The Seongnam Youth Foundation in Gyeonggi Province is taking steps to improve public language so that youth, young adults, and citizens can easily understand and utilize its policies and programs.
According to the foundation on October 23, the initiative aims to reduce complex administrative terms and unnecessary foreign words while expanding expressions that align with citizens' understanding, thereby enhancing the accessibility of public services and the quality of communication.
Starting this month, the foundation will implement activities to improve the use of the Korean language across all departments, gradually refining everyday administrative language from project names and event titles to press releases and internal communications.
The core of this initiative is to transform expressions that are difficult for citizens to grasp into clear and accurate Korean.
The focus is not merely on replacing foreign words with Korean equivalents but on clearly conveying the purpose and content of programs so that citizens can easily find and utilize the information they need.
To achieve this, the foundation has established four key action items.
The first task is to simplify project and event names.
For example, 'Youth Bootcamp' will be changed to 'Youth Intensive Training Course,' and 'Demo Day' will be renamed 'Performance Presentation' to allow citizens to understand the nature and purpose of the programs just from the titles.
The second task involves drafting press releases and informational materials at a level that citizens can easily comprehend.
Long and complex sentences will be shortened and clarified, and terms like 'literacy education enhancement' will be revised to 'enhanced understanding and application skills education' to reveal their specific meanings.
When using technical jargon or unfamiliar words, easy explanations will be added to improve information delivery.
The third task is to review expressions used by employees in the field.
Each department will identify frequently used foreign terms and difficult administrative language for improvement, sharing effective examples of Korean language use to establish a culture of accessible public language throughout the organization.
For unfamiliar technical terms like 'AI-based customized service provision,' principles will be applied to clarify them, such as explaining 'artificial intelligence (AI)' when first mentioned.
The fourth task involves activities where youth and young adults participate directly in using the Korean language.
Centered around youth self-governing bodies and clubs, they will identify foreign words and difficult expressions commonly used in daily life and work to replace them with Korean expressions that convey meaning effectively.
Through this, the foundation aims to expand the use of the Korean language from internal improvement activities within administrative agencies to citizen-participatory practices.
Yang Kyung-seok, the foundation's CEO, stated, "This year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Hangul Day, a significant milestone. The indiscriminate use of foreign words in our society is raising concerns about the identity of South Korea."
He emphasized, "The Seongnam Youth Foundation will take the lead in encouraging youth and young adults to replace foreign words with beautiful Korean language."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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