Romanization of Korean

Korea's official system is the Romanization of Korean, announced by the government in 2000 and commonly called Revised Romanization. It is used on road signs, place names and official materials. The basic principle is to write words according to their standard pronunciation. The romanization in these Q&As follows this system.

The earlier system was based on McCune-Reischauer and used diacritics like ŏ and ŭ, plus apostrophes. The 2000 Revised Romanization dropped these marks and uses only plain letters, such as eo and eu. That's why Pusan became Busan and Kwangju became Gwangju. You may still see the old spellings in older materials.

In Revised Romanization, ㅓ is written eo and ㅡ is written eu. So 서울 becomes Seoul and 한글 becomes Hangeul. These spellings are unfamiliar to English speakers and often mispronounced. Other vowels include ㅐ as ae, ㅚ as oe, ㅟ as wi and ㅢ as ui.

Revised Romanization generally follows pronunciation. 신라 is pronounced [실라], so it becomes Silla; 종로 sounds like [종노], so it becomes Jongno; and 왕십리 becomes Wangsimni. Some sound changes, such as tensification, are not reflected, so there are exceptions to keep in mind.

Before a vowel, ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅂ are written g, d and b; before a consonant or at the end of a word, they become k, t and p. Examples are Gumi (구미), Okcheon (옥천) and Hapdeok (합덕). The rule reflects how the sounds actually change by position, which is why the same letter can look different in romanization.

ㄹ is written r before a vowel and l before a consonant or at the end of a word. A double ㄹㄹ is written ll. Examples are Guri (구리), Imsil (임실) and Ulleung (울릉). This reflects the real difference in sound between the tap and the l.

The tense consonants ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅆ and ㅉ are written by doubling: kk, tt, pp, ss and jj. So 떡 is tteok and 짜장면 is jjajangmyeon. However, tensification caused by a preceding final consonant isn't reflected, so 압구정 is Apgujeong, not 'Apkkujeong.' Only double letters when the original spelling is tense.

Under the rules, the surname and given name are separated by a space, and the given name is written as one word, though a hyphen between syllables is allowed: Hong Gildong or Hong Gil-dong. Sound changes within a given name aren't reflected. In practice, many people use their own preferred spelling, as in their passport.

By the rules, 김, 이 and 박 would be Gim, I and Bak, but conventional spellings like Kim, Lee and Park are far more common. The romanization rules leave surname spelling to be set separately and allow existing name spellings to be kept, so the same name may appear as Lee, Yi or Rhee. The most accurate choice is the spelling on the person's official documents.

The earlier system wrote an initial ㅂ as p, giving Pusan. The 2000 Revised Romanization writes ㅂ before a vowel as b, so it became Busan. For the same reason, Taegu became Daegu and Cheju became Jeju. You may still find the old spellings in older maps and books.

A hyphen may be inserted between syllables when pronunciation could be ambiguous. For example, 중앙 is written Jung-ang so it isn't read as 'Jun-gang.' Similarly, 반구대 can be written Ban-gudae. Hyphens are also used before administrative units like do and si.

Administrative units such as 도, 시, 군, 구, 읍, 면, 리 and 동 are written do, si, gun, gu, eup, myeon, ri and dong, preceded by a hyphen. So 제주도 becomes Jeju-do and 종로구 becomes Jongno-gu. Sound changes across the hyphen aren't reflected, and the unit can be omitted, leaving just Jeju.

Names of natural features, temples and cultural sites are written as one word without hyphens. So 남산 is Namsan, 불국사 is Bulguksa and 독립문 is Dongnimmun. Unlike administrative units, they are treated as a single name. You'll see these spellings on signs at tourist sites.

Yes. Following the rules, 서울 is written Seoul, since ㅓ becomes eo: S-eo-ul. English speakers often pronounce it like 'soul,' which differs from the Korean. The actual pronunciation is closer to two syllables, 'Seo-ul,' with the first vowel like the 'u' in 'up.'

Under Revised Romanization, 김치 would be gimchi, but the spelling 'kimchi' was already widely established in English. Long-established spellings like this often continue in conventional use, and English dictionaries list the word as kimchi. You may see both spellings depending on the context.

Companies and organizations often keep the English spellings they have used for years, and the romanization rules allow existing spellings to be respected. That's why many English names differ from the official system. For an organization's official name, follow the spelling it uses itself.

Old romanization, Revised Romanization and conventional spellings are mixed in use, even for the same place. Public signs mostly follow the current system, but older signs and shop names may differ. When searching in map apps, typing the name in Hangul is usually more reliable, so it helps to save the Korean name of your destination.

Romanization can help for the first few days, but relying on it long term holds back your pronunciation and reading. It can't capture Korean sounds perfectly, for example the difference between plain, tense and aspirated consonants. Hangul is relatively quick to learn, so switch to it as early as possible and use romanization only as a reference.

Revised Romanization follows the principle of avoiding, as far as possible, symbols other than Roman letters, such as breves and apostrophes. Plain letters are easier to type and avoid confusion when symbols get dropped. Instead, vowels are shown with letter combinations such as eo and eu. Hyphens can still be used where needed to prevent ambiguity.

Don't read romanization by English spelling rules. 'Eo' is close to the vowel in 'up,' 'eu' is an unrounded 'uh' sound, and 'ae' sounds much like 'e' in 'bed.' So Hangeul is pronounced 'Han-geul,' not 'Han-jool.' Whenever possible, listen to native audio while learning.