Korea’s city branding goes far beyond logos and colors. I reviewed the websites of more than 80 Korean cities and found that most have city brands, slogans, and English-language pages. Sadly, many of those English pages are automatically translated. It would be interesting to know how often automatic translation was responsible for English city slogans in Korea.
The research also revealed a surprising gap between the effort put into developing these city brands and the quality of their English slogans and translations. That discovery led to a weekly social media project analyzing English city slogans in Korea, which eventually grew into a collection of hundreds of examples.
- Are English city slogans in Korea a big deal for Korean cities?
- Why are there English city slogans in Korea? Do they even have English web pages?
- City branding appears to be of major importance in Korea
- All this research demanded the perfect platform for sharing
- Update: If you’re interested in English city slogans in Korea, check this out!
This week, I’m starting a new feature on my social media feeds. Every Sunday, I’ll post logos and English city slogans in Korea. Way back in 2013, waegukin.com compiled a list of slogans for Korean cities and towns (sadly, the site appears defunct). But over time, many cities updated their slogans. I searched for an updated list but couldn’t find one. So I took matters into my own hands. I compiled my own list.
Are English city slogans in Korea a big deal for Korean cities?
I started with a list of 78 Korean cities from Wikipedia. I then visited each city’s website to attempt to determine its English slogan. Visit enough Korean city sites, and you’ll find most have slogans. They’re usually contained in a section called “***시 소개” (*** Introduction / About ***).
In this section, you’ll find assorted information. Things like the city flower, bird, mascot, song—and the logo, slogan, or brand identity. Many cities also have their own fonts and other symbols. Most have links to download these logos, mascots, and fonts. Though not always, you’ll often find this information under the heading “브랜드 (brand).” For example, here are the corresponding pages for Seoul in Korean and English.
Why are there English city slogans in Korea? Do they even have English web pages?
While conducting this research, I noticed something interesting. Most Korean city sites have pages in Korean—as you’d expect. But most also have translated pages available in other languages. English, Chinese, and Japanese are the most common. But some sites also provide Vietnamese, Thai, and Russian translations. Unfortunately, many sites use an automatic translation service—either Google or Webtrans. When Webtrans is used, you get this very reassuring message at the top of your screen:
Curiously, English was the language that most often used auto-translated pages. Most of the pages translated by humans were in languages like Vietnamese and Russian. As one might expect, the quality of the auto-translation varies greatly. These automatic translations range from vaguely understandable to completely incomprehensible. There were instances of automatic translations for languages other than English. But I am only qualified to comment on the quality of the automatic English translations.
City branding appears to be of major importance in Korea
Someone has evidently spent time, resources, and effort developing these brands. There are detailed explanations about the choice of colors and shapes in the logos. They state the values and goals of the city. I can’t help but think that a great deal of money has been spent on these endeavors. But all this begs the question—why put this much time and effort into your city brand without consulting a native English speaker about your English slogan?
In theory, these English city slogans are not for Koreans. Rather, English city slogans in Korea are for visitors, tourists, and potential investors. Thus, one would assume that the motivation behind the slogan is to make a great impression on these foreign “customers.” But when looking at the awkward, forced slogans and automated translations, I can’t think of anything that could miss the mark further.
To be fair, not all cities have an English slogan, at least not one that’s contained on the “brand” page. But in the absence of an English slogan, there are often English taglines on the page header. They often make unsubstantiated claims like “The World’s Best City” or “The Only Place Where Heaven and Earth Meet.” There doesn’t seem to be any justification for these claims.
All this research demanded the perfect platform for sharing
I realized that compiling a simple list of slogans, like the 2013 list, would be insufficient. I decided a deeper look into some of these slogans, their meanings, and their origins was in order. Mulling over the best way to do this, it dawned on me that I already had the perfect platform. My Instagram feed, which I’d recently launched, could showcase one slogan per week. So guess what? That’s precisely what I’m gonna do!
And it starts this week, with the city I’ve called home for the past 17 years or so—Seoul. Anyone who lives in Korea is likely already familiar with Seoul’s current slogan. For those of you not in Korea, head on over to this post on my Instagram feed for a look at Seoul’s current slogan. For those of you familiar with the slogan, learn a bit about how it came into being.
Update: If you’re interested in English city slogans in Korea, check this out!
I’ve been sharing these posts for years now. After documenting and analyzing hundreds of them, it was time to put them all together in one place. I created this collection of English Korean city slogans. It not only includes links to each individual social post but also commentary on slogans that work—and those that don’t. 😉
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