While the Unicode enables scholarly communication in original scripts, there are still important reasons for Korean Studies scholars and students to learn the standard Korean romanization:
1. Romanization facilitates information retrieval in American academic databases (e.g. search for 青春 will retrieve different set of records from a search for 청춘 while the romanized "chongchun" will retrieve both sets);
2. Most American academic publishers require standard romanization when publishing your articles or books. A serious scholar of Korean Studies will benefit from learning the ALA/LC Romanization rules, which are the standard for all libraries in the western world including USC.
This handy tool, developed by Hyungbae Lee, Korean Studies librarian at Princeton, converts Hangul texts into ALA/LC Romanization.
Since the ALA/LC Romanization Rules for Korean, a McCune-Reichauer based system, is quite different from the South Korean rules, you are strongly encouraged to make an appointment with a Korean Studies librarian for an introductory session. If you prefer learning on your own, please try the tutorial below.