McCune–Reischauer

Under the McCune–Reischauer system, aspirated consonants like p', k', and t' are distinguished by apostrophe from unaspirated ones, which may be falsely understood as a separator between syllables (as in 뒤차기 → twich'agi, which consists of the syllables twi, ch'a and gi). The apostrophe is also used to mark transcriptions of ㄴㄱ (n'g) as opposed to ㅇ (ng): 잔금 → chan'gŭm vs. 장음 → changŭm), so these diverse applications of apostrophe made people confused once omitted. Also, the breve (˘) is used to differentiate vowels in Korean. So if the apostrophe and breve are omitted, as on the internet, this made it impossible to differentiate between aspirated consonants k',t',p' and ch' and unaspirated consonants k,t,p and ch, separator between syllables, transcriptions of ㄴㄱ (n'g) to ㅇ (ng) and vowels 어 and 오, and 으 and 우.

An omission of apostrophe in internet and breve (˘) in keyboard was the primary reason the South Korean government adopted a revised system of romanization in 2000.[2] However, critics of the revised system claim it fails to represent 어 and 으 in a way that is easily recognizable and misrepresents the way that the unaspirated consonants are actually pronounced. However, the counterargument for this assertion is that it is impossible to find perfectly matching pairs of letters between the two different writing systems, English and Korean, and priority should be given to revised system of romanization created by the help of many Korean linguists at the National Academy of the Korean Language over a five-year period than the McCune–Reischauer system created by two foreigners with the help of three Korean linguists over a two-year period during the Japanese colonial era.

Meanwhile, despite official adoption of the new system in South Korea, North Korea uses a version of McCune–Reischauer, which does not accurately represent the phonetic characteristics of the Korean language.

This is a simplified guide for the McCune–Reischauer system. It is often used for the transliteration of names but does not convert every word properly, as several Korean letters are pronounced differently depending on their position.

In North Korea's variant of McCune–Reischauer, aspirated consonants are not represented by an apostrophe but are instead by adding an "h".[4] For example, 평성 is written as Phyŏngsŏng. The original system would have it written as P'yŏngsŏng.

However, the consonant ㅊ is transcribed as "ch", and not "chh", while ㅈ is transcribed as "j".[4] For example, 주체 is spelled "Juche", and not "Chuch'e", as it would be transcribed using the original system.

• ㅉ is written as "jj" (for example, 쪽발이 is spelled as "jjokpari").
• ㄹㄹ is transcribed as "lr". Example: 빨리 is spelled "ppalri".
• ㄹㅎ is spelled "lh", and not "rh": e.g. 발해 is written as "palhae".
• When ㄹ is pronounced as ㄴ (e.g. 목란), it is transcribed as "n" by the original system (Mongnan). Nevertheless, the North Korean variant keeps it as "r" (Mongran).
• ㅇㅇ and ㄴㄱ are differentiated by using a "-". For example: 강인 is spelled "kang-in", and 인기 is spelled "in-gi".
• When "ng" is followed by "y" or "w", however, the hyphen is not used (평양 and 강원 are written as "Phyŏngyang" and "Kangwŏn").

The North Korean variant renders names of people with each syllable capitalized and no hyphenation between syllables of given names: e.g. "Kim Il Sung" for Kim Il-sung.[5] Native Korean names, however, are written without syllabic division.

A variant of McCune–Reischauer was in official use in South Korea from 1984 to 2000. The following are the differences between the original McCune–Reischauer and the South Korean variant:

• 시 was written as shi instead of the original system's si. When ㅅ is followed by ㅣ, it is realized as the [ɕ] sound (similar to the English [ʃ] sound (sh as in show)) instead of the normal [s] sound. The original system deploys sh only in the combination 쉬, as shwi.
• ㅝ was written as wo instead of the original system's wŏ in this variant. Because the diphthong w (ㅗ or ㅜ as a semivowel) + o (ㅗ) does not exist in Korean phonology, the South Korean government omitted a breve in wŏ.
• Hyphens were used to distinguish between ㄴㄱ and ㅇㅇ, between ㅏ에 and ㅐ, and between ㅗ에 and ㅚ in this variant system, instead of the apostrophes and ë in the original version. Therefore, apostrophes were used only for aspiration marks and ë was not used in the South Korean system.
• When ㄹ is followed by ㅎ, the ㄹ was written as l in the South Korean variant. Under the original McCune–Reischauer system, it is written as r.
• Assimilation-induced aspiration by an initial ㅎ is indicated. ㄱㅎ is written as kh in the original McCune–Reischauer system and as k' in the South Korean variant.

The following table illustrates the differences above.

A third system, the Yale Romanization system, which is a transliteration system, exists but is used only in academic literature, especially in linguistics.

The Kontsevich system, based on the earlier Kholodovich system, is used for transliterating Korean into the Cyrillic script. Like McCune–Reischauer romanization it attempts to represent the pronunciation of a word, rather than provide letter-to-letter correspondence.

• Hangul
• New Korean Orthography
• List of Korea-related topics

• A Practical Guide to McCune–Reischauer Romanization: Rules, guidelines, and font
• Comparison table of different romanization systems from UN Working Group on Romanization Systems (PDF file)
• PDF files of the 1939 paper, and the 1961 paper
• Romanization System of Korean: McCune Reischauer (with minor modifications) BGN/PCGN 1945 Agreement at the Wayback Machine (archived March 27, 2009)
• Online tool for McCune–Reischauer romanization (with BGN modifications)