Say "Seungchajinryo" Instead of "Drive-Thru"

Citizens visiting the drive-thru screening clinic set up at Jamsil Sports Complex in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd, where confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection are increasing, are being tested inside their vehicles. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Institute of the Korean Language recommended on the 15th to replace the term ‘Drive Through’ with the Korean words ‘Seungcha Jinryo’ or ‘Seungcha Geomjin’.

‘Drive Through’ refers to facilities such as stores, restaurants, and banks that can be used while remaining in a vehicle. Recently, it has been widely used to describe a medical examination method where suspected COVID-19 patients check their diagnosis status while staying in their own cars. This medical system minimizes contact between patients and medical staff and shortens testing time, and is implemented worldwide.

The two organizations recently decided at the Saemal Meeting that ‘Seungcha Jinryo’ or ‘Seungcha Geomjin’ are appropriate Korean alternatives. They also proposed replacing ‘pandemic’ with ‘(gamyeombyeong) segyejeok yuheng’ (global infectious disease outbreak) and ‘epidemic’ with ‘(gamyeombyeong) yuheng’ (infectious disease outbreak). ‘Pandemic’ is the highest alert level defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) for novel influenza. It refers to the simultaneous widespread outbreak of an infectious disease across multiple continents. ‘Epidemic’ is the stage before ‘(gamyeombyeong) segyejeok yuheng’ in the novel influenza alert levels, indicating a rapid spread of an infectious disease among many people.

The Saemal Meeting is a committee operated to provide Korean alternative words that are easy for the general public to understand before difficult foreign neologisms spread. Experts from various fields including Korean language, foreign languages, education, publicity and publishing, information and communication, and media participate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.