The National Folk Museum of Korea announced on the 2nd that it has published the English edition of the ‘Hallyu Cultural Dictionary’ to help people worldwide gain a precise and in-depth understanding of Korean Wave culture. Based on the Korean version released in 2024, the dictionary systematically organizes Korean lifestyle culture, including K-content, making it the first English-language encyclopedia dedicated to the Korean Wave that is directly accessible to a global audience.
The ‘Hallyu Cultural Dictionary’ includes 347 entries that comprise the Korean Wave, ranging from BTS to gimbap, along with detailed explanations and more than 600 photographs to aid understanding. It covers K-content such as BTS, ‘Squid Game’, and ‘Parasite’, as well as lifestyle culture like food, fashion, housing, places, and games, allowing readers to grasp the spread and characteristics of the Korean Wave fully. The dictionary presents entries in both English and Korean, enabling users to search entries in either language. Notably, terms like Gimbap, Tteokbokki, and Ramyeon retain their original Korean pronunciation in Romanized form rather than being translated into English.
The table of contents is also available in both English and Korean, enhancing user convenience based on their language environment and purpose. An ‘expanded table of contents’ in the appendix combines the original text, phonetic transcription, definition, and representative images, thus improving the accessibility of information.
In particular, for concepts difficult to convey through direct translation, the dictionary uses simplified expressions to accurately reflect their meaning, and for unique Korean terms such as ‘oppa’, ‘unni’, ‘uri’, and ‘jeong’, cultural context is provided for easier comprehension. The translated manuscript underwent cross-review by native English-speaking experts and domestic experts to minimize potential cultural misunderstandings and enhance its quality.
The National Folk Museum stated that it hopes this dictionary will serve as a foundation for a new understanding and appreciation of Korean culture within the universal values of human culture, beyond simply providing information about the Korean Wave. The English edition of the Hallyu Cultural Dictionary is available for purchase at the museum shop in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and will be accessible on the websites of the National Folk Encyclopedia and the National Folk Museum, where the original materials can be downloaded.