Revised Romanization of Korean
The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Proclamation No. 2000-8.
The new system corrected problems in the McCune–Reischauer system, such as phenomena where different consonants and vowels became indistinguishable in the absence of special symbols. To be specific, under the McCune–Reischauer system, Korean consonants ",, and " and ",, and " became indistinguishable when the apostrophe was removed. In addition, Korean vowels "어" and "오" and "으" and "우" became indistinguishable when the breve was removed. Especially in internet use where omission of apostrophes and breves is common, this caused many Koreans as well as foreigners confusion. Hence, the revision of the Romanization of Korean was made with the belief that if the old system was left unrevised, it would continue to confuse people, both Koreans and foreigners.
Features
These are notable features of the Revised Romanization system:- The aspiration distinction between consonants is represented in a new way. The unaspirated consonants ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ are represented as ⟨g⟩ ⟨d⟩ ⟨b⟩ ⟨j⟩ respectively, and the aspirated consonants ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅊ are represented as ⟨k⟩ ⟨t⟩ ⟨p⟩ ⟨ch⟩. These letter pairs have a similar aspiration distinction in English at the beginning of a syllable ; this approach is also used by Hanyu Pinyin. By contrast, the McCune–Reischauer system uses ⟨k⟩ ⟨t⟩ ⟨p⟩ ⟨ch⟩ both for the unaspirated and aspirated consonants, adding an apostrophe for the aspirated versions.
- * However, ㄱ ㄷ ㅂ ㅈ are not always romanized as ⟨g⟩ ⟨d⟩ ⟨b⟩ ⟨j⟩, depending on their environment. For example, they are romanized as ⟨k⟩ ⟨t⟩ ⟨p⟩ ⟨ch⟩ when placed in the final position, as they are neutralized to unreleased stops: 벽 → byeok, 밖 → bak, 부엌 → bueok, 벽에 → byeoke, 밖에 → bakke, 부엌에 → bueoke, 컵 → keop.
- Vowels ㅓ and ㅡ are written as ⟨eo⟩ and ⟨eu⟩ respectively, replacing the '⟨ŏ⟩ and ⟨ŭ⟩ of the McCune–Reischauer system).
- * However, ㅝ is written as ⟨wo⟩, and ㅢ is written as ⟨ui⟩
- ㅅ used to be written as sh and s, depending on context. Now it will be written as s in all cases.
- * ㅅ is written as ⟨s⟩ regardless of the following vowels and semivowels; there is no ⟨sh⟩: 사 → sa, 시 → si.
- * When followed by another consonant or when in final position, it is written as ⟨t⟩: 옷 → ot.
- ㄹ is ⟨r⟩ before a vowel or a semivowel and ⟨l⟩ everywhere else: 리을 → rieul, 철원 → Cheorwon, 울릉도 → Ulleungdo, 발해 → Balhae. Like in McCune–Reischauer, ㄴ is written ⟨l⟩ whenever pronounced as a lateral rather than as a nasal consonant: 전라북도 → Jeollabuk-do
Other rules and recommendations include the following:
- A hyphen optionally disambiguates syllables: 가을 → ga-eul versus 개울 → gae-ul. However, few official publications make use of this provision since actual instances of ambiguity among names are rare.
- * A hyphen must be used in linguistic transliterations to denote syllable-initial ㅇ except at the beginning of a word: 없었습니다 → eops-eoss-seumnida, 외국어 → oegug-eo, 애오개 → Ae-ogae
- It is permitted to hyphenate syllables in the given name, following common practice. Certain phonological changes, ordinarily indicated in other contexts, are ignored in names, for better disambiguating between names: 강홍립 → Gang Hongrip or Gang Hong-rip, 한복남 → Han Boknam or Han Bok-nam
- Administrative units are hyphenated from the placename proper: 강원도 → Gangwon-do
- * One may omit terms such as 시, 군, 읍: 평창군 → Pyeongchang-gun or Pyeongchang, 평창읍 → Pyeongchang-eup or Pyeongchang.
- However, names for geographic features and artificial structures are not hyphenated: 설악산 → Seoraksan, 해인사 → Haeinsa
- Proper nouns are capitalized.
Usage
In South Korea
Almost all road signs, names of railway and subway stations on line maps and signs, etc. have been changed according to Revised Romanization of Korean. It is estimated to have cost at least 500 billion won to 600 billion won to carry out this procedure. All Korean textbooks, maps and signs to do with cultural heritage were required to comply with the new system by 28 February 2002. Romanization of surnames and existing companies' names has been left untouched because of the reasons explained below. However, the Korean government encourages using the revised romanization of Korean for the new names.Exception
Like several European languages that have undergone spelling reforms, the Revised Romanization is not expected to be adopted as the official romanization of Korean family names. This is because the conditions for allowing changes in romanization of surnames in passport is very strict. The reasons are outlined below.1. Countries around the world manage information about foreigners who are harmful to the public safety of their countries, including international criminals and illegal immigrants by the Roman name and date of birth of the passport they have used in the past. And if a passport is free to change its Roman name, it will pose a serious risk to border management due to difficulties in determining the same person.
2. The people of a country where it is free to change its Roman name will be subject to strict immigration checks, which will inevitably cause inconvenience to the people of that country.
3. Arbitrary changes in the Romanization of passports can lead to a fall in the credibility of the passports and national credit, which can have a negative impact on the new visa waiver agreement, etc.
Also, with very few exceptions, if you have ever left the country under your romanized name, it is impossible to change your family name again.
However, South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism encourages those who “newly” register their romanized names to follow the Revised Romanization of Korean.
In addition, North Korea continues to use a version of the McCune–Reischauer system of Romanization, a different version of which was in official use in South Korea from 1984 to 2000.
Outside Korea
Textbooks and dictionaries intended for students of the Korean language tend to include this Romanization. However, some publishers have acknowledged the difficulties or confusion it can cause for non-native Korean speakers who are unused to the conventions of this style of Romanization.Transcription rules
Vowel letters
Consonant letters
ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㄹ are transcribed as g, d, b, and r when placed at the initial of a word or before a vowel, and as k, t, p, and l when followed by another consonant or when appearing at the end of a word.Special provisions
The revised romanization transcribes certain phonetic changes that occur with combinations of the ending consonant of a character and the initial consonant of the next like Hanguk → Hangugeo. These significant changes occur :Phonetic changes between syllables in given names are not transcribed: 정석민 → Jeong Seokmin or Jeong Seok-min, 최빛나 → Choe Bitna or Choe Bit-na.
Phonological changes are reflected where ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ are adjacent to ㅎ: 좋고 → joko, 놓다 → nota, 잡혀 → japyeo, 낳지 → nachi. However, aspirated sounds are not reflected in case of nouns where ㅎ follows ㄱ, ㄷ, and ㅂ: 묵호 → Mukho, 집현전 → Jiphyeonjeon.