by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
“I feel like everything’s a lie, knowing Psy isn’t his real name.”
Brace yourselves: You’re about to hear some of your favorite K-pop stars’ names get butchered. On Friday, BuzzFeed released a new ear-cringing video titled, “Americans Pronounce K-pop Star Names.”
In the video, several Americans are asked to pronounce the birth names of various K-pop celebrities, including Park Jae-sang (PSY), Kwon Ji-yong (G-Dragon), Kim Heechul, Jung Ji-hoon (Rain) and Bae Su-ji (Suzy of Miss A).
While a few managed to nail the task, most of the participants failed miserably. Many of the pronunciation errors seemed to stem from adding extra letters or syllables to the names, turning certain consonants silent or using irregular intonations.
Still, you have to applaud the participants for effort. Korean romanization is tricky and not always the most accurate rendering of the Korean pronunciation.
You can watch the BuzzFeed video below:
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