Vietnamese versus Korean Chinese approximation

Here the Vietnamese is spelled according to the Chinese characters.

Alas the Korean ignores the Chinese characters and just makes an approximation to the sounds.

We’re talking about a contradiction here folks.

Maybe there should be two Korean versions of these.

What are you talking about? name:vi is for Vietnamese (and that spelling is up to the Vietnamese community), name:ko for Korean (and that’s up to the Korean community). Not sure, there are multiple sub keys for Korean, but the Korean community will know and will add the data, if they think there should be more than one.

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I’m talking about the values, the contents of the fields. Not the names of the fields.

There’s no need to bring Vietnamese into this. name:vi=* is consistent with the Vietnamese language’s convention of using Sino-Vietnamese for place names in Chinese-speaking countries. The Korean language may or may not have a different convention. For what it’s worth, the Korean Wikipedia also calls it 둥스구.

(There’s also a name:ko-Hani=* key in case anyone wants to tag the Korean name in hanja.)

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I’m talking about using the the readings found on

Just let the Korean community decide, what is the appropriate value for name:ko. So better to start this discussion with the Korean community.

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(명확한 의미 전달을 위하여 한국어로 먼저 적습니다.)
결론부터 말씀드리면, name:ko 필드에는 둥스구가 맞습니다.
국립국어원에서 고시하는 외래어 표기법에 따르면 기본적으로 중국어 표기법에 따라 표기하고, 한국의 한자음으로 읽는 관용이 있는 것만 추가로 허용된다고 나와 있습니다.
이러한 표기 원칙이 대중의 인식과도 대체로 일치하기 때문에, 이전부터 관용적으로 표기했던 중국의 지명이 아닌 경우에는 우선적으로 중국어 발음을 따라 적는 것이 원칙입니다.

위의 Dongshi District와 같은 예시도 東勢區를 한국 한자음으로 발음한다면 ‘동세구’지만, 이전부터 관용적으로 사용된 명칭(개인적으로는 ‘동세구’라는 표현을 써본 적도, 언론과 같은 대중 매체에서 들어본 적도 없습니다)이 아니므로 ‘둥스구’로 표기하는 것이 합리적입니다.

(To ensure clear meaning, I’ll first write in my native language, Korean.)
To get straight to the point, 둥스구 is the correct value for the name:ko field.
According to the Loanword Orthography(외래어표기법) published by the National Institute of Korean Language(NIKL), the standard principle is to transcribe Chinese place names based on their modern Chinese pronunciation. The use of Korean Hanja pronunciations is permitted only for names with a long-standing, established customary usage in Korea.

Since this official principle largely aligns with the actual usage of the general public, it is standard to prioritize the Chinese pronunciation for any place names that doesn’t have a historically established Korean reading.

For instance, while 東勢區(Dongshi District) would be read as 동세구(dongse-gu) using Korean Hanja pronunciations, it’s not an established customary name(Personally, I’ve never used the term “동세구”, nor have I encountered it in mass media.) Therefore, it is reasonable and compliant with the rules to transcribe it as 둥스구(dungseu-gu).

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I see. Thank you. In fact the only one I could find with the per character style I like is the entire country itself:

The other cities in Taiwan I checked all only had that new “Mandarin sounds using Hangul letters” style.

I wonder what the best name for a field to add 대북 to

would be? Probably all there is available is alt*

좋은 지적입니다. 언급한 대만/타이완은 앞서 말씀드린 관용적 표기와 현지 발음 전사 표기가 혼용되는 대표적 예시입니다.

한국어에서 대만(臺灣, daeman)은 아주 오래 전부터 사용되어 온 한자어이며(대략 17세기 후반의 고문헌에서부터 등장합니다), 타이완은 현대 중국어 발음을 따른 표기입니다. 현재 한국에서는 이 두 가지 표기 모두 널리, 공식적으로 사용되고 있습니다.

한편, 臺北(Taipei)의 경우는 조금 다릅니다. 1990년대까지는 연합통신(지금의 연합뉴스)과 같은 언론사에서 한국식 한자 독음인 '대북’으로 사용된 전례가 있으나 현재 들어서는 거의 사용되지 않으며, 대신 현대 중국어 발음 표기에 따라 ‘타이베이’나 ‘타이페이’라는 표현을 압도적으로 많이 사용합니다. 따라서 “대북”이라는 값을 보존하고자 한다면 alt_name:koold_name:ko 필드에 넣는 것이 적합합니다.

그리고 이 둘과는 달리, 앞서 언급한 東勢區(Dongshi District)와 같은 세부적인 행정구역 명칭은 대만(臺灣)이나 상해(上海), 북경(北京)과 같이 한국어에서 역사적으로 굳어진 관용적 표현이 아닙니다. 따라서 이런 경우는 국립국어원의 표기 원칙에 따라 현대 중국어 발음을 우선하여 표기하는 것이 표준입니다.


That is an excellent point. The case of Taiwan(대만/타이완) is a prime example of the coexistence of customary usage and modern transcription that I mentioned.

In Korean, 대만(臺灣, Daeman) is a Sino-Korean term that has been used for centuries (appearing in historical documents as far back as the late 17th century). On the other hand, 타이완(Taiwan) is a modern transcription based on the Mandarin pronunciation. Today, both terms are widely and officially used in South Korea.

However, the case of Taipei is slightly different. Until the 1990s, major media outlets(such as Yonhap News) occasionally used the Korean Hanja reading “대북(臺北, Daebuk).” But in modern usage, it has become almost obsolete, and the transcription “타이베이/타이페이(Taibei/Taipei)” is now overwhelmingly preferred. For those who wish to preserve the Hanja reading, alt_name:ko or old_name:ko would be the most appropriate fields for “대북.”

Unlike these major entities, specific administrative districts like Dongshi District (東勢區) do not have a historically established customary name in the Korean language, unlike “대만(臺灣, Daeman, Taiwan), “상해(上海, Sanghae, Shanghai)” or “북경(北京, Bukgyeong, Beijing).” Therefore, in accordance with the NIKL principles, we prioritize the modern Mandarin pronunciation for such cases to ensure standardisation and clarity for modern speakers.

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