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Following the national government's decision to revise English or Roman representation of Korean letters in 2000, many place names have undergone interesting (and sometimes confusing!) transformations. Gone are capitals to denote different syllables, and gone too are special marks to represent sounds (somewhat similar to those still found in written German). In their stead there is a consistent spelling system, reproducable on any English-language computer keyboard. The main consonant changes entail:
K ⇒ G The changes in vowel representations are more difficult to express unless keyboards have Korean letters, as there are more Korean vowel sounds than vowel sounds in English, and some of these were (pre-2000) indicated by special marks. In Korean, English's simple U is represented either with a long sound as in Joonam (previously spelt Ch'unam) or a shorter sound as in Daegu (previously spelt Taegu). Other vowel sounds, especially a combined “eo”, as in Seoul (created towards the front of the mouth) are also very typical, and this spelling should now be used consistently to differentiate from a fuller, deeper “O”.
One problem for visiting birders especially is that much of the present information on birds in Korea is based on survey work conducted in 1998 and 1999, prior to the spelling changes… some names therefore (such as the world-renowned Saemankeum) may still be being used inaccurately. A few revised birding place names are given below: Pre-2000 spelling. ⇒ Spelling Now
Saemankeum ⇒ Saemangeum
From 2003 we'll be falling in line with the new spellings: hopefully this will help stop any inconsistencies and enable visitors to Korea to approach those road-signs with a little more confidence… |
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