The scenes of Won Seok and Ha Dol are beloved in the gay community. I have watched them perhaps a half dozen times each on YouTube where they have short videos with just the themes.
So having joined Viki I thought I would watch the episodes they are in. So I am watching Episode 23. I have seen this scene on YouTube where the translation shows the incisive wit of Joo WonSuk in rejecting the bully, and in Viki the translation for the same scene is a botch. I am not going to watch the other episodes of this series.
I am going to consider that I watch Viki when I canât find and pay for it elsewhere because the translation might be a hash.
So you are fluent in Korean and have noticed some mistakes in the translation.
I personally can have no opinion on this, because 1) I am not fluent in Korean and 2) I thought the drama sucked big time, so I dropped it like a hot potato after suffering through episode 6.
But I wanted to tell you that your best bet is to write a message to the English editors. Here are their names. Chef Editor - singndance4life Translation Editor -awesomeharry English Editor -kristensgem
Iâm rather surprised that they would âbotchâ a translation, since they are all esteemed veterans here, but hey, human beings can make a mistake from time to time. So yes, do write, Iâm sure they will look into it.
Mention the exact timing (minutes) of episode 23 where the scene with the translation errors is (tâs bad manners to ask someone to waste time in order to find something when you can point it out to them).
Write the Korean dialogue as you hear it, then the English, and explain why you think the English is not appropriate (you canât accuse someone with generalities, you have to be specific).
The more precise you are, the quicker will be the response.
The drama âLove With Flawsâ as a whole is not worth watching. However, the gay side story has a tremendous following globally with gay people.
Your dismissive attitude towards this concern seems to be that of a straight person and is revealing of why maybe it wasnât considered important to translate this right.
I am raising this issue not just for this particular item, but out of concern how gay related content might be seriously taken by Viki. The gay side story is extracted and presented in other platforms. They are all copyright violations and get taken down. You also have to view about ten of them to figure out the full story.
The fact that Viki has BL doesnât necessarily mean they have a concern for the real gay experience and will do the translation carefully. There are now gay groups watching these dramas, gay not fujoshi, and what resources are out there and what isnât a resource is of concern.
You are implying based on irmarâs words she doesnât think it is important to put in correct translations, even accusing her of âpersonal sensitivitiesâ. I will leave it at that, because this is not the way we usually behave towards each other. In other words we try to heed the community guidlines of Viki.
You can see on your topics history that quite a few have read it. However, only irmar, because she is especially sensitive to accurate translation answered to you.
She gave you the links to the people involved in the translation of the drama, so if you think the subtitles are not what they should be, write to them. Viki translatorâs wonât copy subtitles from other sources though. This is the correct way, as neither of us can translate Korean, so please provide them with the necessary information. This option is available to anyone having concern about the accuracy of the subtitles.
We all try to be respectful towards each other and not to judge people because of their sexuality, religion or any other personal circumstances or opinions, and we hope to get the same respect in return.
Hope you can have a good conversation with the translators and editors.
Stay safe!
Now you choose to narrowly focus on the gay content of the drama, when I havenât even watched enough of it to reach the scene that you mention. Do you think, then, that the Viki team conspired to do a particularly bad translation of that particular scene because they hate gays? ROFL!
One could be excused for thinking that maybe you didnât like my post because the suggestion I gave you involves a little more work than just ranting and belittling other peopleâs work.
(I am trying hard to refrain from making assumptions about you, but deep in my mind there is a lingering suspicion about your knowledge of Korean and your capability to even follow what I suggested).
Each show is managed by a team so anyone, irmar or I or anyone else, if we want that mistakes are corrected, we send messages to the team of this show. Why? Because no one, except the team, can modify the subtitles.
She or many people have done it like that on other shows and we still proceed the same way. She doesnât tell you that because she disregards the content or you, she tells you what she would have done in your place to make your request heard by the people who can change the subtitles on this show.
Thereâs nothing more to it.
Having talked with irmar for more than months, I still am getting to know her, but I can tell for sure that she doesnât deserve to be judged like that. Itâs super quick to judge her before knowing her or hearing her opinion on LGBT matters at least. How do you know her stance on this or whether she doesnât have someone in her surroundings who is part from the LGBT community or not?
The subtitlers and editors who are willing to subtitle it for free, I guess that they enjoy BL content to work on it, so I donât think they will spend their time on it if they had something against BL. So itâs not out of respect for the LGBT, that the subtitles are not what you would like them to be. Perspectives, human errors, knowledge⊠there are so many reasons possible and I am sure it is not because they have something against the genre. On the contrary, they are really popular shows on Viki for viewers and volunteers who asked for more BL content or shared their love for the BL genre on this forum.
If it really matters to you, you can contact the team and explain them with the timing.
Thatâs really the only way. The forum is visited by a few volunteers only, not everyone, so they might not be aware that this needs to be checked. There are so many teams and dramas!
I donât see the point of getting upset over this. Itâs a subtitle and if something doesnât seem right, you can contact the person in charge of the subtitles, they will take a look and maybe correct it if that is wrong. Itâs an easy task to do and that will solve your problem quickly.
If you feel upset, then maybe you wanted something else from this conversation, but what, I donât know. You have to explain clearly what you wanted out of this topic. For us, we thought that you wanted that the subtitle was reviewed again by the editors. If thatâs not what you wanted, is there anything else we could help you with?
Iâm the translation editor, awesomeharry.
I apologize you first if you got offended by our translation. Itâs probably my edit that caused it.
Since Iâve been lacking in English skill, I didnât intend to make someone get offended but made it just happen.
If you give a specific time of the part(s) that you think itâs a botch, Iâm going to look at it again. And if you give some suggestion for the partâs translation, youâll be very welcome as well.
I was watching Episode 23 for 10 minutes but I couldnât stand anymore. I usually donât watch a drama twice.
And if you become a volunteer at Viki like us, you donât need to pay to watch dramas or movies and you can correct our translation in a less offending way. Therefore, please consider it.
I think itâs best to wait for a confirmation from the person who initially wrote the post. Thatâs why I tagged him. I think someone already made changes to that portion though.
Ok, the thing is I know myself and if I had seen something wrong ââbotchedââ I would have raised hell in the comment section, and I didnât. I hate to sense in the dramas prejudism over any issue. I have seen it happen in other movies/dramas, so it doesnât surprise me either.
I donât want to go too deep into this conversation but from what I remember of the scene, you wouldnât have noticed anything is amiss unless you are fluent in both Korean and English.
There are many things wrong with VIKI as a streaming platform, but I have always appreciated the hard work and commitment of our fellow Vikians. However, I do love myself a good drama so could you please share a side-by-side video comparison? Links to the scene from both the VIKI and YT versions will do.
Everyone, I think you miss my original point. There are out there collections of these episodes of the gay side story of this drama which you can watch. I have watched and rewatched them maybe 3 to 6 times.
What surprised me is that there was no recognition in this group how popular this side story is or how important it is. It was disappointing to see that. It was surprising to me that I was the first person to recognize it and now I realize the first person to bring it up. Yes you have BL stuff, but BL and gay is very different.
I was concerned that in the future that there would be a recognition that gay content is important even if you arenât gay. Instead I am portrayed as being ungrateful for the hard work of the translators. Or just a meanie. I always pay for my material and refuse to watch bootleg copies. If I have accidentally watched a bootleg copy I will go find it and pay for it anyways. However, maybe I am a meanie.
I am a researcher who watches East Asian dramas as a form to escape. I am a published author of university press books on hate groups. I have two groups asking for help with some matters right now. So I am not going to come back to this topic. The issue is not whether you fix this translation or not, it is what is going to be the awareness going into the future.
We definitely missed your original point.
We thought that there were flaws in translation (post title) and as a result, you didnât want to watch anymore because the translation might be a hash because of 1 scene (1st post) and then I thought you got upset because people thought this genre didnât deserve correct translations (2nd post).
Maybe thatâs why you havenât got answers you expected.
The answers you got were because the question or the topic title led us to think thatâŠ
The LGBT matters are not from this century. Recognition through media, in TV, literature, law, societyâŠ
Same as racial matters, religion matters, gender equality, abortion, homoparental familyâŠ
There were also white discrimination, gender discrimination⊠from each group.
Must we categorize? Should we if we want some semblance of equality?
Is it not highlighting the difference or perpetuating discrimination if people expect a difference in treatment between LGBT and not LGBT? Do we have to throw rocks between each group or tell people from one group that they didnât⊠so they are⊠Should we condemn each other like that?
I donât think that on this forum, there are people from any haters groups that categorize people by gender or their love preference or judge people the way they live their life. There will be a need for recognition or we would recognize a great advancement if we associate ourselves as being part of a discriminated group or if we recognize ourselves as being discriminated or weâve been victims of a haters group in our life and weâve lived it as a bad experience that either stick to our identity or will reappear each time a situation related to it will remind us this bad thing (TVâŠ).
If itâs part of your job, then sure, you would want to talk about it, but I hope people wonât condemn other people because nobody talked about other peopleâs field on this forum yet or tell them that they are haters because weâre not part of a minority or majority or a lambda group.
The topic could be heavy to talk about or lead to talk about more personal things or life or⊠I donât know whether the regulations on this public forum would allow it or not, because that could be a sensitive topic. I donât know!
But there are also many forums if you need to talk about the recognition of LGBT in media hopefully.
I donât like this word âgâ because it is also associated to an insult in my country, so I used âBLâ. âMale homosexual relationshipsâ, thatâs quite long to say.
Whatâs the difference between BL, âgayâ and âyaoiâ?
I donât know the difference, but if youâre looking for more content of this genre, there were other topics on BL or MHR on this forum:
Thereâs also a fan chat club for fujoshis in the last one if youâd like to talk about it or open a new thread with a title that says BL or MHR recognition in media, I donât know.
As a Kor-Eng translator, I am sorry that this experience has left you with a negative impression of the Viki translators, and Viki site in general. Having watched most of Episode 23, I can see why the episode is so beloved by the gay community.
I understand your frustration but I ask you to please continue to share with us your views/insights and help raise awareness for, and sensitivity towards, the gay community.
so could you please share a side-by-side video comparison? Links to the scene from both the VIKI and YT versions will do.
