PARADIGM SHIFT

[kerpingtack]

My sister just pointed out that maybe Jonghyun should be romanized as Jonghyeon, just like in those old posts from when SHINee first debuted and no one knew the official English spelling!! noooooooooooooo!!! It's because his name has ㅕ in it (종현), like Taeyeon (태연) and Hyoyeon (효연). If it were Jonghyun with the "u", it would be ㅜ/ㅠ ("oo") like in Yunho (윤호)?? So, like... Jonghyoon (종휸)? LOL ;~; Maybe the rule is different when there's a consonant (ㅇ doesn't really count; it's like an empty placeholder sound), because Seohyun (서현) and like, ramyun (라면) are also spelled with "u" ("hyun"/"myun"). Plus sometimes ㅜ/ㅠ will be written as "oo" instead of "u" like in Yoona (윤아) even though I guess it should technically be Yun-ah? (As a sidenote, 'Kim Yuna' should seriously be spelled Yeon-ah (연아).) But Onew (온유) isn't spelled Onyu or Onyoo. omg romanization rules are so confusing. Maybe for names, they just go by aesthetics. That seems to be the most logical answer, lol.

Okay while I have the language bar set to Korean~ girl!Onew's name is not really Eunsook (은숙), it should be Onsook (온숙) because they kept the first part of all their first names, or a close approximation in Key's case. Similarly, Junghee (정희) should be Jonghee (종희). The other three names are correct though. (~quick proof of the Korean spelling~)

Now I'm googling Korean romanization rules. Such wonders and progress I make in my life! ?__?

Comments

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I don't know about Spanish but the French sound system lines up even worse to Korean sound system than the English one does. Like there's no equivalent to ㅓ at ALL in French (whereas we basically do in English, we just don't have a consistent way to spell it, which is I guess why "eo" exists as a romanization), and there's also no "j" so you'd end up naturally pronouncing Jonghyun something like ʒonghyoon? I do think it's probably mostly English that's considered (vs other languages with roman alphabets), because English-speaking asian countries like Singapore & the Philippines are generally better hallyu targets than Europe/Africa/South America et al. But good point about Yuri being a consistent/already existing romanization. (I think you might be right about the prettiest thing, hee.)

WAY more logical. The first time I saw a girl!SHINee fic I'm pretty sure I had to google it to be sure because the names were just off enough that you couldn't be sure...

[counttheplanes.livejournal.com]

omg I'm an airhead, I completely forgot about Hallyu or um general geopolitics in this discussion. I don't know what I was thinking lol. YES English is probably what they consider the most, and the basis of the romanization in the first place. why was I talking about French and Spanish lol.

Anyway, ty for the discussion so far! I... don't have anything of substance to contribute anymore. ;; I've just been sitting here saying all the names and different pronounciations out loud. "jamais... Jonghyun... Jyonhyon... hyooooon... Yuri... Yoori... Yurri..."

[elapses.livejournal.com]

NO I AM GLAD YOU BROUGHT IT UP BECAUSE NOW I SITTING HERE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING HOW A FRENCH PERSON WOULD PRONOUNCE THESE NAMES ON SIGHT

and apparently that is fun for me idk :|