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MangaBaka Korean Romanisation Style

Table of contents

  1. Overview
  2. Title field priorities
  3. Subtitle punctuation rules
  4. Romanization rules (Revised Romanization)
  5. Loanword Rule
  6. Names honorifics
  7. Hyphenation and counters
  8. Capitalization
  9. Examples
  10. Notes for editors

Note

This romanisation guide is not entirely finished and might change at any moment, be it partially or entirely.

Overview

This public guide explains how Korean-language titles are romanised and styled for display on MangaBaka. The goal is consistent, readable, and publisher-independent romanisations that make titles clear and searchable for users.

Canonical system: Revised Romanization (RR) with a practical exception for loanwords (see Loanword Rule).

Title field priorities

  • Native Title: the original Hangul title as shown on the cover or source.
  • Romanization: the romanised title shown to users (RR with the Loanword Rule applied).

Subtitle & punctuation rules

  • Follow MangaBaka's General Title Style Guide for English titles: use colon (:) and em-dash (—) to separate subtitle and sub-subtitle. Swap colon/em-dash if the subtitle contains a colon or for visual clarity.
  • Replace straight quotes/apostrophes with typographic quotes only in English/translated fields. The display romanisation uses plain ASCII punctuation unless a decorative symbol is necessary.
  • Native Hangul punctuation and spacing are kept exactly as presented in the native title.

Romanization rules (Revised Romanization)

  • Use Revised Romanization (RR) as the standard for Korean romanisation.

Examples: 학교 → Hakgyo; 서울 → Seoul; 김민수 → Kim Min-su.

  • Preserve Hangul word segmentation when producing romanisation (i.e., keep spaces that reflect Korean word breaks), except for particles that are separated regardless of the spacing (see next bullet for examples).

Example: 우리들의 평화로운 일상 → Uri-deul ui Pyeonghwaroun Ilsang

  • Particles (이/가, 은/는, 을/를, 에서, 로/으로, 와/과, 도, 의) should be shown as separate tokens and written in lowercase for readability in the romanised title.

Example: 나는 학교에 간다 → Na neun Hakgyo e Ganda

  • Double consonants and aspiration follow RR mapping (kk, tt, pp, ss, jj). e.g., 학교 → Hakgyo, 빵 → Ppang.

Loanword Rule

  • When a Hangul token clearly represents a foreign loanword and there is a common real-world/English form, prefer the real-world term in the romanisation.

Examples: 택시 → Taxi (not "Taeksi"); 버스 → Bus (not "Beoseu"); 스킬 → Skill (not "Seukil"); 바스켓볼 → Basketball (not "Baseukesbol").

  • The native Hangul title remains unchanged in the native field; the romanised display uses the real-world term so users immediately recognise the concept.

Names & honorifics

  • Use family name first (capitalized), then given name: 김민수 → Kim Min-su.
  • Honorifics and titles attach with a hyphen: -ssi, -nim, -seonsaeng.

Example: 박지민씨 → Park Ji-min-ssi

Hyphenation and counters

  • Use hyphens for name+honorific, number+counter, and ordinal/part markers when it helps clarity and sorting:

10년 → 10-nyeon
제3부 → Je 3-bu

  • For lexicalized compounds, prefer splitting unless fusion improves readability (editorial judgment applies).

Capitalization

  • When an official English/romanised capitalization exists and is canonical, use it.
  • For fan-romanised titles, apply Chicago-style title capitalization: capitalize nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and main auxiliaries; keep particles and grammatical endings lowercase.

Examples

  • Native: 택시 타는 날

Romanization: Taxi Taneun Nal

  • Native: 학교에 간 고양이

Romanization: Hakgyo e Gan Goyang-i

  • Native: 김선생님과의 하루

Romanization: Kim Seonsaeng-nim gwa ui Haru

Notes for editors

  • Prefer clarity and recognizability for readers. Use the Loanword Rule when loanwords are obvious.
  • Do not rely on publisher romanisation; publisher styles are often inconsistent.
  • Keep the native Hangul title intact and visible in the metadata.