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<P>Dear Gari, </P>
<P>thanks for your remarks on our friend Sang Oak and the perfect way he tried to give the discussion on the official romanisation system a more open and more objective direction. As for "not one but several systems needed", I think Chinese is a good example: many people seem to have adjusted to however great or stupid a system like pinyin may be to use it when business or news communication (names of people, places, companies...) is required, while at the same time stick to more or less Wade/Giles in less "official" matters. </P>
<P>Another point (which I have made before): Whatever system, it just cannot be perfectly simple for speakers of various languages. The system should be considered a code to be learned, AND USED by all parties, both Western and Korean. With the capital letters I tried to point out that it is, for instance, counterproductive to have a system called "official", and then let everybody choose her/his stupid personal way to write her/his name. Foreigners - and for them the system is necessary, not for Koreans - have a tendency to find that chaotic, and to extend this perception to judge Korean culture and behaviour in general....<BR><BR>Another important point: Since there is no "perfect" system (or a even "scientific" one), the most important point is to stick to whatever a system for much longer a period than has been the custom since
1945...</P>Let the sun rise to meet you, Werner<BR><BR><BR>>From: gkl1@columbia.edu<BR>>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><BR>>To: Korean Studies Discussion List <Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><BR>>Subject: Re: [KS] The Romanization Discussion<BR>>Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 23:54:06 -0400<BR>><BR>>As a long-time list veteran who has been through many discussions on<BR>>romanization that ended nowhere, I expressed myself tired of the<BR>>subject in a posting a few weeks ago. Stefan Ewing, who obviously<BR>>has a genuine, sincere, and informed interest in this topic, seems<BR>>to have taken my message as a damper, and may have stopped talking<BR>>about it before he really wanted to. I'm grateful for Mr McGuire<BR>>giving him an opportunity to get into it again. I deeply regret it<BR>>if something that I wrote
has dissuaded anybody from saying<BR>>anything they want to say on this list. I have no wish to do so,<BR>>ever.<BR>> I was surprised that Sang Oak's message-- which really was a very<BR>>significant comment on the subject, elicited no responses. As a<BR>>friend of Sang Oak and one familiar with his many efforts to<BR>>encourage the official Korean romanization discussions of 1999 to<BR>>move in open and flexible directions, when his own position between<BR>>his Korean colleagues and his foreign friends made things somewhat<BR>>tight for him, I have always thought he deserved and deserves the<BR>>gratitude of all of us. His conclusion that Korea needs three<BR>>romanization systems is a pragmatic and sensible recognition of<BR>>reality, and I am sure that that is the way it will play out in the<BR>>future. Here's to you, Sang
Oak! And let no one hesitate to talk<BR>>about what they want to talk about, no matter what some old crank<BR>>might think!<BR>><BR>>Gari Ledyard<BR>><BR>>Quoting Stefan Ewing <sa_ewing@hotmail.com>:<BR>><BR>> > Dear KS list members:<BR>> ><BR>> > John McGuire asks a very good question. Professor Lee gave some<BR>> > quite<BR>> > interesting anecdotes and observations regarding his own personal<BR>> > involvement in the development of both the 1984 and 2000 South<BR>> > Korean<BR>> > romanization systems, and I would have liked to see more comments<BR>> > from other<BR>> > participants, or more stories from Professor Lee.<BR>> ><BR>> > In answer to John McGuire's question, the discussion just seems<BR>> > to have<BR>> > died, unless there's an off-list
discussion going on to which I<BR>> > am not<BR>> > privy. For my part, I decided to heed Gari Ledyard's last<BR>> > comment on the<BR>> > general topic of KS discussions of romanization, and hold back<BR>> > from holding<BR>> > forth any further on the subject.<BR>> ><BR>> > I'm still trying to think of a new topic to stimulate discussion,<BR>> > but moving<BR>> > house and other personal matters have kept me occupied.<BR>> ><BR>> > Stefan Ewing<BR>> ><BR>> > >From: "John McGuire" <wiredsquiremcguire@hotmail.com><BR>> > >Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List<BR>> > <Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><BR>> > >To: Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws<BR>> > >Subject: [KS] The Romanization Discussion<BR>> > >Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 03:06:38 +0000<BR>>
> ><BR>> > >Up until June 19, I had been reading with some interest the<BR>> > discussion on<BR>> > >this list concerning the Romanization of the Korean language.<BR>> > The last<BR>> > >message that I received in that thread came from Prof. Lee<BR>> > Sang-Oak, who<BR>> > >suggested (if I understand him correctly) that the system was<BR>> > changed in<BR>> > >2000 partly because a Mr. Oh, in the Ministry of Culture and<BR>> > Tourism, "was<BR>> > >very eager to obtain some new achievement to be promoted." Given<BR>> > the costs<BR>> > >and trouble involved in changing a system of transliteration, it<BR>> > is<BR>> > >astonishing, if true, that the change would have been motivated,<BR>> > even in<BR>> > >part, by one man's career ambitions. What is more
astonishing,<BR>> > however, is<BR>> > >the silence on this list following Prof. Lee's message. Did the<BR>> > discussion<BR>> > >really die or was it moved off of this list?<BR>> > ><BR>> > >John McGuire<BR>> > ><BR>> > >_________________________________________________________________<BR>> > >Take advantage of powerful junk e-mail filters built on patented<BR>> > Microsoft?lt;br>> > >SmartScreen Technology.<BR>> ><BR>> >http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines<BR>> > > Start enjoying all the benefits of MSN?Premium right now and<BR>> > get the<BR>> > >first two months FREE*.<BR>> > ><BR>> > ><BR>> ><BR>> >
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