I think it’s safe to say that one of the problems that newcomers to Korean cinema face is dealing with Korean names. For most of us average westerners, Korean names at first appear very complicated – difficult to read, difficult to say and difficult to spell. Different spellings of the same name are also common – and this can mean that searches for people on the internet or in libraries can prove difficult. If you’re relying on the exact spelling of a name then it doesn’t really help if you find that a DVD company, reviewer or writer has spelt it in a different way. With the article below I’ve attempted to explain some of the basic difficulties in dealing with the romanisation of Korean names and while it won’t answer every question – and won’t necessarily resolve some of these spelling issues either – hopefully it will give a bit of an insight into the reasons for the confusion in the first place.
What’s in a name?
Okay, to state the obvious – I don’t speak Korean and therefore I’m reliant on a ‘western’ version of a Korean name – in other words a romanised version which uses letters that I can read and understand. If I see the following - ‘
‘ – I have no idea what this means, yet alone the fact that it is someones name or who may be referring to. If, however, you tell me that this says ‘Park Chan-wook’, then being an OLDBOY fan I will know who you mean. The Korean spelling () is written in ‘Hangul’, which is the Korean alphabet.
For more on Hangul check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul
Somewhere along the line someone has to translate ‘‘ into ‘Park Chan-wook’. Simple? Well, not really. Although the basis for the translation is the phonetic spelling (how it sounds when you say it), this phonetic translation may also be written quite correctly as ‘Pak Chan-uk’ or ‘Bak Chan-wuk’, depending on the decision of person making the translation – they’re all the same name. This is the first – and probably biggest – problem when dealing with the romanisation of Korean names: no standardised system of translation means theres an inconsistency in the spelling of names.
Some quick examples of different spellings for the same names – all of which are ‘correct’ – are:
Lee = I = Yee = Rhee = Rhie
Kim = Gim
Park = Pak = Bak
Chung = Jung = Jeong
Moving on to the next issue (lets assume that we’ve translated the name ‘‘ into ‘Park Chan-wook’ and we’re happy with the way that we’ve chosen to spell it) which is name order. Western names are always written with the given name first, surname second. Korean names (as with most Asian names) are written surname first, given name(s) second. Therefore ‘Park’ is the directors surname (or family name) and ‘Chan-wook’ is his given name. Here lies the second problem. While ‘Park Chan-wook’ is the name order that will be used by Koreans, very often westerners will change the name around in order to standardise it to the western format – given name first, surname last. This means that while Wikipedia refers to the OLDBOY director in the Korean format – as ‘Park Chan-wook’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chan_Wook), – The International Movie Database (IMDB) westernise their names and so refer to him as ‘Chan-wook Park’ (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661791/).
Okay, that’s two issues – spelling and name order. So if we decide that we’re happy with our spelling and that we will keep the format of surname first (and this is all a matter of choice remember), then that’s it, right?
Wrong.
You’ll find that when writing Korean names some people choose to use the system of CAPITALISING surnames. This is to highlight the importance of the name (and to remind, for those who don’t know, that this is a surname) – which would make the name appear as ‘PARK Chan-wook’. So, to capitalise or not to capitalise, that is the question. It’s a fairly straightforward one, you either do, or you don’t.
Next!…
Right then, so if you’ve decided whether you’re going to capitalise a surname and whether you’re placing it at the front or the end of the name, you’re just left with the persons ‘given’ name (usually called your ‘first name’ in Western culture). This must be easy, right? Well, not really…
You’ll notice that many Koreans appear to have two ‘given’ names, however these are not the same as a western ‘first’ and ‘middle’ name. Although they are technically two different names, only one of these is actually a ‘given’ name (the second one), while the other is a ‘generational’ name (the first one). This ‘generational’ name is different to the ‘family’ name – the family name is shared by blood relatives historically, while the family name is used by one generation of a family. On top of this confusion (well, only confusion for you and me if you’re not used to it!) the two names (generational and given) are used in conjunction with each other – so you’ll see that the two names are often joined together with a hyphen.
The linking of the two names makes a lot more sense if you understand Hangul and can see how they are used together when written, otherwise a simple rule is to treat them like like one name in two parts – they should never be separated yet there should be a distinction between them. Make sense? To do this the two names are often hyphenated (with a ‘-’), but some people choose not to use this between the two names – which gives you the three options of either ‘Chan-wook’, ‘Chan Wook’ or ‘ChanWook’.
So…to summarise?!…
The issue of translating Korean names is not an easy one. There are several different systems in place for romanisation of names, but each will give you a different outcome! If you understand the basic details behind Korean names then you can start to recognise where different formats have been used. Unfortunately until a standardised format is established then names will be written in formats which are generally just a matter of personal preference.
Just to highlight the differences, here are just some of the different ways that ‘‘ can be romanised in the ways discussed above:
Park Chan-wook
Pak Chan-uk
Bak Chan-wuk
PARK ChanWook
PAK ChanUk
BAK ChanWuk
Chan-Wook PARK
Chan-uk PAK
Chan-wuk BAK
PARK Chan Wook
PAK Chan Uk
BAK Chan Wuk
… I think you get the idea.
How I roll…
My personal preference is to keep the order of names the same as within Asian culture – surname first – although not to capitalise these, simply because I believe this allows names to be read more easily within text. I also prefer the hyphen to be placed between given names because although they appear to be two names they should in fact be treated as one. Each of these decisions are my personal choice – don’t forget that you will find different people using different layouts! If there is ever a standardised format I will of course adopt it.
Confused? Yep, it’s a tough subject. Will hopefully be one that becomes more straightforward if a system is put in place to standardise translations. For example, the Korean Film Council are working on rolling out their own system of standardization in order to help promote the names of filmmakers and actors names internationally.
Hopefully this explanation of the ways that Korean names are romanised has helped to explain some of the reasons why it’s a confusing issue…
Please feel free to leave any comments on this article in the boxes below, or feel free to e-mail me (especially if you have any corrections to make on this issue) at martin[at]newkoreancinema.com. Make sure you replace the [at] with a ‘@’.
NOTE: Of course, having had some box-office success internationally ‘Park Chan-wook’ is a name that is fairly well established with regards to spelling and name order. I used this example as I guessed it would be a Korean name that many people may be familiar with in order to explain some of the rules and ideas behind translating names.
I would like to thank Mr Park Chan-wook’s name for its assistance in this matter.
ANOTHER NOTE: For some bizarre reason Word Press is not currently displaying the hangul charcters in this article. For this reason I have used a jpeg image to display the characters, so my apologies for the slightly uneven appearance this gives. Oh, and finally, I have no idea what Kim Ah-joong is saying in the banner (taken from the poster for 200 POUNDS BEAUTY). Let me know if it’s inappropriate!!