Suppose you are a foreigner who is visiting Korea for the first time. You want to go to “Jeju,” a Korean southernmost island also known as Hawaii of East Asia, but what if the signboard of the airport you arrived read “Cheju”? Can you notice both “Jeju” and “Cheju” mean the island you are so longing to visit? Surprisingly enough, it is not a mere supposition. Many foreigners who come to Korea have similar experience. Korea is an extremely uncomfortable country to hang around for many non-Koreans who don’t know how to read and write Korean alphabet Hangeul, because several ways of Romanizing Korean coexist.
There are three main methods to Romanize Korean letters – McCune-Reischauer, Yale, and Revised Romanization of Korean. In many countries, McCune-Reischauer Romanization is in use. This system, created in 1937 by George M. McCune and Edwin O. Reischauer, is chiefly focused on representing the phonetic pronunciation rather than transliterating Hangeul. Although Korean language does not differentiate voiced consonants from voiceless ones phonologically, McCune-Reischauer phonetically distinguishes them for Westerners’ convenience. A variant of McCune-Reischauer was used as the official Romanization system in South Korea from 1984 to 2000, and another variant of it is used as the official system in North Korea.
The Revised Romanization of Korean, the present official system for Romanizing Korean language in South Korea, is adopted as a replacement of the variant system of McCune-Reischauer Romanization. Similar to the older system, though, the new Romanization system did away with diacritics and is more closely based on Korean phonology than on western perception of Korean phonetics. The National Institute of the Korean Language embarked on the development of the system in 1995, and Ministry of Culture and Tourism (the former body of the present Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism) released it to the public on July 7, 2000.
In addition, another problem lies in the Revised Romanization because it is not applied to Romanizing Korean family names yet. For example, “Kim”, “Lee”, and “Park”, the three most common family names in Korea, should be Romanized as “Gim”, “I”, and “Bak”, according to the Revised Romanization. However, more than 95 percent of people from each family follow the former. On June 25, the National Institute of the Korean Language presented an exceptional proposal for Romanization of Korean family names, but its effectiveness is doubted. Many people already have their own Romanized names, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade usually does not allow people to change their names in the passports without permission.
To judge whether the Revised Romanization system is successful or not, Korean government needs more time. It will take some time for the current system to entirely replace McCune-Reischauer. Nine years is too early to conclude that the current Romanization method is useless. The government should first consider how to promote its use rather than to lose consistency in its policies by making prompt changes.By eliminating the apostrophes and breves, the Revised Romanization of Korean has incomparable merits especially when typing on computers and reduces the confusion caused from the tendency to omit apostrophes and diacritics. However, the Revised Romanization system has been harshly criticized for its phonetic flaws. For example, the system does not represent sound changes occur naturally when the position of a consonant changes, as “Cheju” of McCune-Reischauer is closer to Korean people’s pronunciation than “Jeju” of Revised Romanization system is. Therefore, in spite of the official adoption of the Revised Romanization of Korean by the Korean government, experts in the Korean Studies and cartographers still prefer McCune-Reischauer or Yale system.
No matter what the linguists say, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism contended that McCune-Reischauer system did not properly reflect Korean language’s important characteristics, making it difficult for the Koreans to use it. In 2000, the Kim Dae-jung government enforced the use of the Revised Romanization of Korean and all Korean textbooks had to comply with the new method by 2002. The release of the revised system confronted opposition from the foreign residents and English-language newspapers in South Korea, but their resistance ended up due to the government’s pressure. Finally, The Korea Times, the last newspaper consisted on McCune-Reischauer method decided to follow the new rule in May, 2006. The government spent a huge amount of money in changing signs on roads and in public facilities under the new system.
Switchover to the Revised Romanization of Korean demonstrated how government’s coercive policy without national consensus can bring turmoil into a society. Unfortunately, such situation seems to be repeated in the near future. On June 24, the government announced that as a part of “King Sejong Project” to promote use of Hangeul and enhance its competitiveness, the Lee Myung-bak administration is considering the revision of the current Romanization system to make it easier for foreigners to read and write Hangeul. It is reported that Kang Man-soo, the chairman of the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness (PCNC) and former Minister of Strategy and Finance, has the initiative of the Romanization revision plan.
At the 14th meeting of the PCNC held at the Blue House, Kang said, “There have been a lot of complaints from foreigners that the current system is confusing and difficult to use. We have to change the system before it is too late,” mentioning the example of “Yi Mun-yol,” a renowned Korean novelist whose name is spelled in more than ten ways, like “Lee Mun-yeol” or “Lee Moon-yul,” on a case by case basis. The PCNC pointed out that confusion over the Romanization system did not disappear over the last decade though all official documents and road signs had been conformed to the Revised Romanization of Korean system. "The Romanization system adopted in 2000 is causing confusion because it is different from McCune-Reischauer system used widely abroad," added Kang.
The government is planning to complete establishment of a new Romanization system by 2011. Most Korean linguists are against the government’s attempt. Adherence to the Revised Romanization, returning to McCune-Reischauer, or contrivance of a wholly new system – whichever the government chooses, no method can satisfy everyone because the 26 symbols of the Roman alphabet are insufficient to represent the 41 meaningful sounds of Korean language. Besides, with any Romanization system, foreigners have to learn the rules of Romanization. Although Westerners have difficulty in pronouncing “Q” and “X” of Hanyu Pinyin, the standard Romanization system of modern Chinese, the system have been used since 1958. China’s case proves that the convenience for learners cannot be sole reason to change Romanization system.
To judge whether the Revised Romanization system is successful or not, Korean government needs more time. It will take some time for the current system to entirely replace McCune-Reischauer. Nine years is too early to conclude that the current Romanization method is useless. The government should first consider how to promote its use rather than to lose consistency in its policies by making prompt changes.
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litdiplo@korea.ac.kr
