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| A street in central Seoul is crowded with signboards in foreign languages. |
For 82-year-old Kim, going out for a cup of coffee with her friends takes a lot of effort.
“All the shop signs are written in English and I can’t read them,” she said.
She grumbled that many of her friends try a different approach when they search for places to sit down and chat over beverages.
“We first look through the window to see if anyone is drinking something. If they do, we open the door and take a seat. But no way can we understand that they are coffee houses by just reading the signs ― they are all English letters without Hangeul,” she said, referring to the Korean alphabet.
As using English has moved beyond a trend, an increasing number of signboards are Romanized ― whether the names are English or Korean.
Many Koreans who are unfamiliar with English or Romanized Korean often find themselves lost in a sea of shop signs in foreign languages.
When a Korea Herald reporter took a cab recently and tried to get to a television station in southern Seoul, she couldn’t figure out why the driver kept asking for directions though they were just across the street from the destination.
“I kept telling him that it was the building with ‘Arirang’ in red letters.” she recalled.
After several seconds of struggle, the driver, who turned red in the face, grunted, “I didn’t see the sign. It’s in English! How am I supposed to know that’s Arirang?”
“I realized that while some people take English for granted, it isn’t really for all Koreans,” the reporter said.
For a simple survey, The Korea Herald walked up one block of Gangnam Boulevard, a busy shopping district in southern Seoul, and observed the signboards on the streets to find that out of the 518 signboards seen, 65 were written entirely in the Roman alphabet. Most of them were restaurants, coffee shops and snack eateries with sportswear stores and perfumeries also common.
From global giants such as McDonalds and Adidas to local bistros such as Nolita, the signboards did not carry Hangeul at all.
“It is frustrating to complain about Koreans’ use of English or the Romanization of Korean words,” said Kim Hanbitnari, an official of the Korean Language Society.
“The problem is that the public does not raise the issue,” he added.
The government does not seem to be aware of the problem, either. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in charge of Hangeul policies, told The Korea Herald that it has never conducted a survey or study on excessive Romanization of store signboards.
By law, outdoor signboards must be written in Hangeul. An administrative leader of a district can allow a dual-language system with a foreign language if it helps local tourism. Only those with a registered trademark can be exempt from the regulation ― among the 65 signboards with Romanization only that were spotted on the Gangnam Boulevard block, 53 seemed to fall under this case.
“We will conduct tighter monitoring on all-Romanized signboards,” an official of the Seoul Metropolitan Government told The Korea Herald.
Ironically the one district in Korea that has strictly stuck to the principle of using Hangeul ― Insa-dong ― is a foreigner-frequented tourism district in central Seoul specializing in Korean traditional art and products.
In order to maintain its image as an area of traditional culture, the city administration has ordered even global enterprises such as Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to forgo the Romanization policy and use Korean-language signs. This was the first case in the world for the global giants, but their headquarters have reportedly expressed satisfaction that it had a substantial promotional effect and a positive public response.
“Even if people are legitimately using all-English signboards, it doesn’t mean the elderly people or those unfamiliar with foreign languages feel any more comfortable. Writing Hangeul along with English is the least they can do for the general public,” said Kim Hanbitnari.
Taken from The Korean Herald HERE.
The use of the Roman letter with in various alphabets around the world has made it famous and of course commonly used. This of course can be traced back to the fact that the Romans have a wide sphere of influence in history. Starting from cultural, social and economic point of view the Romans have influenced many countries and cultures. So it is not of a surprise for many countries in the world to adopt the Roman letter. In this article the problem is that more and more signboards in Korea are written in English rather than in Hangeul. In my opinion the best solution to this would be to place bilingual signboards. This would make it easy on the locals and foreigners visiting the area. Aside from making it easier for tourists it would also preserve the vibe of a Korean surrounding. In this solution both parties are mutually benefited.
ReplyDeleteThe power of the Roman letter of the alphabet has shaped the world in many spectrums for centuries. The prowess of the Roman Empire developed it as it is the dominator of its time. Their intellectuality was written down and adapted for generations to come, making their legacy implemented until now. Roman letters are being used in different languages, and arguably, it is the most famous and used letter of the alphabet than any other scripts.
ReplyDeleteThe confusion of South Koreans is obviously because of the immensely different letter of the alphabet. It is understandable for locals to confuse in their respective. In analogy, imagine if New York signboards, their media are occupied by Korean scripts, then the people will be disoriented very much.
However, the rise of tourism in South Korea are the positive effects implemented by Romanised signboards as tourists and other citizens read roman letters; it will ease their tourism experience.
ReplyDeleteDating back nearly four thousand years, early alphabetic writing, as opposed to other early forms of writing like hieroglyphics(which primarily used pictographic symbols), relied on simple lines to represent spoken sounds. Scholars attribute its origin to a little known Proto-Sinatic, Semitic form of writing developed in Egypt between 1800 and 1900 BC. The first widely used alphabet was developed by the Phoenicians about seven hundred years later consisting of 22 letters, all consonants.
A quick calculation shows that about 2.6 billion people (36% of the world population) use the Latin alphabet. As we all know, not every country adopts the Latin alphabet (ABCs). Korean use hangul as their alphabetic writing system and Japanese people use kanji as their logographic writing system. I realized that lots of Korean brands are now written in Latin alphabets instead of hangul which frustrate Korean citizens especially the elders. From the tourism standpoint, I do agree with the Romanized signboard to make international tourists feel at ease. On the other hand, if I were a Korean citizen I would also feel bothered. In my opinion, it will be better to put the hangul underneath the Romanized signboards. By doing so, both tourists and Korean citizens could recognize the signboards easily.
English is one of the most commonly used language in the world, and the Roman alphabet the most widely used, so it’s understandable that businesses would like to use the language to communicate with tourists, as it would be safe to assume that most people visiting the country would be able to understand it. But, as was mentioned by the Korean Herald reporter quoted in the article, the ability to speak it is taken for granted by some people. It’s so common that for a lot of people, not only does reading in the language comes as second nature to them, it’s similarly the case for people around them. But in countries like South Korea, where English is completely different to the local language, written in a completely different script, it would be much more difficult for locals, especially of a certain age, to understand it. Whereas its use would be welcome for tourists, it’s surely more important that locals can understand what the signs say in their own country.
ReplyDeleteI think this topic share similarities with the diminishing use of Javanese alphabet in Jogjakarta. In Jogjakarta, the use of Javanese alphabet experienced its decline during the widespread use of the newly invented Bahasa Indonesia and Latin writing as the lingua franca and the universal writing of the newly independent nation; though I don’t think that Bahasa Indonesia is invented but rather derived from the Malay language. In Indonesia, the decline of traditional writing occurred due to the wide range of cultural heterogeneity, thus, the probability of each writing to endure against Bahasa Indonesia, is consequently smaller. But in this case, Korea doesn’t have as much hetereogeneity compared to Indonesia. The case of Romanization over Hangeul is rather exceptional, comparing that to its Javanese counterpart. When there are Koreans who find understanding Latin is such a struggle, there are Javanese people who actually struggle to understand the primordial alphabet of their mother tongue. In Jogjakarta most of the street signs are written in Latin and Javanese writing; though this is actually what I perceive as an act of preserving the Javanese writing, but it could also help the re-learning process for the Javanese people who struggle to pick up their own writing system.
ReplyDeleteI think that I speak for the majority of Indonesians in that we can't really relate to this problem as it does not have the same impact if it happens in Indonesia, as Indonesia have mostly used the Romanized lettering and alphabet since the many languages of the archipelago do not hold enough power to be more dominant than others and to Bahasa Indonesia itself. Although I can understand where they're coming from, I can imagine that it would frustrating not seeing your own language's alphabet in your home country, the impact it has on the older generations would definitely be staggering considering that they've grown up used to their own lexicon being used in everyday life. but they should also consider the benefits that it brings to the local business owners. Usage of the most commonly used alphabet in the world could help with making great steps in globalization and it can also be more prone to attract tourists and possible customers.
ReplyDeleteThe popularity and ubiquitous nature of the English language explains the formidable amount of signboards with Roman lettering rather than the Korean Hangeul.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that in the article the individuals complaining about the Roman lettered signs were people of later ages, such as the 82 year old woman. This to me points out the lack of effort from the elder generations to adapt to the ever-changing environment, which in Korea's case, that of a globalizing country.
Other than this, it also indicates the English understanding ability of the nation, which in my assumption would mostly come from its youth. With the rise of movies and music mostly being presented in English, it creates a wanting to be a part of this global community that uses English as a medium. The presence of international brands also affect the perception of the youth and what would attract them.
I think that this is a great indication of the effect of globalization on the Korean community
This case is just one of many difficulty of country that has different form of alphabet for their language such as Korea, Japan, China, etc. This problem becomes more apparent for the older generation and for the people who don’t get enough education in the country. This is certainly become a big problem since these day globalization already spreading to the whole world and the language we use usually are English which is use Roman alphabet making it become more frequently use by many people especially young people. While the rule to make company to use Hangeul alphabet in Korea certainly help older generation, it’s only delay the inevitable of the wide use of Roman alphabet. The only thing that government can do to solve this problem is by educating people about Romans alphabet especially English by giving English language material in school and make people more familiarize with a poster showing how to read Roman alphabet.
ReplyDeleteThis case presents the consequence of globalization at its finest. Due to the large influx of tourists that South Korea receives, more firms are trying to make themselves more known through their English pronunciation (Romanized) version of their name. To the younger generation, this hardly seems like a problem, as they receive English as a part of their education and knows enough to be able to read some brand names. Korean millennials have even gone as far as incorporating English sounding words into their language (both as slang and formal words); the combination of English and Korean words are nothing new for them. But for the elderly and those whom were not fortunate enough to receive English education, is a struggle. The form of Hangeul and the English alphabet are nowhere near the same, thus requiring citizens to receive a certain level of English education in order to live their lives. Their rage is understandable really, it feels as though as they are being excluded from the community just because they did not learn an additional language. In order to be inclusive towards both local citizens and tourists, signs should incorporate both the Hangeul and Romanized writing of the brand.
ReplyDeleteI would consider myself lucky when I go to Korea because I can read both Romanized letters and Hangeul but doesn’t mean I necessarily understand what the Hangeul means. If Insa-dong district a foreigner-frequented tourism district, I think that the best solution now would be to put up both Romanized letters and Hangeul either on top of each other or next to each other or however would the best design be because it would be futile if the signs were mostly written in Hangeul when the majority of visitors are foreigners, who couldn’t read them, despite it being a traditional district. If big companies such as Starbucks and Coffee Bean have no objections with their signs turned into Hangeul, then I guess nothing could be done about it because I think even foreigners would be able to spot that those signs would belong to those big companies; however I would still prefer that Insa-dong to have both English and Hangeul for their store signs for all to read.
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated by this article. I thought, initially, that Korea was a bustling metropolis that had been commercialized and globalized to levels far beyond other Asian countries. I thought that the people were fine with that and were actually willing to accept it. It actually surprises me that people there, the older generations to be precise, are not coping too well with the mass globalization and its products. I think it is totally reasonable for them to feel confused and disoriented. The younger generations have transformed what the elders once considered a simple home into a capitalistic and hedonistic metropolis. In my opinion, although South Korea has undeniably succeeded in gaining a reputation for being the new hub for modern day trends and styles, their beautiful tradition and cultures should also give an influence to everything they do. I think that we can soar as high as we want in this world, but we will inevitably fall if we forget our roots.
ReplyDeleteIn this era, English is a global language that everybody should understand, in order to compete and socialize in the world. Romanization in Korea is commonly found in the tourist area, because of foreigners can’t read hangeul. This also make some backdraws for the local, the Koreans, as some of them can’t either read nor understand the roman letters, especially the elderly. By using the Roman letters and English, the Koreans are trying to keep up with the globalization, to keep up with the tourist coming in to Korea, who don’t even seem to understand anything in Hangeul. In my opinion, Korean government should also contribute in this problem. Although they had already made some rules regarding the using or Hangeul or Roman, still many shops and outlets uses the Roman letter. The better solution for this is the shops should provide both Hangeul and Roman writing, so everybody could understand the meaning of it.
ReplyDeleteAs tourism plays an important part for South Korea’s economic, I can see why there are a lot more shops catered for foreigners rather than the general public. The government would want to accommodate foreigners that are visiting and by doing so, they would create more income for the country. Unfortunately, as the article states, older folks who are not able to read English are having a harder time adjusting. This is definitely a drawback of having too much English signs all over Seoul. Also, English has very much incorporated itself with the Korean language so it is not a surprise that their language has also changed. The change might not be significant now, but in the later years it could prove detrimental. The loss of traditional Korean words are inevitable if there are easier and frequently used words in English. This, of course, is not always a bad thing. There are good things that comes with it but I still hope that the traditions are being kept alive and to not lose it, even with all the globalization going around.
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited Korea back then I noticed that every signboards are written in Roman letter, you can count how many signboards are written using Hangeul. I think why people in Korea started to use Roman letter on their signboards is because lately many tourist from all around the world is choosing Korea as their vacation destination because of their culture, food and places to visit there. Maybe they think by using Roman letter they can attract tourist to come by their shops and also it helps the tourist to understand what are they actually offering in the shop, what are products that they sell there. Even though it is a good move to start using Roman letter in the signboards to help and attract tourist, but I do think they need to put Hangeul also so that the locals can still understand the signboards and also to keep their own language and not being dominated by Roman letter.
ReplyDeleteIt actually got me thinking twice of the Koreans that can’t accept the entering of many global products. While in this era, globalization is already been established for further collaboration with countries that can make both countries fulfill their needs. For me, Korea are one of those country in Asia that changed other country from their doings from; culinary, cultures of K-pop, transportations and the gadget that really changed peoples, Samsung. So okay, maybe some of them can’t read English, and rather most Asian people are lazy to learn new things either they can’t accept it or the laziness in them that made this happened. But that shouldn’t be the problem for a developed country like Korea, they have high knowledge in many varieties of things, and they should also have a cognition for themselves to learn English for benefiting their life so it wouldn’t bother them so much about globalization words from other countries.
ReplyDeleteI understand the complaints of Korean people about the signs written in English. I think that in most of the countries a lot of people don’t understand English, and it must be even more difficult in countries like Korea where they use a different alphabet. If a different alphabet was used on the street signs of our countries, we would also have a lot of issues understanding them. I think that if the aim is to be understood from international tourists, there are other solutions than translating all the signs. The name of international brands like McDonald’s or Adidas shouldn’t be the main problem, as most of the people recognize their logo. But for smaller shops, they could use drawings that illustrate what is written on the sign, for example a cup of coffee for the sign of a coffee shop. In the city where I live in France, they created drawings to represent every metro station so that the people who don’t understand the names of the stations won’t get lost.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting, cause I can really feel how Korean people being so loyal upon their own language; so this article is truly an inspiration. Even though English is always been the first international langue, we still have to respect, enrich, and also conserve the mother language of our own country. Because according to my life experience, nowadays, those young generations are tend to speak English rather than Indonesian language (or their mother language). If we as the old generation can not inherit our mother language, then it will certainly become a disaster for the future generation; since they probably won’t know what are the identities of their own country. Or maybe in the future, they won’t care much about their country, they lack of nationalism, they turn out to be individualist, and so on. Those things can not be happen. If it happens, then Indonesia (for example) will took over by other leading countries; just like what we had before the independence.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is the consequence of South Korea accepting globalisation, pursuing one of their city to be a tourist site, and for being a capital city of a developed country. First and foremost, English has been accepted globally as the main international language. To become a globally accepted developed country/city, there is no doubt that the use of English in public places is needed. I think the problem is common towards the elder, because they didn't have the access to learn English as much as the younger generation does now. We must also know that too much of foreign culture will hurt their national pride upon their own language. Personally, the only solution that makes sense to me is to regulate both languages in public places; because by this, Koreans will still have the love to their own language and at the same time having the access to learn English.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion it is ambiguous to see roman signs in countries that have their own alphabets. The people that effected the most is the elderley, because they are used to read in their Korean alphabets and learning the romanization might be a little hard for them. Reflecting on the elderly in Indonesia, they might find it a bit difficult to read English signs. It is even harder to read with different alphabets, because we have to memorize another alphabet to understand some signs. I also find it difficult to read other alphabetic script; when I happen so see a Korean sign, I couldn’t understand it so I became uninterested to the content that is in the sign. But, this problem could also help the people of Korea to understand a more diversified culture. Another advantage is that people from other countries gets easier understanding of the content that is inside the sign.
ReplyDeleteSignboards are often use to sent message to the people around it and the message on the signboard could be an advertisement, a shop sign, or something else entirely different. The problem that rose in this topic is because most of the people in South Korea, particularly the elders in South Korea, couldn’t read the signboards because most of them are in English language or are in Romanized. Although it is a good thing to have an English language, in this case, in a shop sign because it could attract the foreign customer as to what the shops are selling their product and it could increase their profit. However, as to the elderly in South Korea, most of them couldn’t even read English and it has become a problem for them. I think the way that could solve this problem is to have both language, Korean language and English language, placed in one signboard. It’s not the best way to reduce this problem since it could make the signboard weird and not pleasing the eyes, but it could make the tourist and the elders in South Korea understand what the name of the shop is.
ReplyDeleteThis article is a very interesting story for me. South Korea, being a developed country, and a very modern country, I thought that every person in South Korea can read alphabetical characters. But, in fact there are still some old generation of South Koreans that can not read alphabetical characters, but can read Korean characters. I think the solution to this matter is to include both Korean charcters and alphabetical characters in important signs, such as: road names signs, traffic signs, shop signs, and more important signs. But, I still think that everyone right now in this modern day world should learn and are capable to read alphabetical characters, because I think that alpahabetical characters are the international characters, the same like, english as our international language. I think this move by the shops in South Korea is their move to adapt to the new modern world, to adapt to the wave of globalization.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that in South Korea, every road signs or signs in subway stations would have English translations on it. I also may have notice that some Koreans are not used to Roman letters, however I did not know that it is that serious. This is one of the consequences of globalizations. The elders would have a harder time in facing this, because things are different now than it was before. The demand of Romanized letters are increasing because of the increase in tourism. Clearly, Romanized signboards would be a big help to international tourists who can’t read Hangeul. What the government could do to favor both international visitors as well as the locals, is to probably put regulations in putting both Hangeul and the Romanized letters in every signboards, just like what Kim Hanbitnari said. As for Insa-dong, I think it's best to keep it that way. It would be Insa-dong’s unique selling point, and could attract more tourists to come and taste the traditional culture of South Korea.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I realize that writing sign board in English or Romanization is inconvenience for some people in South Korea. I always think that Romanization is always useful, because it helps tourist or foreigner to read the sign board. Korean language actually written in ‘hangul’ and not all tourist or foreigner can read ‘hangul’. Korean language have a lot of word adapt from English, it means when it is written in alphabet, foreigner can understand what it means easily. But putting all in alphabet or just write the Romanization can burden their own citizens. Not all Korean can read alphabet, especially the elder one who always write in ‘hangul’. I think this problem not raise by the public because almost all younger generations can read alphabet words and they get used to write in English words, so they not see this as a problem. Making all sign board write in both hangul and alphabet or Romanization is a good solution for their citizens and for foreigners that cannot read hangul.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised when I read the article above. I thought that South Koreans are fine with the romanized signs since South Korea is one of the developed country in Asia. Seeing the Gagnam District in Seoul which is full of elite designer’s store such as Louis Vuitton, Versace, etc., seems so contrast with the fact that a lot of South Koreans are actually annoyed with the romanized signs. Preserving the culture by having hangeul signboards is a good idea but in order to adapt to the globalization and to compete in the international market, I think South Koreans have to try adapt to the changes, especially familiarize themselves to roman alphabet. I also noticed that a lot of South Koreans do not speak english and I think that makes South Korea become not really ‘‘international tourist’ friendly” and I think it can inhibit the development of the country itself.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, English is commonly used in every country. In the global society, some countries use English as their first language and the rest of the countries use English as their second language. The widespread use of English is caused by the historical influence by the British and American imperialism. In addition, Roman letters are also commonly used in different countries. The reason behind it is because the influence by the ancient Rome back in the 2nd millennium BCE. Some people also think that using Roman alphabets will create a prestigious and elegant content. Therefore, the use of English or Romanized Korean will ease the tourism aspect in Korea as English and Roman letters are used globally and it will be more understandable and convenient for both the foreigners and also the local citizens. To sum up, the use of English and Roman letters is more efficient and beneficial as it is globally used and known by people from all over the world.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed and appreciate a country that still protect and keep their culture, especially in today’s era of globalization. I think it is very beautiful to see a different culture each time I visit a place from another side of the world. That is one of the things that I love about traveling; to see a different everyday view and tradition from outside of my country. I love the diversity of each place of this world and learn something good or positive from it. I understand it must be very hard for the older generation of Koreans to read almost all of the signs on the road. It is now mainly written in English or the Romanization of Korean words. I agree from the last sentence of the article “Writing Hangeul along with English is the least they can do for the general public.” I think writing Hangeul along with English is the best alternative to help the Koreans who cannot read English or Romanization of Korean.
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