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Banana_Man
Joined: 01 Mar 2010
Location: Busan
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 Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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My wife tells me that the romanization of before has been changed a lot - like Pusan is now regarded as Busan by all Koreans (foreigners ignore this though) and many companies and restaurants have changed there names.
People find it harder what with all the documentation involving names - so the Park's, Choi's, Lee's and Roh's can choose how to spell their name - but most just go with the old style, either to be the same as others or because they are used to it. It makes sense to me that some families wouldn't want to change - if they have an older name.
On a side note I know a Korean who used what he thought were the correct phonetics for his name. Jurgn - seems German to me - anyway, he gets mocked a lot for having a bizarre name. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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There are a few surname that can be written 2 ways.
The ones I can think of are:
이/리 - Yi/Rhee
유/류 - Yu/Lyu
노/로 - Noh/Roh
나/라 - Na/Rha
임/림 - Im/Lim |
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Seoulio
Joined: 02 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:33 pm Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| JFuller317 wrote: |
| Seriously. It's 이. Ee. There is no L. I don't see anyone spelling it 리. Why do we add an unnecessary L to this name? It makes no sense. |
lol, no you dont see it spelled 리, It's almost as if the Koreans speak a totally different Language and somethings don't translate over very well.
or that they have anough foresight to make something like this easier for English speakers and assimilating with western culture.
Can you name ONE last name of western origin that has only one vowel sound and thats it? I am racking my brain, can't think of one.
Whts your Name?
- Its Min Sun E
Whats the E stand for?
- Huh?
YOu said Minsun E?
- Yes
Whats the E stand for?
- Nothing.
Whats your last name?
- E
E what?
(hits side of head) okay make it "lee" that will be easier
Yep no reason at all.
Why do we call them "koreans" when they don't, it makes no sense. Why can't we just say "hangook" and call them "hangookeans"
Yep surely theres no changes to make western assimilation easier or anything like that. |
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lichtarbeiter
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 11:16 pm Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| Seoulio wrote: |
Whts your Name?
- Its Min Sun E
Whats the E stand for?
- Huh?
YOu said Minsun E?
- Yes
Whats the E stand for?
- Nothing.
Whats your last name?
- E
E what?
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Not quite the same, but this conversation could happen with western people with the surnames Bee, Dee, Gee, Jay, or Kay, or with Korean people with surnames Oh or Yu.  |
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Seoulio
Joined: 02 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 11:32 pm Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| lichtarbeiter wrote: |
| Seoulio wrote: |
Whts your Name?
- Its Min Sun E
Whats the E stand for?
- Huh?
YOu said Minsun E?
- Yes
Whats the E stand for?
- Nothing.
Whats your last name?
- E
E what?
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Not quite the same, but this conversation could happen with western people with the surnames Bee, Dee, Gee, Jay, or Kay, or with Korean people with surnames Oh or Yu. |
True Enough.
My point was more that EE would just sound odd. |
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Pangit
Joined: 02 Sep 2004
Location: Puet mo.
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| I agree that it should be romanized to Yi. Here is a figure of antiquity for reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_I |
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Welsh Canadian
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| Welsh Canadian wrote: |
| I've seen koreans spell their names Rhee |
You mean like this guy? Can't have better chops than that, I guess, for choosing a particular spelling of the name. |
Yep this guy. |
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JFuller317
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 6:06 am Post subject: |
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It should be romanized to Ee.
I would give up like... a month's paycheck if it meant that all the Korean born "Lees" around the world would suddenly become Ees. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 10:31 am Post subject: |
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| Here is an interesting list. It shows some people in the US spelling their surname as Ee. |
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Jeonmunka
Joined: 05 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| And former President 노 chose to spell it Roh. Noting makes sense with Korean spellings |
Plobabry because his name was Moo Hyeon so the next letter sounded will be a n in Korean. Like that station soenneung, spelled Seon leung. |
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NYC_Gal
Joined: 08 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 4:43 pm Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| Seoulio wrote: |
| JFuller317 wrote: |
| Seriously. It's 이. Ee. There is no L. I don't see anyone spelling it 리. Why do we add an unnecessary L to this name? It makes no sense. |
lol, no you dont see it spelled 리, It's almost as if the Koreans speak a totally different Language and somethings don't translate over very well.
or that they have anough foresight to make something like this easier for English speakers and assimilating with western culture.
Can you name ONE last name of western origin that has only one vowel sound and thats it? I am racking my brain, can't think of one.
Whts your Name?
- Its Min Sun E
Whats the E stand for?
- Huh?
YOu said Minsun E?
- Yes
Whats the E stand for?
- Nothing.
Whats your last name?
- E
E what?
(hits side of head) okay make it "lee" that will be easier
Yep no reason at all.
Why do we call them "koreans" when they don't, it makes no sense. Why can't we just say "hangook" and call them "hangookeans"
Yep surely theres no changes to make western assimilation easier or anything like that. |
Why don't they call us Americans? It's the same thing. Is my friend named Cuh-ri-suh? No. It's Chris. |
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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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Koreans do all kinds of self westernizing.
Korea is "Korea" because Goryeo is too hard for westerners to say.
Seoul is pronounced soul when is really has two syllables.
To some degree I think it simply doesn't matter to them. Where I live I've seen the same area name spelled different ways on signs posted by the city Pyeongchon, Pyoungchon, Pyungchon, and Pyeongchun.
Busan/Pusan who cares they understand. If they don't care why should we.
The funny thing to me was when an old guy corrected my pronunciation of Chicago. "It's Chi-CA-Go." |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 10:07 am Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| JFuller317 wrote: |
| Wait, when I hear Koreans talking about the President, I'm pretty sure that they say "Ee Myung-bak." I can't remember ever hearing them pronounce it "Lee." |
Ah, there's your problem. You can't distinguish when people are speaking Korean or when they're speaking English. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox, I love you! Best answer all thread... |
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goreality
Joined: 09 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 7:09 am Post subject: |
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| Once asked a Mr. Lee why he chose that instead of Mr. E. He said 'That's my Englishee name, many Korean people do this." |
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