'Hangang River' for '한강'... Exceptions for 'Sundae, Seonji'? [News Issue]

Is the English spelling of Seoul's representative tourist attraction '한강' "Han River" or "Hangang River"? The correct spelling is "Hangang River."

Recently, the Seoul Metropolitan Government explained the proper English spelling of the Hangang River and urged tourists to cooperate in using the accurate English name.

In 2010, Seoul unified the official English spelling of the Hangang River as "Hangang River," but both spellings are still used interchangeably in broadcasts, newspapers, and internet portal sites. As the number of foreign tourists gradually increases, the correct use of English spelling is required.

According to the "Guidelines for Foreign Language Translation and Notation of Public Terms" issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2020, natural place names should be romanized in their entirety, with the attribute translation indicated alongside. Accordingly, Hallasan is spelled as "Hallasan Mountain," and Namsan as "Namsan Mountain."

Chinese notation is primarily aimed at providing convenience to Chinese tourists visiting Korea, and is based on usage, considering universality, practicality, and the possibility of effective communication and dissemination with Chinese people. Natural place names composed of Chinese characters are reflected as closely as possible to the currently used characters, while place names composed of pure Korean words should be translated to preserve their meaning as much as possible.

When transcribing Japanese, the principle is to use phonetic transcription for pure Korean words and character translation for Sino-Korean words. Subway station names and road names are written using the Japanese foreign loanword notation system, Katakana, so "Dongdaemun" station is written as "トンデムン," and "Achasan-ro" as "アチャサンロ."

Intestines and Sundae (Photo by Getty Images Bank)

How are food names spelled in English? Food names can be presented both phonetically and semantically, but food names already widely known in English-speaking countries through phonetic transcription are presented only phonetically. For example, "불고기, 비빔밥, 김치" are written as "Bulgogi, Bibimbap, Kimchi." "만두, 갈비, 찌개, 잡채, 떡볶이" are also spelled phonetically as "Mandu, Galbi, Jjigae, Japchae, Tteokbokki."

Names like "계란 볶음밥 (Egg Fried Rice)" and "생선구이 (Grilled Fish)" are translated to highlight distinctive elements such as ingredients, flavor, cooking method, or form.

However, if the translated term is offensive or inappropriate as a food name, it is spelled phonetically. This applies to "순대" and "선지," which are written as "Sundae" and "Seongi," respectively, following their pronunciation.

If you are confused about foreign language notation, you can easily check by searching a dictionary. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has made it possible to search over 80,000 words divided into 12 categories?administrative districts, public institutions, natural place names, transportation, tourism and culture, shopping, food, accommodation, medical and welfare, education, media and religion, and residential facilities?on the "Seoul Foreign Language Notation Dictionary" website. The English notation includes 48,000 entries, and Chinese and Japanese each have 16,000 entries, so by entering the word you want to search, you can find the correct foreign language notation.