<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">As some say, "That's the halibut!" The original RR promulgating document on the internet has long been taken down. The RR system has been neither fish nor fowl on names since its inception. Charles Muller links to a site as an example in his note and it states: "(7) Proper names such as personal names and those of companies may continue to be written as they have been previously." RR has NEVER spoken authoritatively on person's names or company names--two of the MOST important and frequent general uses for Romanization. <br><br>Governments are political entities and, therefore, efforts such as this government-sponsored transcription system avoid the tough issues such as names. Also it leaves us up in the air as to how we should deal with North Korean usages, for example, in which certain r/l sounds may be
retained and pronounced in initial positions. Having been tangentially involved in assisting with a project which transcribed every entry in both MR & RR, I have wrestled with the same concerns as Charles Muller the past few years. I am afraid that the only answer at this time is that RR, like Schubert's lovely symphony, remains unfinished and the transcriber is left only with the option to go it alone on these issues and try to do it it with consistency. <br><br>Ed Rockstein<br><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><br>ed4linda@yahoo.com <font color="#00bf60"><i><br><br>"All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary."</i></font><br>George Orwell; Nineteen Eighty-Four;
1949.<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Charles Muller <acmuller@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> koreanstudies@koreanstudies.com <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, July 2, 2013 12:30 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [KS] RR romanization rules and conventions<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br>Dear Colleagues,<br><br>I have noticed in recent articles published by first-tier
Korean journals that use RR romanization, the usage of "Yi" to render 이 as a surname (rather than "I" as seems to be stipulated by the Korean government, e.g. <a href="http://www.korean.go.kr/eng/roman/roman.jsp" target="_blank">http://www.korean.go.kr/eng/roman/roman.jsp</a>).<br><br>Having inquired to journal editors who have authorized this rendering, I have basically gotten a response to the effect that this is an exception to RR that is developing as a convention for surnames to avoid confusion. However, these responses so far have been based more or less on hearsay, and no one has been able to provide me with documentation.<br><br>As the editor of an online dictionary that uses RR for romanizing Korean terms, I would like to see if I can reconcile the matter in as concrete a manner as possible, so any leads would be greatly appreciated.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Chuck<br>-- -------------------<br><br>A. Charles Muller<br><br>University of
Tokyo<br>Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Faculty of Letters<br>Center for Evolving Humanities<br>7-3-1 Hongō, Bunkyō-ku<br>Tokyo 113-8654, Japan<br><br>Office: 03-5841-3735<br><br>Web Site: Resources for East Asian Language and Thought<br><a href="http://www.acmuller.net/" target="_blank">http://www.acmuller.net</a><br><br><acmuller[at]l.u-tokyo.ac.jp><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </blockquote></div> </div></body></html>