[Lee Yeo-ram, a researcher at the center] said the Korea Rice Foodstuffs Association and the Agriculture Ministry have already begun to discuss changing the official name to topokki, and having the new official name registered in Webster’s Dictionary. The research institute will spend 1.2 billion won ($810,000) annually to research tteokbokki culture and develop new dishes, the association said. Five researchers now work at the center, and the number will increase to 16. The local market for the snack is estimated at 900 billion won, according to the rice growers’ group. The institute will help boost local and export markets and increase rice consumption, it said.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
“Using a name that’s easy for foreigners to pronounce is our first step to help the spicy rice cake gain global popularity.”
Sure, I can easily pronounce "topokki." 토포키. Is that any closer to 떡볶이 than "tteokbokki"? Will that get the customer what he's trying to order? What's the point of having official romanization if you change it all the time? Anyway, the government opened a Topokki Food Research Institute yesterday. An except from the Joongang Ilbo article:
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Well, one of the big problems with official Romanization is that the current sucks eggs big time. Second, even in a better Romanization system, the double characters like 까, ㄸ, ㅃ, and ㅉ don't have a good way to be written as initial sounds that is recognizable in most Roman languages.
I prefer a system, modeled after McCune-Reischauer, where these are "approximated" in the initial as g, d, b, and j. Of course, that wouldn't work for the new "Revised Romanization" made by NAKL because they have (inaccurately) used those same single letters for ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ.
But if you formulate ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, and ㅉ as the "opposite" of ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ in terms of pronunciation, it makes sense (note that the scare quotes indicate it is not meant to be taken as a perfect opposite).
I just like that the romanization will be unlike the actual Korean word. That's guaranteed to make sure all the waygooks are perfectly understood..
They do say topoki in Japan. Perhaps that's why they chose it.
Actually, I think Dokboki is more appealing to the eye.
I love the stuff. I think there's a market somewhere, but it probably needs a Western spin. Maybe more noodle less Duk.
Maggie wrote:
I just like that the romanization will be unlike the actual Korean word.
Until you mentioned that, I didn't even think of the trouble there might be. I think it's because "topokki" from a Western language speaker would actually sound close to how it's actually pronounced. Except for maybe the 't.' Also the double-k might make some English speakers pronounce a "soft o", like toe-PAH-kee.
That "eo" in "tteokbokki" makes it unnecessarily wieldy in a visual sense, and also leaves people scratching their heads how to pronounce it. ee-oh? ay-oh? "How do you get 'uh' out of e-o?" a student once asked me.
That's guaranteed to make sure all the waygooks are perfectly understood..
Can I ask a question that is going to sound obnoxious but I mean it out of earnest sincerity? Those of you who say "waygook/waygooks" out of habit: why do you do so and what do you think it means?
Well, Maggie, that was my original thought. If you're going to adjust the romanization, why make it into a word it isn't?
Kushibo, I get annoyed hearing "waygooks" (no offense Maggie). I guess it just rolls off the tongue easier than 외국인. And no, I didn't choose the name for waygook.org; it makes me cringe every now and then, too. Maybe by hearing how stupid waygook sounds when used incorrectly, Koreans might question their own situational use of 외국인, but I don't really want to get into discussions about the appropriateness of 외국인 to describe foreigners and non-Koreans.
Right, the reason waygooks don't eat Korean food back home is because of its spelling.
Speaking Korean, I say 외국인 or 외국사람. If I'm speaking English or I'm being lazy, I use waeg (or bignose).
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