I think one huge factor here is that most volunteers are drama fans who want everyone to have as much fun as they have while watching. We keep thinking about whether WE would like the same subs, or how we would like our subs to be. In the case of the drama example @lari_sferreira42_336 gave, I(and most volunteers I know) wouldn’t have been able to sleep peacefully at night without it bothering me 
“It makes no sense! It takes all the fun out of the drama!” would keep drumming around in my head. For someone who is doing it just for the pay, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. The show has been translated. Thats it.
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To be fair, I think most Kor-Eng translators who are truly bilingual or know enough of Korean culture, regardless of which streaming site they are working at, would prefer to use “Oppa”, “Unnie”, “Noona”, “Ajumma”, etc. instead of proper names. However, it is not up to the translators. I believe it is NX’s policy to use proper names in lieu of these honorifics. Even here at Viki, subbing rules differ based on the CE’s preference.
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Find the mistake:
The German subtitler just repeated what the English had already written.
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I am not sure what the English subber or German subber wrote but 남궁 (Namgoong) is the surname and 찬 (Chan) the given name. It is unusual to have two character Korean surname but Namgoong is one of the more well known ones. Namgoong Min is one of my favorite actors.
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This may be true, because when they talk about the boy, they only say “Chan”.
And the cast at Wikipedia lists Namkoong Yi-hwan as the father.
My bad, I should have look it up.
But for the names vs. titles thing, it’s the same as always throughout the series.
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When it comes to honorifics such as “Oppa”, “Noona”, “Hyung”, etc., I think it is sometimes just as bad to use the English equivalent such as “Brother” or “Sister”. Those viewers who are not yet familiar with the terms may at first wonder why there are so many incestuous relationships in K-dramas. Also, use of the proper names instead of the honorifics somewhat disregards the hierarchies of various relationships, which Koreans are rather strict about.
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choitrio Those viewers who are not yet familiar with the terms may at first wonder why there are so many incestuous relationships in K-drama
I’m so glad you mentioned this here because I was one of those people that was sick to my stomach when I first started watching Korean dramas (2012), and I thought there was an incestuos relationship in the Korean dramas.
Thank goodness that when I came to viki to watch dramas, I learned/realized they were not half bro/sister or Biologically related. It took me a while to catch up on those things. I loved when they started explaining the meaning of honorifics; like oppa they used that one for brother and boyfriend (but honestly I don’t like when girls call oppa their brothers and boyfriend too), Why they don’t have another name for boyfriend? or another name for brother instead of Oppa for both. Confusing as hell to me bc when I hear a girl saying oppa from the get go I can’t tell at that moment, if he’s the bro/boyfriend.
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this is so funny. Glad we have almost the same thing here, so I never felt weird lol. It always tickles me to see people in the comments freak out asking “Wait I thought he was her BROTHER?!” 
The relationship is usually pretty clear depending on the body language, but I understand that people would have a hard time with it. And translating it to “Sister” either makes it incestuous or sound like the character is a nun.
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You see those comments A LOT .
In Cdramas they also use ‘gege’ or ‘ge’ for older brothers/ boyfriends / friends by both men and women. So you also encounter people in the TCs who get confused…
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It can be compared a little to the word “Bro” or “sis” nowadays… people use it with their friends but the culture still probably doesnt have the same level of communal living so it still falls short in terms of a good substitute for oppa/hyung/gege/jiejie/noona/unnie. Ive seen “Bro” being used in subs, though im not sure it was on Viki
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It is being used on Viki.
Personally, I prefer using the Asian terms, though.
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Yes, bro and sis fall flat to gege/jiejie/oppa/noona etc…
That’s why I keep my ears open when I watch dramas to listen to what the characters are saying when they address someone. Same as with if they use ‘xihuan’ or ‘ai’ in Chinese dramas. They both can be translated to love, but they are different degrees of love.
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Personally, I am okay with “Bro” or “Sis” depending on the context, if it refers to a biological sibling. However, for consistency’s sake, I would much prefer Korean honorifics.
I think the beautiful thing about honorifics is that they show familiarity, respect, and/or social hierarchy. I feel that it is a cultural phenomenon that deserves attention. In fact, my daughter and I will be focusing on the use of honorifics in the upcoming podcast for her linguistics and computer science class project.
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I’m still waiting to see/hear this! 
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I am dreading it since I hate public speaking. It seems that with two college kids who see me as the go-to-interviewee, I am doing far more public speaking than I care to, lol. Just last night, I did a Zoom interview for my son’s criminal justice class.
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I agree. Its weird to others but that shouldn’t stop or minimize what’s unique or beautiful about a culture. Though I still can’t remember the drama, I will always be thankful to the wonderful Viki TE who added TNs explaining the entire thing when I first got into Dramaland. Made me go check it up and I realized ahhh we’re more similar than we think, but so unique in our own way! 
One trope that really gets my heart fluttering is when one of the leads finally switches from 하십시오체/해요체 to 해체… its funny how the speech levels and the respect levels have been… internalized? Was just watching that scene in SWDBS that revolves around the speech levels, and i realized that I didnt feel confused or left out of the joke, like the first time I watched it.
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I think the biggest reason the NTFX subbers rubberstamp the full character’s name all the way through a drama is because it saves time. They also don’t pause to give their NTFX viewers those helpful cultural add-ons in brackets; like explaining ajussi, oppa, unnie etc…or pointing out unique features in korean social life, like explaining that a young man turns his head to the side when drinking with an elder as a sign of respect. That is viewing ‘gold’, which is what our generous volunteers give us on Viki.
So then why don’t NTFX subbers do this? Because they aren’t volunteering their time, they are being PAID. And likely their paycheck depends on how many episodes they finish, which doesn’t encourage anyone to add in the important extras like korean context. I also think that NTFX has a policy aimed at making their foreign-subtitles more ‘americanized’ for easier understanding (like putting the surname last to mirror western speech.) I grind my teeth when I hear a guy call his older brother ‘Hyung’ but the subtitles say "Dude!’. Switching out Korean words for american slang whitewashes the context and culture out of these dramas and turns them into ‘just another american show’. Their interference in translation can often edit a character’s personality as well as the Scriptwriter’s original intent for the tone of the drama once it has been butchered with a subtitlers ‘perspective’ of what they think best suits the audience watching it. But NTFX is also watched by viewers around the world who don’t have subs in their language and might have to depend on their basic english level to access a drama or movie, so sometimes the slang added in is even more confusing to the international viewer. I see a smattering of this on Viki but that’s outweighed by the ‘extras’ we are all treated to. I’m watching a chinese historical drama: “Love Like the Galaxy.” A generous subber told us that “uncle” was a term addressing men and explained that the Third Prince lives in the Eastern Castle (when it was starting to get confusing with all the princes etc.) Those are the very basics that help us all get closer to a language and the people who use it. The Viki community of volunteers is really the only reason I stick with Viki lately because of the commitment they have to ensuring these dramas get out in the world. Much respect.
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This is why I hated squid game dubbed.
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It’s not at all the paid translators’ fault. It’s the policy. In translating subtitles (or any content, really, but especially in subtitles) you have various options and, on sites where the boss calls the shots, it’s the boss’s decision.
Method one is so-called “localization”: They typically use that a lot in dubbed cartoons. Everything is brought to the local level, as if the characters belonged to the same country as the viewer. In Disney’s “Aristocats”, the protagonist in Italian had become “Romeo, er mejo del Colosseo” (Romeo, the best in the Coliseum neighbourhood) and made to speak in Roman dialect. It was hilarious, by the way. In Asian dramas, ramen becomes noodles, tteokboki become rice cakes (confusing Other Language subbers, which sometimes translate them with the corresponding name for cake the dessert), Asian names are written backwards, with the surname at the end, Western way, teachers instead of Teacher X are called Mr. / Mrs. X and names are used instead of appellatives. Chinese proverbs are substituted with corresponding Western ones without any notes. Things that cannot be understood are replaced with generics.
Method two is absolute respect, sticking to the original as if your life depended on it. You keep Hyeong, Eonnie, but also “Eat a lot”, “I have eaten well”, “You have worked hard”, “I will go first” and everything in-between. This is excessive, in my opinion, and is okay only for die-hard fans in specialistic sites.
I am rather for a middle way. Keeping cultural aspects, but don’t make the language weird. Why are people told to eat a lot, even when they are obviously fat and full of appetite? Why do inferiors tell their superior in the office that s/he has worked hard? Isn’t this completely out of line? Who are you to assess whether the CEO has worked hard or not?
And what on earth does “I’ll leave first” mean anyway?
Notes are a good solution, but if there are too many of them, it becomes tiresome. A balance is needed, you don’t want to overwhelm viewers. In “Lovers of the Red Sky” there were notes almost on every other subtitle, and as an editor (with the permission of my Chief Editor with whom we discussed this beforehand) I removed many, many of them, just incorporating the meaning/explanation inside the subtitle, to make for smoother reading and understanding. You also don’t want subs to get to 3-4 lines, people might not even have the time to read them, and having to pause while watching a drama is extremely annoying.
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I agree with this. I have also watched drama’s which had notes every other subtitle. Most of the explained notes/expressions weren’t even relevant to the story.
Sometimes, it seems like the subbers underestimate the viewer’s intelligence. There was this drama in which the subbers used an English expression (not sure if there was one in the original language) and then they provided a note explaining that expression. I don’t really like this type of ‘double translating’. Either decide that people will understand the expression or decide that they won’t and translate normally.
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