Korean names in translation

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Korean Names in Translation

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Korean names in a Korean document can be translated in a number of different ways. Unless the person’s preference in English spelling is known, it is not possible to tell exactly how the person would write his/her name in English.

One Korean name can be written as “Gyung-Sook JUNG”, “Gyung Sook JUNG”, “JEONG Kyung Suk”, “Gyung Suk JEONG” or “Gyung Suk CHUNG” - and this may not be an exhaustive list. For this reason, a Korean name in English translation should be regarded only as an approximation (and vice versa).

When no hint of the person’s English spelling preference available, our company will translate a Korean name in a manner that we believe is the closest phonetic approximation.

If a person’s English spelling preference is revealed in the document (from an e-mail signature, for example), we use that form throughout the translation. Even in such cases, however, often the same person’s name appears (in English) with the surname first on one page, and with the surname last on another. To avoid confusion, we usually set one standard for each project (e.g. Gyung-Sook JUNG) and try to adhere to it consistently.