[KS] RR romanization rules and conventions

[Knoob, Stefan]

Dear all, 

The official rules for the RR allow for continuation of established romanisation practices in the case of personal names, company names and names of institutions

http://www.korean.go.kr/09_new/dic/rule/rule_roman_0101.jsp
제3장 표기상의 유의점
[...]
제7항인명, 회사명, 단체명 등은 그동안 써 온 표기를 쓸 수 있다.

http://www.korean.go.kr/eng/roman/roman.jsp
3 Special Provisions
[...]
(7) Proper names such as personal names and those of companies may continue to be written as they have been previously.


In addition there is also a provision regarding family names that promises a separate regulation for surnames:

3 Special Provisions
(4) Personal names are written by family name first, followed by a space and the given name. [...]
[...]
② Romanization of family names will be determined separately.

제3장 표기상의 유의점
[...]
제4항인명은 성과 이름의 순서로 띄어 쓴다. [...]
[...]
(2) 성의 표기는 따로 정한다.

I am not sure whether this has actually happened, all I could find in a quick search of 한국 성씨 로마자 표기 (Roman Spelling of Korean Surnames) was a "proposal" by the National Institute of the Korean Language http://www.korean.go.kr/nkview/nklife/2000_4/10_6.htm
The same search reveals that there seem to have been some commissions at work on this around 2009, perhaps they or at least the government never reached a final consensus?


Anyway, as far as the regulations go, anything goes for surnames (though theoretically one would have to show, I guess, that the romanisation one uses is based on precedent ...). Whether one settles on one consistent solution that is consistent with or diverges from RR, or whether one indeed continues established practice of taking over the romanisations choses by the individuals themselves is an editorial decision ...

Best

Stefan


__________________________________________

Dr. Stefan Knoob
Lecturer in Korean Language and Korean Studies

Exzellenzcluster "Asia and Europe"
Karl Jaspers Centre
Voßstraße 2, Building 4400
69115 Heidelberg
Germany
________________________________________
From: Koreanstudies [koreanstudies-bounces at koreanstudies.com] On Behalf Of Charles Muller [acmuller at l.u-tokyo.ac.jp]
Sent: 02 July 2013 06:30
To: koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com
Subject: [KS] RR romanization rules and conventions

Dear Colleagues,

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. http://www.korean.go.kr/eng/roman/roman.jsp).

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.

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.

Regards,

Chuck
--
-------------------

A. Charles Muller

University of Tokyo
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Faculty of Letters
Center for Evolving Humanities
7-3-1 Hongō, Bunkyō-ku
Tokyo 113-8654, Japan

Office: 03-5841-3735

Web Site: Resources for East Asian Language and Thought
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