Yeosu's been on a kick to get English nicknames for its attractions ahead of the 2012 Yeosu Expo. Odong-do, a popular site for foreigners and locals alike, will be "The Big O," and the islands that comprise Dadohae Maritime National Park will be known as "Coastal Triangle."
It's an attempt to create and build awareness of local attractions among foreigners, though there's nothing really on the island that would necessitate such an attention-grabbing name. I think a more helpful step in that process would be to have foreign-language information available on why these sites are significant and how to get there if they are. On the Yeosu government site you can't get information on how to visit or why you should.
Is it really so hard, or so much an affront to one's pride, to allow native English-speakers in on the naming process? The campaign to name the islands was posted in March on the Jeollanam-do government page, in Korean. Similar naming campaigns for one of Yeosu's outlying islands and for the Gwangju English-language radio station were also open only to Koreans.
7 comments:
The Big O is the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, although I guess the Expo's are gone.
Brian, if a government official in Yŏsu asked you what the three (or four or five, if you like) best avenues are for reaching the widest possible range of Anglophones in Yŏsu, what would you say?
WORD VERIFICATION: abledlee, which bodes well for the 능력 있는 이명박.
You mean in Yeosu or about Yeosu?
In Yeosu I'd say:
1) Facebook
2) through the Yeosu Office of Educationi
3) My site
* Office of Education, even.
Brian wrote:
You mean in Yeosu or about Yeosu?
I meant in Yŏsu, but I wonder how the answer might differ about Yŏsu
In Yeosu I'd say:
1) Facebook
Through what pages exactly? Is there a Yŏsu Facebook page or something? How about with Twitter or MySpace? Anything?
2) through the Yeosu Office of Educationi
Never let the Italians Romanize anything.
3) My site
Okay, good. Now these are things I might have guessed, but if I weren't actively involved in the K-blogs, I probably wouldn't have known.
From my experience, it's almost a sure bet that the problem is not that one of pride or even disregard or disinterest, but lack of knowledge how to go about properly addressing the Anglophone audience in an effective way.
You plugging your own blog creates a bit of a self-serving conflict of interest, perhaps, but In all seriousness, I would try to get in contact with some of the people in local government there and meet with them over coffee and talk with them about your ideas for reaching more people and getting them involved.
There's probably a bias on their part that most of the oegugin are temporary visitors and are thus not that interested, but that's certainly not true for everyone. Make them aware that there are "lots" of people interested and that there are effective avenues to reach them.
But don't give up if the first or second or third person you meet up with seems unable to do anything or not that interested. It's a matter of persistence before you get matched up with the right person who is looking for that information and knows what to do with it.
There is something important that I did once that now everybody takes for granted, but it took me several years of running around and promoting the idea with whomever would listen. I met a lot of people who it turns out weren't interested or who were interested but couldn't do anything about it (at that moment). But had I not persisted, nothing ever would have gone forward.
It never ceases to amaze me that folks here think it's a perfectly good idea to write something in English without having anyone, even someone with basic English skills, check it over.
There are a couple facebook pages for Yeosu. Most predominantly being: Yeosu Wayguks at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/2260599226/
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