Controversy Over Restaurant and Cafe Menus Without Korean
Up to 5 Million KRW Fine Under Outdoor Advertising Act
Case of Misugaru Labeled as M.S.G.R.
Netizens are criticizing photos of restaurant menus written only in English without any Korean text.
On the 22nd, an online community post titled "I wish there was a way to write menus in Korean" was uploaded. The photos attached by the author, A, showed menus from various restaurants and cafes.
The problem is that these menus contain no Korean characters at all, only English. A pointed out, "These are all Korean restaurants. Shouldn't there be at least some Korean explaining what ingredients are in the dishes? It's not a world where only people in their 20s and 30s live. How are elderly people or children supposed to order?"
He added, "They write everything in English, but when a real foreigner comes and orders in English, they can't understand. Yet phrases like 'one drink per person' and 'usage time' are written perfectly in Korean, which is ridiculous," and urged, "The government should make a law about Korean menus."
Among netizens who saw this post, there were sympathetic responses such as "I don't know if this is Korea or the United States." Criticism followed, including "It's just full of pretentiousness," "Even if many foreigners come to the restaurant, shouldn't there be at least some Korean written?" and "Do they think writing in English makes it look sophisticated?"
'MSGR = Misutgaru?'... A facet of cultural vanity
Recently, through social networking services (SNS), restaurants and cafes popular among young people have increasingly provided menus in English or had staff explain menus using English expressions. Last year, a famous cafe in Seoul sparked debate among netizens after it was revealed that misutgaru (a traditional Korean grain powder drink) was labeled as 'MSGR' on the menu.
Analysts say that the background of this English usage is 'cultural vanity.' According to the National Institute of the Korean Language's '2020 National Language Awareness Survey,' those who responded that they use many loanwords or foreign languages cited reasons such as "to convey meaning more accurately" (41.2%), followed by "using professional terms makes one look capable" (22.9%), and "it feels more sophisticated than Korean" (15.7%).
Meanwhile, according to the Outdoor Advertising Act, the text on advertisements must, in principle, be displayed in Korean following Korean orthography, the Romanization system of Korean, or foreign language transcription rules, and if foreign languages are used, Korean must be included alongside. In other words, menus without Korean text are illegal, and violations can result in fines of up to 5 million won.
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