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JFuller317
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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 Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:49 pm Post subject: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| 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. |
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Welsh Canadian
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:50 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. |
Something to do with the vowel not allowed to be alone. Has to have another letter (constantant - spl). |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| It's Koreans who spell it that way, not English people. |
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JFuller317
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| Welsh Canadian 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. |
Something to do with the vowel not allowed to be alone. Has to have another letter (constantant - spl). |
I don't see why we make fun of Koreans for wanting to add a "euh" sound to every word that ends in a consonant when we do stupid crap like this.
| Senior wrote: |
| It's Koreans who spell it that way, not English people. |
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." |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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Evidently there really is a 리 family:
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| The proper pronunciation in South Korea is like the English letter "E", although in North Korea the name is still written as "리" and pronounced "Lee". Many times South Koreans will knowingly introduce themselves as "Lee" to foreigners even though this is not the proper pronunciation of their name. The more traditional spelling and therefore pronunciation of the name is the North Korean "리" (Lee). |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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Yi
There are many inappropriate ways to romanize words.
Golfers Choi and Yang suffer from it, as has car maker Hyundai. |
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Welsh Canadian
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
Evidently there really is a 리 family:
| Quote: |
| The proper pronunciation in South Korea is like the English letter "E", although in North Korea the name is still written as "리" and pronounced "Lee". Many times South Koreans will knowingly introduce themselves as "Lee" to foreigners even though this is not the proper pronunciation of their name. The more traditional spelling and therefore pronunciation of the name is the North Korean "리" (Lee). |
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I've seen koreans spell their names Rhee |
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JFuller317
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I called my Korean-American friend Sam Choi (rhymes with toy) for years before learning it should be pronounced "Chu-way." |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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The Korean family name "이" is represented by the Hanja: 李.
李 is pronounced "이" at the front of words, and "리" when not at the front of words under the current South Korean system.
When you say a name in Korean, you put surname first, and thus it should be pronounced "이" just like they do. In English names, however, the family name is spoken last, and as such, pronouncing it "리" is systematically correct if one considers the entire name to be essentially one word (which Koreans do). And while "리" actually begins with a noise closer to R than L, it's not a true R, and pronouncing it as an L isn't entirely unreasonable. And as CentralCali points out, some North Korean families still pronounce it "리" despite it's word-initial position.
In short, this pronounciation is actually fairly reasonable and based on the proper usage of Hanja in South Korea. You'd have had a much stronger case if you had attacked the 박 --> Park name change. |
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lichtarbeiter
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 7:39 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. |
I'm going to make an educated guess about this.
Remember that all Koreans have Chinese names. The name 이 is the Chinese name 李, which sounds like "Lee." Now remember, because of phonological contraints in Korean, a word cannot start with an "l" sound. Therefore, a repair must be made. North Korean repairs it by changing the "l" to "r", resulting in 리. South Korean, on the other hand, deletes the consonant onset altogether, resulting in 이.
So the Romanization of the name simply reflects the generic Chinese name rather than capture the phonological process that changes it in Korean. Also, it makes the name sound more "last-namish." It would just be too weird to meet a Korean-American guy who says, "Hi, my name's John Ee."
So yes, it is quite strange, but I'm certain there's a reason for it beyond the classic case of American ignorance. |
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Chet Wautlands
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 8:27 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. |
Who are you referring to when you say "we"?
My Korea co-teacher's family name is 이. In English she calls herself Mrs. Lee. Should I correct her? "No, you are Mrs. eee!" |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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| 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. |
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JFuller317
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:44 pm Post subject: Re: There are no Koreans with the last name "Lee" |
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| Chet Wautlands 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. |
Who are you referring to when you say "we"?
My Korea co-teacher's family name is 이. In English she calls herself Mrs. Lee. Should I correct her? "No, you are Mrs. eee!" |
It would be a lot funnier if you did. |
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oskinny1
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| And former President 노 chose to spell it Roh. Noting makes sense with Korean spellings. |
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detourne_me
Joined: 26 May 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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Why do a number of immigrants change their names when they arrive on American soil?
It's a gesture of acceptance into their culture.
Why do a number of English teachers on facebook write their profile names in hangeul?
I have found a few recent examples of Korean-Americans that do not change their family names. Greg Pak is one and a helluva good writer. |
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