"Bong," "Joon-ho," or "Bong Joon-ho"?
August 6, 2013 1:50 PM Subscribe
How does one refer to people in the third person in Korea?
In response to news that the Weinstein Company is planning to drastically recut Bong Joon-ho's new film Snowpiercer, I saw some people on Twitter referring to the director in shorthand as "Joon-ho." I pointed out that his surname is actually "Bong," and that "Joon-ho" was his given name. Someone replied that since Koreans have a small number of surnames, it would be impractical to refer to someone as (e.g.) "Bong" unless there was a very specific established context.
In English it is very common to refer to people, particularly public figures, in the third person using only their last names -- "Spielberg," or "Merkel," or whatever. If you're conversing with someone with whom you share a common interest, or an academic subfield, or something, you might even be able to toss out a very common last name, like "Smith," and still make yourself understood. A newspaper article might refer to "Steven Spielberg" the first time the name is used, then switch to "Spielberg" thereafter.
How does this work in Korea, where referring to "Kim" is presumably totally useless 95% of the time? Would you simply always use the person's full name? Is there any shorthand in common usage?
In response to news that the Weinstein Company is planning to drastically recut Bong Joon-ho's new film Snowpiercer, I saw some people on Twitter referring to the director in shorthand as "Joon-ho." I pointed out that his surname is actually "Bong," and that "Joon-ho" was his given name. Someone replied that since Koreans have a small number of surnames, it would be impractical to refer to someone as (e.g.) "Bong" unless there was a very specific established context.
In English it is very common to refer to people, particularly public figures, in the third person using only their last names -- "Spielberg," or "Merkel," or whatever. If you're conversing with someone with whom you share a common interest, or an academic subfield, or something, you might even be able to toss out a very common last name, like "Smith," and still make yourself understood. A newspaper article might refer to "Steven Spielberg" the first time the name is used, then switch to "Spielberg" thereafter.
How does this work in Korea, where referring to "Kim" is presumably totally useless 95% of the time? Would you simply always use the person's full name? Is there any shorthand in common usage?
One exception is entertainers, who are referred to by their full stage names - so actor Ha Jung-Woo would be referred to by his full name throughout. Entertainers often have stage names lacking a surname (e.g. Shindong of Super Junior), so there is no choice but to use the name as is, and this may lead people to think that it's the norm to refer to somebody by their given name. In practice, it's considered very rude to refer to somebody you don't know well by their given name only.
posted by needled at 3:46 PM on August 6, 2013
posted by needled at 3:46 PM on August 6, 2013
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So in general, full name first time, then title + last name thereafter (e.g. Professor Choi, Prosecutor Park, etc.). If there isn't some kind of job-related title available for use, then they get referred to as Ms. Kim or Mr. Lee (e.g. "Kim-yang", "Lee-shi" or "Lee-kun").
posted by needled at 2:57 PM on August 6, 2013 [2 favorites]