MangaBaka Korean Romanisation Style

Core Romanisation Style

This style guide defines how to consistently romanise and style Korean-language titles (Manhwa/Webtoons) for metadata purposes.
The goal is to provide a standard that is easy to read, type, and apply across various databases, while respecting the linguistic norms of Revised Romanisation (RR)

The Basis

We follow the Revised Romanisation of Korean with the following specific enhancements and deviations to align with our styling standards:

• Loanword Restoration: Translate clear English/foreign loanwords into their standard spelling (e.g., 택시 → "Taxi", 헌터 → "Hunter") instead of strict transliteration (Taeksi, Heonteo) ― major deviation.
• Particle Separation: All grammatical particles are separated by a space and written in lowercase, regardless of standard Hangul agglutination (e.g., 나를 → Na reul)
• Pronunciation-based Transcription: Romanisation reflects pronunciation (sound changes/assimilation) rather than strict Hangul ortography, strictly adhering to standard RR rules (e.g., 독립 → Dongnip, not Dokrip).
• Names: Family names are capitalised, and given names are hyphenated (e.g., 김민수 → Kim Min-su).

Capitalisation

As we are romanising titles, we use the Chicago Headline Style:

• Capitalise all nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and auxiliary verbs (when separated).
• Keep all particles (e.g., eun, neun, i, ga, ui), suffixes when hyphenated, and verb endings (when fused) in lowercase.
• Copulas (ida, anida) follow the specific fusion rules (see Copulas)

Word Spacing, Fusions, and Hyphenation

Korean is an agglutinate language, but for title legibility, we standardise distinct word boundaries.

• Nouns and Compounds: Keep compound nouns separate unless they are established single dictionary words.
• Verbs and Adjectives: The verb stem and its grammatical endings (suffixes) are always fused (e.g., 가다 → Gada, 갔습니다 → Gasseumnida).
• Auxiliary Verbs: When an auxiliary verb follows a main verb (usually connected by a particle or ending), it is separated and capitalised (e.g., 하고 있다 → Hago itda).
• Particles: Always separate particles from the preceding noun/pronoun.
• Hyphens: Used for personal names, honorifics, titles, specific prefixes, and Arabic numerals with counters.

Actual Title Showing the Style

나 혼자만 레벨업: 헌터스 길드의 초대 ～이세계에서 귀환한 랭커가 다시 튜토리얼을 클리어하는 방법～
Na Honjaman Level Up: Hunters Guild ui Chodae ～Isekai eseo Gwihwanhan Ranker ga Dasi Tutorial eul Clear Haneun Bangbeop～

• Loanwords: 레벨업 → Level Up, 헌터스 → Hunters, 길드 → Guild, 랭커 → Ranker, 튜토리얼 → Tutorial, 클리어 → Clear.
• Particles: ui, eseo, eul are all separate and lowercase.
• Assimilation: Bangbeop (Method) follows RR rules.
• Verbs: Gwihwanhan (Returned) is fused; Haneun (Doing) is fused.
• Noun + Verb spacing: Clear Haneun is separated because "Clear" is a restored English loanword acting as the object noun phrase concept.
• Punctuation: Tilde ～ preserved for subtitles.

Further Clarification

Loanword Restoration Rule

Unlike Japanese, where loanwords are often heavily modified, Korean loanwords often map directly to English. To improve searchability and readability:

Standard English Terms: If a Hangul word corresponds to a common English word, use the English spelling.

• 버스 → Bus (not Beoseu)
• 던전 → Dungeon (not Deonjeon)
• 아카데미 → Academy (not Akademi)
• S급 → S-Class or S-Geup (prefer English S-Class if broadly understood contextually, otherwise romanise the counter).

Unclear/Faux-English: If the term is a "Konglish" abbreviation or unique concept without a direct English equivalent, romanise the Korean sound.

• 스킨십 → Skinship (Accepted Konglish)
• 알바 → Alba (German/Korean slang for part-time)

Verbs and Adjectives

Korean verbs consist of a Stem + Endings. In titles, these are FUSED.

• Dictionary Form: 가다 (Ga-da) → Gada
• Honorific/Formal: 갑니다 (Ga-pni-da) → Gamnida
• Past Tense: 갔다 (Gat-da) → Gatda
• Modifier FOrm: 예쁜 (Yeppeun) → Yeppeun (Pretty), 먹는 (Meokneun) → Meongneun (Eating - *note the sound change k → ng).

Hyphenation

Personal Names

Follow the pattern: Surname + Given Name. The Given Name is hyphenated with the second syllable in lowercase.

• 김민수 → Kim Min-su
• 박지민 → Park Ji-min
• 이재욱 → Lee Jae-wook (Common conventional spellings for surnames like Lee/Park/Choi are acceptable if the author is well-known, otherwise follow RR: I, Bak, Choe).

Honorifics

Honorifics and titles attached to names are hyphenated and lowercase.

• 민수씨 → Minsu-ssi
• 선생님 → Seonsaeng-nim (Teacher)
• 형님 → Hyung-nim / Hyeong-nim (Older brother - honorific)
• 누나 → Nuna (Older sister)
• 아저씨 → Ajeossi (Mister/Uncle - often lexicalised without hyphen if standalone, hyphenated if used as address).

Prefixes

Specific prefixes regarding numbering or size are hyphenated

• 제1화 → Je-1-hwa (Chapter 1)
• 고(故) → Go- (The late...)
• 대(大) → Dae- (Great/Big - only when acting as a distinct prefix, otherwise fused in compounds like Daehak (University)).

Arabic Numerals and Counters

Arabic numerals are hyphenated with their counters.

• 10년 → 10-nyeon (10 Years)
• 3명 → 3-myeong (3 People)
• 100번째 → 100-beonjjae (100th)
• 24시간 → 24-sigan (24 Hours)

Copulas (Ida / Anida)

The copula Ida (to be) and Anida (not to be) are unique. In standard RR, they are fused to the preceding noun. However, for readability in titles:
Ida (이다): Fuse to the noun/particle if it is the verb ending.

• 학생입니다 → Haksaengimnida (It is a student)
• 남자이다 → Namjaida
  Anida (아니다): Usually behaves as a separate adjective requiring a subject particle.
• 학생이 아니다 → Haksaeng i Anida
  Future/Guessing (-gess-):
• 알겠습니다 → Algesseumnida

Detailed Tables

Particles

Particles must be separated from the word they modify and written in lowercase.

Expression	Romanisation	Function
이 / 가	i / ga	Subject markers
은 / 는	eun / neun	Topic markers
을 / 를	eul / reul	Object markers
의	ui	Possessive particle (pronounced e often, but written ui)
에	e	Location / Time (at, in, to)
에서	eseo	From (location), At (action)
로 / 으로	ro / euro	Direction / Instrument (towards, by means of)
와 / 과	wa / gwa	And / With
하고	hago	And / With (colloquial)
도	do	Also / Even
만	man	Only
부터	buteo	From (time/place)
까지	kkaji	Until / To
에게 / 한테	ege / hante	To (a person)

Common Suffixes and Honorifics

Hangul	Romanisation	Type	Usage Rule
님	-nim	Honorific	Hyphenate after name/title (e.g., Sajang-nim)
씨	-ssi	Honorific	Hyphenate after name (e.g., Minsu-ssi)
군	-gun	Title (Boy)	Hyphenate (e.g., Kim-gun)
양	-yang	Title (Girl)	Hyphenate (e.g., Lee-yang)
들	-deul	Plural	Hyphenate (e.g., Saram-deul)
층	-cheung	Floor	Hyphenate after Number (e.g., 2-cheung)
년	-nyeon	Year	Hyphenate after Number (e.g., 2026-nyeon)
월	-wol	Month	Hyphenate after Number (e.g., 5-wol)
일	-il	Day	Hyphenate after Number (e.g., 15-il)

Special Characters

• Symbols (♥, ★, etc.): Keep as-is, with spaces around them unless stylisticaly fused on the cover.
• Tildes (~): Keep as ～.
• Ellipsis: Keep as is.
• Brackets: Convert 『 』, 「 」, 【 】 to standard double quotes " or single quotes ' or square brackets [ ] depending on if they denote dialogue or technical stats.

  • System Prompts / Skills in brackets usually use [ ].
  • Dialogue uses ".

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LLM Ruleset and Prompts

YAML ruleset

romanization_style:
  name: "MangaBaka Korean Style"
  version: "1.0"
  base_system: "Revised Romanization of Korean (RR)"
  loanword_rule: "restore_english"
  
  capitalization: >
    Capitalize all nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and auxiliary verbs.
    Lowercase all particles, suffixes (when hyphenated), and bound verb endings.

  loanwords: >
    If a Hangul word is a transliteration of a common English word (e.g., 택시, 버스, 헌터),
    romanize it using the English spelling (Taxi, Bus, Hunter).
    If it is obscure slang or a hybrid, adhere to RR or established Konglish (e.g., Skinship).

  particles: >
    Always separate grammatical particles from the preceding word with a space.
    Particles are always lowercase.
    List: eun, neun, i, ga, eul, reul, ui, e, eseo, ro, euro, wa, gwa, hago, do, man, buteo, kkaji.

  assimilation: >
    Apply strict RR sound assimilation rules for pronunciation changes within a word.
    (e.g., Shinmun instead of Shin-mun for 신문).
    Do not apply assimilation across spaces between separate words.

  verbs_and_adjectives: >
    Fuse verb stems with their endings (e.g., Gada, Gatda, Haneun).
    Separate auxiliary verbs from the main verb (e.g., Hago Sipda).
    Adjectives follow the same fusion rules as verbs.

  names: >
    Surname First (Capitalized) + Space + Given Name (Capitalized-Hyphen-Lowercase).
    Example: Kim Min-su.
    Exceptions permitted for famous authors with established alternative spellings (e.g., Park, Lee).

  hyphens: >
    Use hyphens for:
    - Honorifics (e.g., -nim, -ssi)
    - Plural marker -deul (optional, but preferred for clarity in titles: Saram-deul)
    - Arabic numerals + Counters (e.g., 10-nyeon, 1-level)
    - Prefixes like Je- (ordinal) or Go- (late).

  copula: >
    Fuse the copula 'ida' and its inflections to the preceding noun (e.g., Haksaengimnida).
    'Anida' is treated as a separate adjective (e.g., i Anida).

  example_validation:
    input: "나 혼자만 레벨업: 헌터스 길드의 초대"
    output: "Na Honjaman Level Up: Hunters Guild ui Chodae"
    explanation: "Particles 'ui' separated. Loanwords 'Level Up', 'Hunters', 'Guild' restored."

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Old Guidelines (Kept temporarily for internal reference. DO NOT USE)

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).

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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).

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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.

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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

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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.