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Has someone out there already made the point about the new system, that
it was promulgated at roughly the same time and in much the same spirit
as the demolition of the old Japanese headquarters building? And I do
seem to recall at the time some gentle protests from certain quarters
regarding the bulldozer tactics of the design and promulgation team.
So it isn't just representation of the language, but of the culture,
and more, of its shaking off all of the post-colonial legacies.<br>
That may indeed have been a (large) part of the KOR 2000 project and
its original intent. <br>
<br>
the short story "Kapitan Ri" provides a curiously similar example of
the process. Described in the introduction (in the anthology Land of
Exile) as a work that was seeeking to eradicate post-colonial vestiges,
it many readings it seemsw more like an account of a true survivor.
The liguistically adept Yi Inguk <i>paksa</i> masters Japanese,
Russian, and English, in turn, in his focused and determined effort to
survive and to make sure that his descendants do as well. The <i>systems</i>
come and go: Japanese colonial occupation, "North Korean" take-over,
Russian administration, flight south to the American cultural realm.
Yi Inguk M.D. survives it all.<br>
<br>
David McCann<br>
<br>
On 6/6/05 10:49 PM, rupert wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid001901c56b0b$7fbd93b0$400f6b0a@RMJA" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Gari Ledyard wrote how he is impressed by how easily the Pinyin system for Chinese has gained broad acceptance. Well, I heard that one of the motivations for making the new Korean system was the success of Pinyin. I have been studying Chinese for a while and Pinyin does seem to be exceedingly good. Also, unlike Koreans, Chinese students learn it - indeed it has become their 'alphabet'. All the foreign Chinese students in our school know it. Truly amazing. Of course, Koreans do not really need such as they have their own alphabet, hence the confusion to purpose. Accordingly, several systems coexist side by side.
1 Yale - A clever system for linguists. Only used by specialists - no one else has a clue, yet it is good.
2 MR - A clever system for foreigners based on compromise between sound and transliteration. Easy to learn but hopeless on computers.
3 KOR 2000 - A simple system for Koreans based on transliteration (not sound). Useful for computer users. Easy for lifers but confusing to tourists.
It seems to be a case of - take your pick ... but who you are will determine which one you will like. Or, maybe the best version is still waiting to be discovered.
Rupert Atkinson
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