Korean Romanizer
Turn Hangul into the Latin alphabet with the official Revised Romanization — sound changes and all.
How to use
- Type or paste Korean text in the box — the romanized spelling appears instantly below.
- Turn on “Capitalize” for names and places (Seoul, Busan), then copy.
- Non-Hangul characters pass through untouched: “한국 K-POP” stays “hanguk K-POP”, and “2026년” becomes “2026nyeon”.
Examples
Why letter-by-letter swapping fails
Transcribed jamo by jamo, 신라 would be “sinra”, 종로 “jongro” and 왕십리 “wangsipri”. The standard romanizes pronunciation rather than spelling, so the correct forms are Silla, Jongno and Wangsimni. Each comes from a different sound change, which is why a lookup table cannot produce them.
Several rules inside one word
좋고 → “joko”: the final ㅎ merges with the following ㄱ into an aspirated k. 값이 → “gapsi”: the cluster ㅄ splits — ㅂ stays as the final, ㅅ moves into the empty next syllable. 국물 → “gungmul”: ㄱ before ㅁ becomes ng. The tool applies changes like these in sequence across the whole string.
Writing your name on a business card
Revised Romanization gives one consistent spelling for a Korean name, which matters when the same person appears in an email address, a paper and a conference badge. Convert the name on its own rather than inside a sentence, since the rules that join sounds across word boundaries do not apply between a family name and a given name. Whatever spelling you settle on, reuse it everywhere — inconsistency is what makes a person hard to find later.
Romanizing a Korean address
Korean road-name addresses romanize the road and building parts and keep the administrative units as written: 세종대로 110 becomes Sejong-daero 110. Administrative suffixes are attached with a hyphen — 로 as -ro, 길 as -gil, 동 as -dong, 구 as -gu, 시 as -si. Convert each element separately rather than pasting a whole address in one line, because the joining rules would otherwise merge sounds across parts that should stay distinct.
Why a search returns nothing
A Korean name or place written three different ways in Latin letters splits its own search results three ways. Park, Bak and Pak are all the same 박. If you are trying to find a person, a paper or a restaurant and getting nothing, converting the Hangul here gives you the standard spelling to try — and then trying the common variants is usually what finds the rest.
Brand and company names
Companies frequently choose a spelling that ignores the standard: Hyundai rather than Hyeondae, Samsung rather than Samseong. Those are established trade names and should be kept as the company writes them. Use this converter for names and places that have no fixed English form; do not use it to correct a brand that already has one.
FAQ
Which romanization system is this?
The Revised Romanization of Korean (국어의 로마자 표기법), the official South Korean standard since 2000. It transcribes standard pronunciation rather than spelling, which is why 좋고 becomes “joko” and 국물 becomes “gungmul” instead of “johgo” and “gukmul”.
Which sound changes does this tool actually apply?
Five families, applied across syllable boundaries in a single pass. Liaison (연음): a final consonant moves into a following empty syllable — 음악 → eumak, 앉아 → anja, 값이 → gapsi. Representative finals (평파열음화): a final before a pause or a consonant reduces to its plain value — 꽃 → kkot, 밖 → bak, 닭 → dak. Nasalization (비음화): ㄱ/ㄷ/ㅂ before ㄴ/ㅁ become ng/n/m — 국물 → gungmul, 받는 → banneun, 백마 → baengma. Liquid rules: ㄴ beside ㄹ becomes ll (신라 → silla, 칼날 → kallal), while ㄹ after ㄱ/ㅂ/ㅇ/ㅁ turns into n (종로 → jongno, 백로 → baengno, 왕십리 → wangsimni). ㅎ behaviour: it aspirates a neighbouring plain stop (놓다 → nota, 잡혀 → japyeo, 맏형 → matyeong) and drops before a vowel (좋아 → joa, 많이 → mani, 싫어 → sireo).
Which rules does it NOT apply?
Two, deliberately. ㄴ/ㄹ insertion at a compound boundary — 학여울 is pronounced Hangnyeoul, not “hagyeoul” — and palatalization, where 같이 is pronounced gachi. Both depend on knowing where one morpheme ends and the next begins, which needs a dictionary rather than a rule. This tool works only from the characters you type, so it romanizes those two cases literally. Everything else described on this page it handles.
Why is ㄹ sometimes r and sometimes l?
The standard writes ㄹ as r between vowels, and as l when doubled or final: 서라벌 → Seorabeol, but 신라 → Silla and 여덟 → yeodeol. The tool decides this from the surrounding sounds after the other changes have been applied, which is why 칼날 comes out as kallal rather than “kalnal”.
Is this the right spelling for my passport?
Not necessarily. Passport and legal name spellings usually follow personal or historical choices — 이 written as “Lee”, 박 as “Park”, 김 as “Kim” — where the standard would give I, Bak and Gim. Existing document spellings are normally the ones to keep. Use this to see the standard form, then match whatever already appears on your documents.
Does it handle sentences and mixed text?
Yes. Sound changes are applied within a run of Hangul, and anything that is not Hangul — spaces, digits, Latin letters, punctuation — passes through unchanged. Changes are not carried across a non-Hangul character, so a space between two syllables stops assimilation, just as a word boundary would.
Should the family name come first or last?
The government guideline puts the family name first, with the given name after it and its syllables joined — Hong Gildong. A hyphen between the given-name syllables is permitted, so Hong Gil-dong is also acceptable. Western order with a comma, Gildong Hong, is common in academic writing and is not wrong; it is simply a different convention. The one thing to avoid is switching between forms across documents.
Why does the tool give Gim when everyone writes Kim?
Because Revised Romanization transcribes ㄱ at the start of a word as g, which produces Gim, Bak and I for 김, 박 and 이. Real usage settled long ago on Kim, Park and Lee, and passports, bank accounts and published papers are full of those spellings. The guideline itself allows established personal-name spellings to be kept. Treat the output as the standard form and your existing spelling as the one that already carries your identity.
How are hyphens used?
Three places. Between the syllables of a given name, where it is optional. Before administrative unit suffixes in addresses — -ro, -gil, -dong, -gu, -si. And where a syllable boundary would otherwise be ambiguous, as in Jung-ang for 중앙, which without the hyphen could be read as Ju-ngang. Outside those cases the syllables are written joined.
Does capitalization follow any rule?
Proper nouns are capitalized: personal names, place names and road names. Administrative suffixes attached with a hyphen stay lowercase, so it is Jongno-gu rather than Jongno-Gu. Common nouns inside a converted phrase are not capitalized unless they begin the line. The converter returns the sounds; capitalization is applied by you according to where the text will sit.