[KS] Re: romanization '99

[sangoak]

Dear Dr. Grayson,

It is very grateful to you for a comment that I can make good use of.
I like especially your support to a two-fold system for matching
two-pronged needs.

Yours,

Sang-Oak


J.H.Grayson at sheffield.ac.uk wrote:

> 5 May, 1999
>
> Dear Prof. Lee,
> Thank you for your note on the internet about the Romanisation of
> Korean. I am especially concerned that we achieve a standardised form
> of Romanisation as it is important that people who have no knowledge
> of Korean - as are many of our students who do non-language Korean
> Studies subjects, or ordinary members of the public.
>
> I am a strong supporter of what we call McCune Reischauer because it
> best represents the various sound changes in a given Korean word. You
> know far better than I how complex the phonology of Korean is. I
> think that it is very difficult to write Korean in any Romanisation,
> but MR comes the closest. It is my view that for transcription
> purposes (to allow non-native speakers to pronounce as accurately as
> possible) diacritical marks have to be used. The Roman alphabet is
> inadequate for the task of transcribing Korean (and most other
> languages).  Other Europeans - French, Germans, the Scandanavians -
> have no problems with using diacritical marks. The micron used in the
> MR system is widely understood by any native speaker of English or
> other languages who can read an English dictionary with a pronouncing
> guide.
>
> The MR system correctly makes a distinction between initial/final
> position of a letter in a word, and the medial position. The
> pronunciation of the 'kiyok' in  Ko  and Ku in Koguryo is clearly
> different because of its position. I would keep these distinctions.
>
> I think that your suggestion of a two-fold system - one for
> pronunciation purposes, and the other for mechanical recovery
> purposes is a good one.
>
> The purpose of a Romanisation system must be kept in mind - it is for
> non-native speakers.  Koreans have Han'gul - we're stuck with Roman
> letters!
>
> If I can be of any further assistance, please contact me at the
> address below.
>
> James H. Grayson
>
> -------
> Dr. J.H.Grayson, Director
> Centre for Korean Studies       Tel.: +44 114 222-8418
> University of Sheffield         Fax.: +44 114 222-8432
> Sheffield     S10 2UJ  UK       email: J.H.Grayson at Sheffield.ac.uk





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