[KS] Korean romanizations perplexities (again): a seorry state of affairs

[Afostercarter at aol.com]

I fear that Charles Muller's seorry tale also has a more general lesson
about falling standards at publishers; yea, even the university presses
of our most ancient seats of learning.

Or just one in particular? For it was also Oxford UP who published
Jasper Becker's book on North Korea, "Rogue Regime". 

As anyone who has read it will be aware, this highly polemical work
does not strengthen its case by giving the impression of never having 
seen an editor's pencil at all. Names are mangled, and the founding year 
of the Republic of Korea is twice given as 1945. Makes you think.

cheers
Aidan FC

AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University 

Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK 
tel: +44(0)  1274  588586         (alt) +44(0) 1264 737634          mobile:  
+44(0)  7970  741307 
fax: +44(0)  1274  773663         ISDN:   +44(0)   1274 589280
Email: afostercarter at aol.com     (alt) afostercarter at yahoo.com      website: 
www.aidanfc.net
[Please use @aol; but if any problems, please try @yahoo too - and let me 
know, so I can chide AOL]




In a message dated 30/10/2005 17:28:49 GMT Standard Time, 
cmuller-lst at jj.em-net.ne.jp writes:


> Subj:[KS] Korean romanizations perplexities (again) 
> Date:30/10/2005 17:28:49 GMT Standard Time
> From:cmuller-lst at jj.em-net.ne.jp
> Reply-to:Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> To:Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Sent from the Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> Apropros of our never-ending discussions on Korean romanization, I
> have an unfortunate but telling story to tell.
> 
> As some of you know, I am one of the few oddballs who wholeheartedly
> embraced the New Romanization System, using it in most of my work
> since shortly after its promulgation.
> 
> I was recently asked to contribute an article (on Gihwa and the _Ogahae
> seorui_) to an Oxford volume entitled _Zen Classics_, in which I used
> the new romanization system as usual, including an explanatory note.
> 
> Unfortunately, unknown to me (I never saw the proofs before
> publication) some editor along the way apparently decided to change
> all the Korean words that he/she recognized (Son, Wonhyo, etc) to
> McCune-Reischauer. The end result, of course, is an inexplicable
> admixture between the two systems. So, just in case any listmembers or
> their colleagues happens to read that piece, please know that I am not
> getting prematurely addled in the brain. It does tell us something, I
> think, about the continued low level awareness of things Korean in
> western academia!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Chuck
> 
> ---------------------------
> Charles Muller  
> 
> Toyo Gakuen University
> Faculty of Humanities  
> 1660 Hiregasaki, Nagareyama-shi
> Chiba 270-0161 JAPAN
> Mobile Phone: 090-9310-1787
> 
> Web Site: Resources for East Asian Language and Thought
> http://www.acmuller.net
> 
> <acmuller[at]jj.em-net.ne.jp>   
> 
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20051101/268bbe44/attachment.html>