# 現라고 대학에서



## slowlikemolasses

Is it common to use the character 現 to indicate that a professor is currently teaching? Is there a character to indicate a professor emeritus?


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## Rance

We use 현직(現職) to refer anyone currently holding a certain position.
Examples: 현직 대통령, 현직 교수, 현직 경찰관.

We call a professor emeritus 명예교수(名譽敎授).


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## slowlikemolasses

I understand that 現 can be written as 현, but I'm interested in the character 現 used within the context of the Korean language. Is there a hanja shorthand for "former?"


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## kenjoluma

Many Chinese-derived words--despite their obvious disadvantage--have one really good advantage: they can be shortened into one syllable and people can still understand it because they are ideographic. When shortened, especially into one syllable, Koreans tend to stress the word's meaning and avoid any unnecessary confusion by writing its Chinese character.

example)
현라고 대학에서
------------------->University Hyunlago? 

現라고 대학에서
------------------->Aha! University Lago, not Hyunlago.


Of course, a good portion of younger generation (and perhaps uneducated older generation as well) might not have a clue what that means, although the Chinese letter in this case is indeed for clarification, not for enigmatic sophistication.

PS) But I really believe the use of 現 is quite common so everyone knows what it means.


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## slowlikemolasses

First, I want do genuinely thank you for the information you've provided, but I believe you've misunderstood me. My title is meant to mean "'現' in College," not "University Lago." "現" refers to "현직(現職)."


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## kenjoluma

slowlikemolasses said:


> First, I want do genuinely thank you for the information you've provided, but I believe you've misunderstood me. My title is meant to mean "'現' in College," not "University Lago." "現" refers to "현직(現職)."



Then what does '라고' mean?


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## slowlikemolasses

It means "".


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## Rance

Dear slowlikemoasses,

For a lot of questions from your recent posts, I do feel like solving mystery puzzles.
And I spend more time to understand what you are really asking rather than to actually answer to your question.
Rather than providing bits of information at a time, please provide the context in which the phrase you are citing is found.
It's hard to understand another person's thought process.
Hence communication is important and that's why we learn languages.
Therefore for the next posts please elaborate your question with as much information as possible  for the rest.
That would allow others to be able to provide the most accurate, thus desired,  answer you seek.

That being said, let me try one more time.
So  I guess by "", you mean it's quoted based on the information from  another post where you had questions about quotation mark in another  post.
(Hence the notion of solving mystery puzzle)
If that's the case, it's more comprehensible to say "it's quoted" than simply typing quotation mark("").

If so, 現라고 대학에서 should have been 現이라고 대학에서.
In this case, the meaning of 現 has nothing to do with "currently teaching".
They are irrelevant matters.
It     means     some     (guy/thing/etc)     (named/referred/called/etc)      현      in      (a/the)       university.
For the above context 현 can even be replaced with anything else like 구(_舊__)_ and it wouldn't make much difference in overall meaning.


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## slowlikemolasses

Rance said:


> We use 현직(現職) to refer anyone currently holding a certain position.
> Examples: 현직 대통령, 현직 교수, 현직 경찰관.
> We call a professor emeritus 명예교수(名譽敎授).



Rance,

You understood in my question originally. I feel that it's actually _harder _to get an answer when the question is over explained, as seen in my previous questions about exact quotations. 




slowlikemolasses said:


> Is it common to use the character 現 to indicate that a professor is currently teaching? Is there a character to indicate a professor emeritus?



As seen above, my questions on the subject discussed in this thread never were about the use of the suffix -라고, yet that subject has worked its way into the thread.



> ↑ 다만 지명은 취음 등 여러 가지 변수가 있어 한자 표기가 있다고 해서 바로 한자어는 아니다. 예컨대 독도를 한자로 표기하면 獨島라고 해서 이 지명이 외로운 섬이란 한자 뜻으로 지은 이름은 아니다(남부 방언으로 돌을 뜻하는 독을 한자로 빌려 적었을 뿐이다. 성씨도 그 유래에 따라 고유어 박에서 따왔다는 朴이나 고구려에서 따왔다는 高는 엄밀히 말하여 가차 용법으로서 한자표기어=한자어 인식은 주의해야 한다.



Above, from the Korean Wikipedia page for "Hanja" you can see 獨島라고. Admittedly, it is from the citation section, but it still proves my point that 現라고 could reasonably be though of as "現."

I thank you for your help, but I'd much prefer no responses than one that assumes things that I didn't ask.


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## kenjoluma

1. '현라고 대학에서' makes no sense, both grammatically and semantically.

*Grammatical issues*
2. As stated by Rance above, After a noun ending with a 받침(coda), quotation indicator '~라고' should become '~이라고'. 
3. After ~(이)라고, there should be a verb. "현이라고 *대학*(noun)에서" therefore is wrong. In the case with a noun, we use '~(이)라는'.

*Semantic issues*
4. Although 현이라는 대학에서, therefore, is _grammatically _correct, its English translation goes like this: "In the university named '현'".
5. And as a native Korean speaker, I still don't understand what this means.


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## slowlikemolasses

My original questions have _nothing_ to do with -(이)라고 whatsoever.


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## moonji

retired professor 전직(前職)교수.
in this case, 전(前) means 'former'.


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## slowlikemolasses

Thank you.


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## wannie

Yes. 
현 (現) can be used as a modifier of a noun which represents a person's position. (e.g., 회장, 교수, etc)
Also, 현직 is interchangeably used as same meaning with 현.
However, it cannot be used as a modifier of nouns like 회사, 대학, etc. 
So, your writing "현 라고 대학에서" is grammatically incorrect.
Please compare the following examples:
  - 현 라고 대학 교수  ( incumbent professor of University Lago )
     --> Correct expression since 현 is used as a modifier of 교수.
  - 현재 라고 대학에서 일하는 ( currently working with University Lago )
     --> Also Correct. This time, 현재 is used as an adverb that modifies 일하는.

And, professor emeritus is 명예 교수.


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