Japanese-Style Sports Terms to Be Replaced with Easy Korean Alternatives

Replacing Unnecessary Foreign and Japanese-Style Terms in Sports
Ministry to Promote Use of Easy Korean Alternatives Like "Game" for "Sihap" and "Relay Race" for "Gyeju"

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Institute of the Korean Language announced on December 18, 2020, that they will revise unnecessary foreign words and Japanese-style Sino-Korean terms used in the field of sports. By December 22, the Ministry will hold a Specialized Terminology Standardization Council to establish easy-to-understand Korean alternatives.

The Ministry had already formed a specialized subcommittee of the Terminology Standardization Council in July to lay the groundwork. Together with private-sector experts, they selected alternative terms for sports such as soccer, baseball, volleyball, basketball, and golf. They gathered feedback from related associations and sports broadcasters and conducted surveys among the general public to choose terms with high acceptability.

For example, the term 'Sihap', which originated from Japanese-style Sino-Korean, will be replaced with 'game' or 'competition'. 'Gyeju' will become 'relay race'. The Japanese-style English term 'handling' will be changed to 'hand foul'. In addition, 'public course' will become 'public golf course', 'touchline' will be 'sideline', 'blocking' will be 'blocking', and 'fast ball' will be 'fast ball'. Discriminatory or inappropriate terms such as 'yongbyeong' will also be replaced with more neutral expressions like 'foreign player'.

An official from the Ministry stated, "We plan to proceed with an official announcement after review by the National Language Deliberation Council early next year," adding, "We will reflect these changes in coaching guides, training manuals, and game regulations, and promote the widespread use of alternative terms in the media as well."

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