Korean Job Discussion Forums

gartonator · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Location: NYC today, Seoul asap

stupid question I know, but I can't figure it out

Sometimes it seems the same business will use Busan and Pusan interchangeably, but then I see people saying Busan is only a little over an hour on the subway from Seoul, and Pusan is definitely the city on the southeast coast, right?

am I going crazy?

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

yes, busan = pusan.

it has something to do with 2 different forms of romanization, and i don't remember if "b" is mcune-reischauer or the other one. busan is the one you see most often, so i believe it is the more modern/correct roman spelling.

i don't know which area you were told was 1 hour by subway from seoul. busan is about 2.5 hours from seoul by KTX...

SuperFly · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: In the doghouse

Side note: A guy I know here in Phoenix did his MA thesis at ASU on the romanization changes that happened back in (enter year here) after we'd left Korea and settled back home. He mentioned that there wasn't much out there in the way of resources for his work, but that he didn't have to try very hard to defend the thesis, ya they asked a few questions, but no follow-ups. Very easy he said...MA was in Applied Linguistics.

Carry on.

tomwaits · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Location: PC Bong

This is the new spelling---fromm around 2000 I guess.

P=B

T=D Tongdaemun became Dongdaemun...

K=G Kimpo became Gimpo.

etc

Almost makes a good phonics lesson . Is it Pepsi or Bepsi?

gartonator · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Location: NYC today, Seoul asap

thanks again you awesome esl community, you go teachers!
I will buy you all beer once I get over there!

ps- linguistics was the biggest joke of a class I ever took in college - and I only took it for a freaking math credit. Sovietization in Romania is an interesting hodgepodge as well.

seoulsucker · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:39 pm Post subject: Re: Does PUSAN = BUSAN ???

VanIslander · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:51 pm Post subject:

The Korean sound is neither a P nor a B. Old romanization used a P but the sound is actually closer to a B, so when the new spellings came out several years ago now, it was changed to B.

Busan is the official and widely seen usage. Some old expats still think in terms of P, (old 'ch' instead of new 'j', old 'k' instead of new 'g', old 't' instead of new 'd', etc) and old institutions, like PIFF, the Pusan International Film Festival, just wouldn't be the same with a spelling change to.... BIFF? ugh.

OLD-NEW

Cheju-Jeju
Chiri-Jiri
Koje-Geoje
Taegu-Daegu
Kwangju-Gwangju

etc

One of the benefits of the 21st century romanization is that it's consistent! Before the governement adopted it there were at least three different systems being used from the past. Standardization is making things easier.

poet13 · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject:

"I will buy you all beer once I get over there!"

COOOOOOL!!!

But there goes your first thirty paychecks. Laughing

tomato · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:35 am Post subject:

I read in three different books that:

ㄱ is always pronounced /g/.
ㅂ is always pronounced /b/.
ㅈ is always pronounced /dj/.

ㄱ is pronounced /k/ at the beginning of a word and /g/ in the middle of a word.
ㅂ is pronounced /p/ at the beginning of a word and /b/ in the middle of a word.
ㅈ is pronounced /ch/ at the beginning of a word and /j/ in the middle of a word.

ㄱ is pronounced /k/ at the beginning of an utterance and /g/ in the middle of an utterance.
ㅂ is pronounced /p/ at the beginning of an utterance and /b/ in the middle of an utterance.
ㅈ is pronounced /ch/ at the beginning of an utterance and /j/ in the middle of an utterance.

I haven't been able to listen closely enough to form my own opinion,
so I don't know who to believe.