Editing Revised Romanization of Korean

{{Short description|Korean language romanization system}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Korean romanization}}
{{Infobox Korean name/auto
|hangul=^국어의 로마@자 표기@법<!--로마자 is pronounced [로마짜]; 표기법 is pronounced [표기뻡]-->
|hanja=國語의 로마字 表記法
}}

'''Revised Romanization of Korean''' ({{Korean|hangul=국어의 로마자 표기법|lit='Roman-letter notation of the national language'|links=no|labels=no}}) is the official [[Romanization of Korean|Korean language romanization]] system in South Korea. It was developed by the [[National Institute of Korean Language|National Academy of the Korean Language]] from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's [[Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (South Korea)|Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]] in Proclamation No. 2000-8.<ref name="MoCT2000">{{cite web|url=http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=A020303|title=Romanization of Korean|date=July 2000|website=[[Korea.net]]|publisher=Ministry of Culture & Tourism|access-date=9 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916025652/http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=A020303 <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=16 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |script-title=ko:한국어 어문 규범 |url=https://korean.go.kr/kornorms/regltn/regltnView.do?regltn_code=0004 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=korean.go.kr|language=ko}}</ref>

The new system addressed problems in the implementation of the [[McCune–Reischauer]] system, such as the phenomena where different consonants and vowels became indistinguishable in the absence of special symbols. To be specific, under the McCune–Reischauer system, the consonants {{lang|ko|ㄱ}} (''k''), {{lang|ko|ㄷ}} (''t''), {{lang|ko|ㅂ}} (''p'') and {{lang|ko|ㅈ}} (''ch'') and {{lang|ko|ㅋ}} (''k{{`}}''), {{lang|ko|ㅌ}} (''t{{`}}''), {{lang|ko|ㅍ}} (''p{{`}}'') and {{lang|ko|ㅊ}} (''ch{{`}}'') became indistinguishable when the [[apostrophe]] was removed. In addition, the vowels {{lang|ko|ㅓ}} (''ŏ'') and {{lang|ko|ㅗ}} (''o''), as well as {{lang|ko|ㅡ}} (''ŭ'') and {{lang|ko|ㅜ}} (''u''), became indistinguishable when the [[breve]] was removed. Especially in early internet use, where omission of apostrophes and breves is common, this caused confusion.<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=ko:로마자표기법 |trans-title=Romanization |url=https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?cid=40942&docId=1088228&categoryId=32972 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=terms.naver.com |publisher=[[Doosan Encyclopedia]] |language=ko}}</ref>

==Features==
These are notable features of the Revised Romanization system:
* The [[Aspiration (linguistics)|aspiration]] distinction between consonants is represented in a new way. The unaspirated consonants {{lang|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|ko|ㄷ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅂ}}, and {{lang|ko|ㅈ}} are represented as ⟨g⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨b⟩, and ⟨j⟩ respectively. The aspirated consonants {{lang|ko|ㅋ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅌ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅍ}}, and {{lang|ko|ㅊ}} are represented as ⟨k⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨ch⟩. These letter pairs have a similar aspiration distinction in English at the beginning of a syllable (but unlike English do not have a [[Voicing (phonetics)|voicing]] distinction); this approach is also used by [[Hanyu Pinyin]]. By contrast, the [[McCune–Reischauer]] system uses ⟨k⟩ ⟨t⟩ ⟨p⟩ ⟨ch⟩ both for the unaspirated and aspirated consonants, adding an apostrophe for the aspirated versions (⟨k'⟩ ⟨t'⟩ ⟨p'⟩ ⟨ch'⟩). (The McCune–Reischauer system also includes voicing, which the revised romanization does not.)
** When placed in the final position, {{lang|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|ko|ㄷ}}, and {{lang|ko|ㅂ}} are romanized as ⟨k⟩, ⟨t⟩, and ⟨p⟩ respectively, as they are neutralized to [[No audible release|unreleased stops]]: {{lang|ko|벽}} {{IPA|[pjʌk̚]|}} → ''byeo'''k''''', {{lang|ko|밖}} {{IPA|[pak̚]|}} → ''ba'''k''''', {{lang|ko|부엌}} {{IPA|[pu.ʌk̚]|}} → ''bueo'''k''''', {{lang|ko|벽에}} {{IPA|[pjʌ.ɡe]|}} → ''byeo'''g'''e'', {{lang|ko|밖에}} {{IPA|[pa.k͈e]|}} → ''ba'''kk'''e'', {{lang|ko|부엌에}} {{IPA|[pu.ʌ.kʰe]|}} → ''bueo'''k'''e'', {{lang|ko|입}} {{IPA|[ip̚]|}} → ''i'''p''''',  {{lang|ko|입에}} {{IPA|[i.be]|}} → ''i'''b'''e''.
* Vowels {{lang|ko|ㅓ}} and {{lang|ko|ㅡ}} are written as ⟨eo⟩ and ⟨eu⟩ respectively, replacing the ⟨ŏ⟩ and ⟨ŭ⟩ of the [[McCune–Reischauer]] system.
** However, {{lang|ko|ㅝ}} {{IPA|/wʌ/|}} is written as ⟨wo⟩, not ⟨weo⟩, and {{lang|ko|ㅢ}} {{IPA|/ɰi/|}} is written as ⟨ui⟩, not ⟨eui⟩.
* ㅅ in the syllable-initial position is always written as ⟨s⟩. The [[McCune–Reischauer]] system used ⟨sh⟩ or ⟨s⟩ depending on context.
** When followed by another consonant or when in the final position, it is written as ⟨t⟩: {{lang|ko|옷}} {{IPA|[ot̚]|}} → ''o'''t''''' (but {{lang|ko|옷에}} {{IPA|[o.se]|}} → ''o'''s'''e'').
* {{lang|ko|ㄹ}} {{IPA|/l/|}} is ⟨r⟩ before a vowel or a semivowel and ⟨l⟩ everywhere else: {{lang|ko|리을}} {{IPA|[ɾi.ɯl]|}} → '''''r'''ieu'''l''''', {{lang|ko|철원}} {{IPA|[tɕʰʌ.ɾwʌn]|}} → ''Cheo'''r'''won'', {{lang|ko|울릉도}} {{IPA|[ul.lɯŋ.do]|}} → ''[[Ulleungdo|U'''ll'''eungdo]]'', {{lang|ko|발해}} {{IPA|[paɾ.ɦɛ]|}} → ''[[Balhae|Ba'''l'''hae]]''. Like in McCune–Reischauer, {{lang|ko|ㄴ}} {{IPA|/n/|}} is written ⟨l⟩ whenever pronounced as a [[lateral consonant|lateral]] rather than as a [[nasal stop|nasal]] consonant: {{lang|ko|전라북도}} {{IPA|[tɕʌl.la.buk̚.t͈o]|}} → ''[[Jeollabuk-do|Jeo'''l'''labuk-do]]''
* Phonological changes are reflected where {{lang|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|ko|ㄷ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅂ}} and {{lang|ko|ㅈ}} are adjacent to {{lang|ko|ㅎ}}: {{lang|ko|좋고}} → ''jo'''k'''o'', {{lang|ko|놓다}} → ''no'''t'''a'', {{lang|ko|잡혀}} → ''ja'''p'''yeo'', 낳지 → ''na'''ch'''i''.
** However, aspirated sounds are not reflected in case of nouns where {{lang|ko|ㅎ}} follows {{lang|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|ko|ㄷ}} and {{lang|ko|ㅂ}}: {{lang|ko|묵호}} → ''[[Mukho]]'', {{lang|ko|집현전}} → ''[[Jiphyeonjeon]]''.<ref name="natinst">{{cite web|url=http://www.korean.go.kr/front_eng/roman/roman_01.do|title=Romanization of Korean|website=[[National Institute of Korean Language]]|access-date=13 December 2016}}</ref>

In addition, special provisions are for regular phonological rules in exceptions to transcription (see [[Korean phonology]]).

Other rules and recommendations include the following:
* A [[hyphen]] optionally<ref>{{Cite web|author=김세중 |script-title=ko:로마자 표기법의 이해 – 로마자 표기와 붙임표(-) |trans-title=Understanding the romanization system – Romanization and hyphen |publisher=New Korean News (새국어소식) |date=May 2001 |url=https://korean.go.kr/nkview/nknews/200105/34_3.html |language=ko |trans-quote=There are good reasons for why hyphens are not mandated even though there are scenarios where a romanization can be pronounced in two different ways. Firstly, hyphens are visually intrusive symbols. For {{lang|ko|강원}}, "Gangwon" is visually more comfortable [to read] than "Gang-won". [The fact of the matter] is that spellings and pronunciations do not exactly match. This is true for all languages. Even for Korean, {{lang|ko|말}} (horse) uses a short vowel, and {{lang|ko|말}} (speech; words) uses a long vowel, but we render them both in Hangul in the same way. In English, "lead" (as in "to lead") is pronounced {{IPAc-en|l|iː|d}}, but "lead" (as in the element lead) is pronounced {{IPAc-en|l|ɛ|d}}, but they're spelled identically. Romanization is no exception. We must abandon the idea that romanization must exactly show pronunciation. If someone pronounces "Gangwon" as "Gan-gwon" ({{lang|ko|간권}}), then they should just be corrected as needed. Spelling does not perfectly show pronunciation and parts of pronunciation will need to be learned separately anyway. This is why even though we permit you to write {{lang|ko|아에}} as "a-e", we recommend you write "ae" instead. |quote=붙임표를 생략하면 한 로마자 표기가 두 가지로 발음될 수 있는데도 붙임표 사용을 강제하지 않은 데는 그만한 이유가 있다. 우선 붙임표는 대단히 눈에 거슬리는 기호라는 점이다. '강원'을 Gang-won으로 하기보다는 Gangwon으로 하는 것이 시각적으로 더 편안하다. 그러나 더 중요한 것은 표기와 발음은 완벽하게 일치하지 않는다는 사실이다. 어떤 언어든지 표기가 발음을 정확하게 반영하지는 않는다. 국어의 '말〔馬〕'은 모음이 짧고 '말〔言〕'은 모음이 길지만 똑같이 '말'로 적는다. 영어에서 lead(이끌다)는 발음이 [li:d]이고 lead(납)은 [led]이지만 표기는 같다. 로마자 표기라고 예외는 아니다. 로마자 표기로 발음을 완벽하게 보여 주어야 한다는 생각은 버려야 한다. Gangwon을 '간권'으로 발음하는 사람이 있다면 '강원'으로 바로잡아 주면 된다. 표기가 발음을 완벽하게 다 보여 주는 것은 아니며 발음은 어차피 따로 익혀야 할 부분이 있다. '아에'를 a-e로 쓰는 것을 허용하지만 ae로 쓰기를 더 권장한 까닭이 여기에 있다.}}</ref> disambiguates syllables: {{lang|ko|가을}} → ''ga'''-'''eul'' (fall; autumn) versus {{lang|ko|개울}} → ''gae'''-'''ul'' (stream). Official publications usually do not make use of this provision (and actual instances of ambiguity among names are rare).
** However, in special cases where the premise is to convert the romanization back to hangul (such as in academic papers), the romanization has to be changed to match hangul spelling instead of pronunciation, and a hyphen is used to denote a soundless syllable-initial {{lang|ko|ㅇ}} (except at the beginning of a word):<ref>{{cite web |title=국어의 로마자 표기법 |url=https://www.law.go.kr/%ED%96%89%EC%A0%95%EA%B7%9C%EC%B9%99/%EA%B5%AD%EC%96%B4%EC%9D%98%20%EB%A1%9C%EB%A7%88%EC%9E%90%20%ED%91%9C%EA%B8%B0%EB%B2%95 |website=행정규칙 |access-date=26 January 2025}}</ref> {{lang|ko|없었습니다}} → ''eobs'''-'''eoss-seubnida''
* It is permitted to hyphenate syllables in a [[Korean name|given name]]. Certain phonological changes, ordinarily indicated in other contexts, are ignored in names, for better disambiguating between names: {{lang|ko|강홍립}} → ''Gang Hong'''r'''ip'' or ''[[Gang Hong-rip|Gang Hong-'''r'''ip]]'' (not *''Hongnip'' or ''Hong-nip''), {{lang|ko|한복남}} → ''Han Bo'''k'''nam'' or ''Han Bo'''k'''-nam'' (not *''Bongnam'' or ''Bong-nam'')
** However, this does not guarantee perfect reversibility. For example, given names {{lang|ko|빛나}} and {{lang|ko|샛별}} are romanized as ''Bitna'' and ''Saetbyeol'' respectively – syllable-final consonants {{lang|ko|ㅊ}} and {{lang|ko|ㅅ}} both become ''t''.
* Administrative units (such as the ''[[Korean province|do]]'') are hyphenated from the placename proper: {{lang|ko|강원도}} → ''[[Gangwon-do (South Korea)|Gangwon'''-do''']]''
** One may omit terms such as {{lang|ko|시, 군, 읍}}: {{lang|ko|평창군}} → ''[[Pyeongchang County|Pyeongchang-gun]]'' or ''Pyeongchang'', {{lang|ko|평창읍}} → ''Pyeongchang-eup'' or ''Pyeongchang''.
** However, names for geographic features and artificial structures are not hyphenated: {{lang|ko|설악산}} → ''[[Seoraksan]]'', {{lang|ko|해인사}} → ''[[Haeinsa]]''
* [[Proper noun]]s are capitalized.

==Transcription rules==

===Vowels===
{|class=wikitable width=700 style="text-align:center;"
![[Hangul]]
|{{lang|ko|ㅏ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅐ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅑ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅒ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅓ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅔ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅕ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅖ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅗ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅘ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅙ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅚ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅛ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅜ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅝ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅞ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅟ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅠ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅡ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅢ}}||ㅣ
|-
!Romanization
|''a''||''ae''||''ya''||''yae''||''eo''||''e''||''yeo''||''ye''||''o''||''wa''||''wae''||''oe''||''yo''||''u''||''wo''||''we''||''wi''||''yu''||''eu''||''ui''||''i''
|}

===Consonants===
{|class=wikitable width=700 style="text-align:center;"
!colspan=2|[[Hangul]]
|{{lang|ko|ㄱ}}||{{lang|ko|ㄲ}}||{{lang|ko|ㄴ}}||{{lang|ko|ㄷ}}||{{lang|ko|ㄸ}}||{{lang|ko|ㄹ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅁ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅂ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅃ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅅ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅆ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅇ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅈ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅉ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅊ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅋ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅌ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅍ}}||{{lang|ko|ㅎ}}
|-
!rowspan=2|Romanization!!Initial
|''g''||''kk''|| rowspan="2" |''n''||''d''||''tt''||''r''|| rowspan="2" |''m''||''b''||''pp''||''s''||''ss''||—||''j''||''jj''||''ch''|| rowspan="2" |''k''|| rowspan="2" |''t''|| rowspan="2" |''p''||''h''
|-
!Final
|''k''||''k''||''t''||—||''l''||''p''||—||''t''||''t''||''ng''||''t''||—||''t''||''t''
|}

{{lang|ko|ㄱ}}, {{lang|ko|ㄷ}}, {{lang|ko|ㅂ}} and {{lang|ko|ㄹ}} are transcribed as ''g'', ''d'', ''b'' and ''r'' when placed at the beginning of a word or coming before a vowel, and as ''k'', ''t'', ''p'' and ''l'' when followed by another consonant or when appearing at the end of a word.<ref name="natinst" />

==Usage==

===In South Korea===
[[File:Q246638 Bucheon A01 (cropped).JPG|thumb|The sign with the name of the railway station in [[Bucheon]] — at the top, a writing in [[hangul]], the transcription in Latin script below using the Revised Romanization, along with the [[hanja]] text]]
[[File:Jecheonstation.jpg|thumb|The sign with the name of the railway station in [[Jecheon]] — at the top, a writing in [[hangul]], the transcription in Latin script below using the Revised Romanization and the English translation of the word 'station', along with the [[hanja]] text]]
Almost all road signs, names of railway and subway stations on line maps and signs, etc. have been changed according to Revised Romanization of Korean (''RR'', also called ''South Korean'' or ''Ministry of Culture (MC) 2000''). It is estimated to have cost at least 500 billion won to 600 billion won (€500–600 million) to carry out this procedure.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?ctcd=&nNewsNumb=200009100029|script-title=ko:2005년까지 연차적으로 도로표지판을 바꾸는 데 5000억~6000억원이 들고|date=2000-09-01|publisher=[[Monthly Chosun]]|access-date=2019-05-22|language=ko}}</ref> All Korean textbooks, maps and signs to do with cultural heritage were required to comply with the new system by 28 February 2002. Romanization of surnames and existing companies' names has been left untouched because of the reasons explained below. However, the Korean government recommends using the revised romanization of Korean for the new names.

===Exceptions===
Like several [[European languages]] that have undergone spelling reforms (such as [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[German language|German]], [[Polish language|Polish]] or [[Swedish language|Swedish]]), the Revised Romanization is not expected to be adopted as the official romanization of [[Korean name|Korean family names]] (example ''I'', ''Bak'', ''Gim'', ''Choe'' instead of [[Lee (Korean surname)|''Lee'']], ''[[Park (Korean surname)|Park]]'', ''[[Kim (Korean surname)|Kim]], [[Choi (Korean surname)|Choi]]'' which are used commonly). However, South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recommends those who "newly" register their romanized names to follow the Revised Romanization of Korean.

In addition, North Korea continues to use a version of the McCune–Reischauer system of romanization, a different version of which was in official use in South Korea from 1984 to 2000.

==See also==
* Korean pronunciation, [[Help:IPA/Korean]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}{{Wikidata property|P2001}}
*[http://www.korean.go.kr/front_eng/roman/roman_01.do Romanization of Korean] from the National Institute of Korean Language
*[http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130310000236 Culture Ministry sets guideline for Romanizing Korean names]

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[[Category:Romanization of Korean]]
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