Seong Baek-in (born 7 December 1933) is

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of linguistics at

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...

. His primary area of research is on the

Manchu language Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dyn ...

Career

Seong served as a professor at

Myongji University Myongji University () is a private, Christian university founded in 1948 in South Korea. It provides higher education in the fields of engineering, sciences and humanities. It has two campuses: the Social Science Campus is located in Seoul and th ...

from March 1968 to May 1982. The translation of the Tale of the Nisan Shaman into Korean he made while there () would prove to be an important reference for its later translation into English. In 1982, Seong moved to

, where he held various positions including professor from September 1982 to February 1999, dean of the College of Humanities from September 1995 to August 1997, and head of the Altaic Society of Korea from March 1997 to February 2002.

Outside activities

Seong is a member of the advisory committee for the

Korean Language Proficiency Test The Korean Language Ability Test, () or KLAT (formerly Korean Language Proficiency Test, or KLPT), is a proficiency test for non-native speakers of Korean language. It is offered by the Korean Language Society The Korean Language Society is a s ...

. In 2004, he was awarded the 26th Oe Sol Prize, established in honour of Choe Hyeon-bae by the Oe Sol Foundation.

Selected publications

*. A translation and study of the Tale of the Nisan Shaman. * * *

References

1933 births Living people Manchurologists Seoul National University faculty {{Korea-linguist-stub