Korean Job Discussion Forums

[retrogress]

I thought this was interesting. I stumbled upon it after reading the post about calling students by their Korean name or giving them an English nickname.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~pronunciation/korean.html

[RACETRAITOR]

So much easier to just learn Hangul.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[danby_ll]

Please please please do not go by that guide. There are so many things wrong with it. The family name Park (박) is not "Bark". There is no "r" sound in there at all.

"Eun
Eun should be pronounced like asylum."
Not even close.......

Learn hangeul!! It's the only way to actually know the pronunciation of someone's name. Someone could have "Suk" in their romanized name and you're not gonna know if it's actually pronounced like 석 or 숙 unless you hear it spoken or see it written in Korean.

[seoulsucker]

This is a horrible, horrible guide written by someone who has little or no grasp of how to use/read hangul.

최 = Choe? How would your average native speaker read that? I use "Chae" or even "Chay" when I absolutely have to (like for a lazy co-worker) and most Koreans seem to think that's much closer than the standard "Choi."

As others are saying, the problems with romanization can be avoided by taking an afternoon to learn how to phonetically use hangul. It really is that simple.

[danby_ll]

I just realized there are sound files there too, which are accurate....but still, I stand my ground on the terribleness of the written guide.

[ernie]

part of the problem is inconsistent and/or just plain stupid romanization. when 신촌 is written as 'sinchon', you can't blame the foreigners for screwing it up and ending on the wrong side of the river. it's missing the SH sound, the long E, and the long O!

'sheenchone' FTW!

why don't they use the phonetic long and short vowel markers in their romanization? short vowels have a curved line above them and long vowels have a straight line. i've seen a few signs written like this in korea and it makes things crystal clear.

[danby_ll]

[ernie]

duh. but english is the lingua franca, so it stands to reason that they'd be using english pronunciation.

[samd]

[ernie]

i'm not sure whether your post is serious or an ironic tirade a la General Ripper. i think this says something about the korean letter system fetishists.

[GreenlightmeansGO]

I would prefer to write 최 as 'chwe' - I know it looks like nonsense in English, but that's how it sounds to me. Other problems are 'Yeon', which could be 현 or 연. When it comes to 혜, a lot of students/teachers write 'Hye', but it actually sounds like 헤 (He...but not the pronoun for a man).

The vowels are pretty difficult to convey without Hangeul or phonetic script. The 으 sound is made by keeping your teeth and lips close together and opening your mouth wide (sideways). God, that sounds awful. A lot of foreigners accidentally substitute it with 우.

[carpetdope]

[danby_ll]

[ernie]

how does translating according to the world's most widely used language make no sense? what language do YOU suggest using?

i agree that bayjing and heerosheema are much better phonetic spellings, although the latter is ugly. bayjing is a MUCH better way to spell it because 'beijing' should be pronounced buy-jing according to english phonetic rules.

it's tough to use the proper pronunciations when foreigners see 신촌 translated as 'sinchon'. when you're talking to your english friends, do you say 'sheenchone' or 'sinchon'? 90% of the people i know say 'sinchon', even though they can read hangeul. i guess my point is this: how is someone who doesn't know how to read korean supposed to know that what they're saying isn't correct? you can't blame the student for being wrong if the teacher isn't teaching properly!