A micro look at name cards

Sometimes details, even very small ones, have big things to say. Such it is with the ubiquitous name card in Korea. In going through a pile of recently received cards, a number of thoughts come to mind.

Romanization: This is the great emotion stirrer that divides people into three camps ― pro-McCune Reischauer (MR), anti-MR, and creative use. The pro- and anti-MR forces have been at one another’s necks for years, each stubbornly digging in its heels and hoping that the powers that be will take its side.

MR is the de facto standard in Korean studies overseas and most major libraries and was the official system in South Korea from 1984 until 2000. The current official system was designed to make Romanization easier. The degree of emotion on both sides makes rational discussion difficult, if not impossible. The creative-use camp, by contrast, believes that people should be free to Romanize their names as they wish. They argue that freedom to Romanize is a basic right.

Most of the common Romanization of names is a mix of popular convention and derivations of the official system. Take the names of the two major party candidates for president. Park Geun-hye is a mixture of popular convention (Park) and the current official Romanization system (Geun-hye).

So is Moon (popular convention) Jae-in (official Romanization system). In MR, Park Geun-hye would become “Pak Kunhye” and Moon Jae-in “Mun Chaein.” In the official Romanization system, Park Geun-hye would become “Bak Geun-hye” and Moon Jae-in “Mun Jae-in.” To many, the popular convention of Romanizing names, particular surnames, is the norm.

At present, the best solution to Romanizing names is to accept the reality that popular convention is here to stay. Attempts to replace Park with “Bak” and Moon with “Mun” will fail. Guidelines can, however, suggest several acceptable ways of Romanizing surnames based on popular convention in the hope that one form of Romanization eventually becomes dominant. This is already the case with the three most common surnames: Kim, Lee, and Park.

Order of names: Another controversial, though less emotional, issue is the order of names. A common practice is to reverse the Korean order (surname first) on the English side of the card, thus turning Park Geun-hye into “Geun-hye Park” and Moon Jae-in into “Jae-in Moon.” Official guidelines on Romanization follow the Korean order of names.

The writer is a professor at the Department of Korean Language Education at Seoul National University. Email him at fouser@snu.ac.kr. <The Korea Times/Robert J. Fouser>