ngb ngs ngj ngch ngk ngt ngp ngh


Criticism

Despite the South Korean government's intentions to promote the Romanization of Korean words and place names, the release of the revised system met with considerable opposition among international residents in Korea, many of whom felt the revised system was seriously flawed and felt disgruntled that the government failed to consult with them beforehand, since they are the primary users of Romanized Korean inside South Korea.

Critics of the Revised Romanization System say that the one-to-one correspondence of Korean characters to Roman letters (e.g., usually representing ? as g) which is the hallmark of the new system is overly simplistic and fails to represent sound changes that occur naturally when the position of a consonant changes (e.g., at the beginning of a word, ? is pronounced closer to an unaspirated k, rather than as a straight g). A frequent complaint of many foreign residents and visitors to South Korea is that both Romanization systems hinder their ability to come close to an accurate and comprehensible rendering of Korean pronunciation.

Critics also complain that people unfamiliar with hangul pronunciation may be confused by what "eo" and "eu" are intended to represent in the revised system. With common English words or names such as "geography", "Leonardo", and "neon" representing a two-syllable sound for eo, a neophyte to Korean words may fail to recognize that eo is supposed to represent a vowel sound like that of "son" or "fun". Defenders of the system cite English words such as surgeon as evidence of the appropriateness of the combination, even though the sound is not an exact match. Other supporters point out that it is a system intended to transliterate into the Roman alphabet
Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumae alphabet, and was initially developed by the Ancient Romes to write the Latin....
, not English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
. However, other languages with a large inventory of distinct vowel phonemes similar to Korean (such as Turkish
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
, Hungarian
Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic languages unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries....
, or Swedish
Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
) resort to diacritics, with the exception of English, with its notoriously cumbersome orthography.

There is no one-to-one correspondence between the Roman letters and hangul in the new system. One needs to familiarize himself to the phonological rules of Korean before he can easily comprehend the sound each Roman letter gives sound. For example, the word ?? when romanized in the new system it would be "akkeul (ak-keul)". A neophyte could misinterpret that the k in the two syllables represent one same sound. He needs to learn the phonological rules of Korean before he would know that the two sounds are different since k in batchim position would never be an aspirated one. This situation would not happen to either McCune-Reischauer (akk'ul [kk is cannot be aspirated]) or Yale (ak.khul).

The motivation for the digraph "eo" appears to have been the wide international use of "Seoul" as the spelling of the name of the Korean capital. This spelling derives from an old French romanization Séoul in which the two syllables of this name were "sé" and "oul." However, because of antipathy to the use of diacritics in the McCune-Reischauer system, the revised romanization treats this as "seo" and "ul," and then uses the digraph "eu" by analogy.

The Ministry of Culture & Tourism says that the change was necessary because the McCune-Reischauer system did not adequately reflect important characteristics of the Korean language, making it difficult for native Korean speakers to use. For example, "The difference between some voiced and non-voiced sounds are in Korean little more than allophones, but [the] old system transcribed these as entirely different phonemes."

See also

  • Romaja
    Romaja

    Romaja literally means Roman letters in Korean language, and refers to the Roman alphabet. "Romaja" is not to be confused with "romanization"....
  • List of Korea-related topics
    List of Korea-related topics

    This is a list of articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. For help on how to use this list, see the #Introduction below....


External links

  • (without the simplified table)
    • (examples)