Trailer to RED 2

Malkovich? Malkovich.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Fuxkinhug

I wonder why the last syllable in his name is transliterated as “Hun” instead of “Hyun?”

I remember an early Hyundai auto commercial in the States that made it a point to say, “Hyundai – rhymes with Sunday.” Hence, Americans typically pronounce it “헌대” instead of “현대.” Presumably they did this because “현” just sounds to damn foreign to the western ear. I wonder if Byung-Hyun’s publicist is doing something similar?

현 does sound very foreign to Americans. But his name is 이병헌, not 이병현.

I remember the argument a while back when an acquaintance of mine insisted that 현대 was pronounced Hondai (혼다이). And I mean really insisted, despite the fact that I speak the language and am from Korea.

Just like that old saying, 서울가본놈과 안가본놈이 싸우면…

The Hyun in Lee’s name is the hanja 憲, which corresponds to the hangul 헌, which according to revised romanizatino is pronounced “heon” and via McCune-Reischauer is hŏn.

I sort of remember those too, although Hyundai still (sort of) rhymes with Sunday regardless of whether or not you pronounce the first syllable correctly.

Mea culpa! I don’t follow Korean entertainment very closely. I recognize the faces of popular Korean entertainers – but I usually don’t know their names. After seeing the romanized spelling “Hun” in this trailer – and thinking that with regard to Korean names “현” is much more common than “헌” – I thought that they were pulling the ol’ “Hyundai ~ rhymes with Sunday” trick. So I googled “이병현” and there were several returns (to include images) for the Korean actor. So, I naturally assumed the correct spelling is “이병현.” I just googled it again, and noticed that it did also ask at the top of the returns “Did you mean: 이병헌?”

I am guessing that since googling “이병현” does return quite a few results – that a lot of Koreans also think his name is spelled that way.

as condescension towards foreigners that Hyundai thinks are too stupid to pronounce it correctly

Considering that the best attempt I heard so far in person was “Hai Uhn Dahi” after being told how the pronunciation actually went, I’d say Hyundai thought correctly.

And as for my idiotic friend, he wasn’t convinced even after showing him a clip of Hyundai ad in Korean (‘Well, that’s just in Korea, dude. Hyundai pronounces it “Hondai”. Trust me’), so I kinda gave up after that.

Are you saying that only Koreans can say the word?

Yes, exactly. That’s exactly what I said. Oh wait, I’m not a complete moron.

Don’t put words into my mouth. That is a terrible habit.

And, by the way, the notion that honkies can’t pronounce Korean words but Koreans are awesome at pronouncing words in other languages is pretty amusing.

Oh great, it’s already a habit of yours. Well, try not to repeat it a

Or maybe we should take the Korean attitude toward all forms of non-American English (‘It’s too hard. Why don’t you simplify it?’) and apply it to the Korean language.

Too late. Hey, you want my password and login? Why don’t you go ahead and log into my account. If you’re going to put words into my mouth, might as well expedite the process.

Hey, Bob. Are you saying that Koreans are actually secret moon Nazis, and they’re planning to round up all the English teachers that they’ve been luring into their country and use them as experiment subjects for developing biological weapons that they’ll then use against Japan?

I thought the visa application was a bit too easy…

I asked a question that was a logical response to your assertion that the best pronunciation of the word you had ever heard was not even close. I didn’t put words in your mouth, I asked a question. Are you sure mispronouncing Korean words is a habit of mine? I got around pretty well in Korea. That’s not to say that I’m fluent, but the words I did say seemed pretty well understood. I’m asking you if you truly think that foreigners cannot say the word Hyundai in a manner that Koreans would comprehend.

First you say yes: Considering that the best attempt I heard so far in person was “Hai Uhn
Dahi” after being told how the pronunciation actually went, I’d say Hyundai thought correctly.

Then you say no:

Are you saying that only Koreans can say the word?

Yes, exactly. That’s exactly what I said. Oh wait, I’m not a complete moron.

So which one is it?

I am also asking if you think it’s acceptable for Mr. Lee to insist that Hyun be pronounced Hun, and if so what your reasoning is. I am drawing a blank, because I thought that the acceptable romanization of his name was Heon (and/or Hun except when this means Hoon. Yeesh.). The only other example I can think of where ‘Hyun’ is pronounced Hun is in Hyundai advertising, which brings me back to my first point.

Ulterior motives? Say, what would be the common sense purpose served in hiring teachers who teach English?

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that

It’s about learning the language

Why are you swearing at me? Please stop. Regarding Hyundai, I believe that if they used their own name correctly in English-language advertising that’s how honkies would say it. The decision to mangle the name is that of Hyundai, not the aforementioned honkies. This stems from what I believe is a condecscending marketing decision, based in the Korean belief that the Korean language is too difficult for non-Koreans to pronounce. Your views on how honkies say this word was expressed thusly:

‘Considering that the best attempt I heard so far in person was “Hai Uhn
Dahi” after being told how the pronunciation actually went, I’d say Hyundai thought correctly.’

This statement does not limit itself to Americans living in America who have never studied Korean, it smears all non-Korean speakers everywhere at all times as unable to say the word.

As for whether or not Mr Lee spells his name Hyun or Hun, Google seems to say that he spells it both ways:

http://24-7kpop.com/2012/08/19/confirmed-actress-lee-min-jung-actor-lee-byung-hyun-are-dating/

http://video.xin.msn.com/watch/video/actor-lee-byung-hyun-celebrates-hollywood-handprints/2i0qynty6

http://hallyu8.com/topic/32550-dispatch-lee-byung-hyun-lee-min-jung/

This says to me that he, and his Korean fans, (and the Marmot!) think they can spell his name however they like in English and still brings me back to Hyundai ads wherein ‘Hyun’ =Hun. It’s pretty annoying.

By the way, listing a bunch of English-language websites misspelling his name isn’t exactly the most convincing way of proving that

he, and his Korean fans, (and the Marmot!) think they can spell his name however they like in English and still brings me back to Hyundai ads wherein ‘Hyun’ =Hun.

Why are you engaging in personal attacks? I don’t know anything about you.

Since when was the topic American ads? I never mentioned America at all, nor am I American.

Doing a Google image search for ‘이병현’ also gives you a trillion images of Lee Byung Hun:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=%EC%9D%B4%EB%B3%91%ED%98%84&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=F1&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ep8SUbWtCNDVqQHBuoDACQ&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=697

Here he is, in Korean, as Hyun:

http://rudol.net/3993

Here:

http://www.dcnews.in/news_list.php?code=ahh&id=426&curPage=&s_title=&s_body=&s_name=&s_que=&page=741

Here:

http://wing4u.pe.kr/2201

Here:

http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=aa__mm&logNo=140103559418&redirect=Dlog&widgetTypeCall=true

Here:

http://www.worldcupmovie.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=freeboard&wr_id=453

And here he is listed as BOTH on the same page, also in Korean:

http://blog.daum.net/shinek89/6

There appears to be quite a bit of confusion as to just who this actor person is. There is also a rapper named Lee Byung Hyun, and some of these searches bring him up too, but it’s not just Anglos who get confused about what this dude’s name is. He’s clearly a North Korean spy and should be arrested under the National Security Law. This is all clearly the fault of the automobile manufacturer, Hundai. If Hyundai = Hundai in English (which does NOT mean only in America), I think that they should change their name in Korea to Hundai and insist that people pronounce it Hyundai. It seems to work for this actor whatever-his-name-is.

That’s discriminatory.

Clap, clap, clap. Good for you Bob. Good for you. You know how to pronounce Hyundai the correct way and how dare they condescend to you.

I bet you also know how to say Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen correctly too. The German way. Yeah they pronounce their “Vs” like “F” and “W’s” like “V” but what are you gonna do? They’re Germans. Maybe you even go as far as saying “BMV” instead of “BMW”.

I bet you order a mean “huevos rancheros”! Better than that bumfromkorea. I mean who is he? Nobody. I’d write to Hyundai USA headquarters if I were you, Bob.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maDhfb2915k

**As for the romanization of Korean, I agree it’s flawed.

No, I don’t say those words correctly because I was aware of them in their bastardised form before I knew how to say them properly. I can’t really say the same about Hyundai, although I did ride around in an ’86 Pony for a while. And I only say BMV (more like Vay, not Vee) to Germans, because I don’t want to alienate people who don’t speak German. don’t speak Spanish because I don’t live in Los Estados Unidos, so I’m still pretty phonetic there.

Hyundai are telling people to mispronounce their own name, which causes derision among Koreans when they hear honkies say it that way, but Volkswagen are increasingly pronouncing their name correctly in their ads. This won’t turn everyone in North America into German-speakers, but it does more for cross-cultural communication than Hyundai saying that the ‘Y’ in Hyundai is either silent or just isn’t there at all. That’s condescending.

There are always flaws when you try to write one language in the alphabet of another, and I accept that, but this is an example of Koreans using the Roman alphabet to spell the name of one of their companies and then insisting that anglophones can neither read nor pronounce it correctly.

“Joint Security Area” was my first “good” Korean movie, so it has a special place in my heart.
Other 이병헌 films I liked are “Everybody Has Secrets” a fun comedy from 2004 and “A Bittersweet Life” from 2005.

Wishful thinking can be tricky

So I have the hots for Lee Byung Hyun/Hun/Heon/Hoon/Hyundai/Hundai/Hondai and you have the hots for some big, hairy Vancouverite. This re-examination of my sexuality wasn’t what I was expecting out of this conversation, but maybe this multiculturalism thing isn’t so bad. Ooh, those lips…

“This re-examination of my sexuality wasn’t what I was expecting out of this conversation…”

Dude, you can’t blame anyone else but yourself for that one.

Oh, is that right? In which country were you talking about Hyundai changing the way the present the pronunciation, then? Korea? My initial point was that Americans I’ve met had seriously hard time pronouncing Hyundai, and that it was reasonable for the company to present themselves so that when people talk about their product, they don’t go “You know that car company? That… I don’t know how to pronounce it… ah, forget it”. You’re the one who reacted to that point by suddenly claiming that I think “honkies” can’t pronounce Korean words correctly, and strangely insisting that I think White people can’t pronounce Korean words, period.

You know what? This is retarded. I’m done here.

bumfromkorea wrote:

Most importantly, when you google “Lee Byung Hyun”, google gives you “did you mean Lee Byung HUN?” as well as myriads of websites listing his name as Lee Byung HUN.

Yes, it does in fact say “Did you mean: 이병헌”

But before you get to that “myriads of websites” that spell the name as 이병헌, there are five thumbnail images of the actor 이병헌 (but the associated text is spelled 이병현) and below those images is a youtube thumbnail for the actor 이병헌 (but the associated text is spelled 이병현), and below that are several hangul websites for the actor 이병헌 (but the associated text is spelled 이병현).

You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to before you see his name spelled as 이병헌.

Everybody loves 달콤한 인생/bittersweet life, i didn’t like it that much. Yes it had great scenes for sure and it was nice for a change to see a (kinda) lighter hearted approach to the jopok genre but in the end the script seemed a bit feeble, including the final twist of the story and his acting seemed a bit more monotonous than usual.