Assemblyman Lee Byung-hoon: "The Later the Romanization Revision, the More We Lose"

Romanization Rules May Hinder Foreigners' Korean Learning and Smooth Communication
Foreigners Advising Each Other Not to Rely on Romanization Creates an Unfortunate Situation
Need to Consider Revisions to Preserve Valuable Opportunities for Spreadin

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The romanization system, created to enable people who do not use Hangul to read Korean, has been criticized for actually hindering foreigners' Korean language learning and smooth communication.

On the 9th, Lee Byung-hoon, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Dong-gu Nam-gu Eul), revealed that an analysis of foreigners' awareness and usage of the romanization system showed that the “Romanization of Korean,” which regulates how Korean is transcribed into Roman letters, has become an obstacle to spreading the value of Hangul and the Korean language.

According to Rep. Lee, the National Institute of the Korean Language, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated that the current romanization system, which transcribes Hangul according to pronunciation, allows foreigners to immediately understand the actual pronunciation of Korean, making communication relatively easy. However, in reality, foreigners who encounter Korean through the romanization system complain that the phonetic transcription causes difficulties in studying Korean.

Furthermore, Yoshikata Beki, a senior researcher at Seoul National University’s Language Ability Measurement Center, argued in a 2019 interview with a media outlet that “the romanization system needs to be supplemented because the intuitive pronunciation one imagines differs from the actual pronunciation.”

This issue was also addressed on the YouTube channel “Australia Sara,” operated by Sara Vi, which has 330,000 subscribers. A video titled “Tips for Learning Korean” was posted, explaining that learners may struggle due to the romanization system.

Contrary to the National Institute of the Korean Language’s position, foreigners themselves are ironically advising each other not to look at the romanization system.

In academia, there are calls to change the current transcription system, which writes according to pronunciation (轉寫法, jeonsa-beop), to a transliteration system that writes according to spelling (轉字法, jeonja-beop).

Rep. Lee stated, “As K-pop and other Hallyu content gain worldwide popularity, interest in Hangul and the Korean language is also increasing, and the demand to learn Hangul is rapidly rising. Without prompt measures, if many foreigners encounter Korean and then the romanization system is changed belatedly, confusion, inconvenience, and costs related to the replacement will be considerable.”

In particular, Rep. Lee emphasized, “This issue is not about discarding or choosing between the transliteration and transcription systems. We need to reconsider the original purpose of creating the romanization system and seriously contemplate revising it now so that foreigners can access Korean easily and accurately.”

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