Funny subbing mistakes

[my_happy_place]

Another less literal, less funny translation could be simply: ‘My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean), because I spend a lot of money on him each month’.

This is similar to what came to my mind: “My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean), because I spend that much on him each month.” As you said, it’s less literal, but it gets the point across, because even if an American English speaker reads this sentence and is thinking in dollars, 900 dollars a month is a LOT to spend on one’s dog. I don’t know how much might get lost in translation to other languages from that point, but it’s an idea that seems a little less cumbersome.

That being said, the suggestion by @ajumma2 that uses a hyphenated variation seems the easiest way if one wants to keep a more literal translation.

because I spend goo-baek-man won ($9000)

This seems to take away some of the confusion that might come with the use of the word ‘man’, especially when accompanied by a monetary amount in parentheses.

I had no idea numbers were written in the way described. It’s so interesting to learn these new things all the time.

[jadecloud88]

How about “My dog’s name is Goo baek (900 in Korean), because I spend goo-baek-man won ($9000) on him a month.”

This sounds much better. It retains the “Korean literary flavor” that the author/screenwriter intended.

@oriya @my_happy_place
The less literal translation works. However, IMO, it has lost its “Korean literary flavor” which I believe was the author/screenwriter’s intention.

[anthonyparker80_342]

[anthonyparker80_342]

[anthonyparker80_342]

Sometimes it is choice of words/idioms

[leerla73]

Hi @anthonyparker80_342!!
Nice to see you out online!
On all three, my lol tears are flowing! That last one I’ll give you the thread, it’ll go with nicely.

[ajumma2]

Thank you all for your feedback. As you probably already know, sometimes there’s no perfectly right translation and each variation has its own merits and deficiencies. That’s why someone said translation is not an exact science, but a form of art. It’s also the reason that every subber will translate any given sentence slightly differently, unless if it’s something really simple, like “hi,” or “thank you.”

Doesn’t this still include the word ‘man’ which can be confusing for people

10,000 (“man”) is actually pronounced more like “mahn” with the long “ah” sound.

because I spend 10 times 900 dollar on him

Creative, but a bit unconventional.

because I spend a lot of money on him each month

because I spend that much on him each month.

This is a way “professional” translators typically do it. Netflix translators and other movie translators usually do it this way to simply convey the meaning, and not bother with Korean word play or cultural implications. It’s not wrong to do it this way. But we at Viki typically try to keep and explain “Korean-ness” more since Viki users seem to be more interested in learning Korean language and culture.

I had no idea numbers were written in the way described. It’s so interesting to learn these new things all the time.

See? If we had just translated it as “too much money,” then this discussion would not have come up and you would never have learned how our numbering system works.

I know. It works the same way with Chinese yuan, too. Or the way Chinese monetary units are counted or written.

This is another reason why we want to keep the Korean way in this case, because other languages, such as Chinese may be able to translate it more accurately in their language. If we had just said, “because I spend too much money on him,” then Chinese subbers would have lost an opportunity to accurately translate this particular sentence.

Now I really have to find time to watch this drama. I’m sure it’s good, and well-TE’d.

Aww, thanks, jc! That’s so sweet of you to say that. The drama itself wasn’t spectacular, but it’s watchable enough, and hopefully the rest of the translation is good. Please let me know if you do find any translations that may not be clear, if you do decide to watch.

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Ok, how about this then?

“My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean), because I spend goo-baek-mahn won ($9000) on him each month.”

[leerla73]

@ajumma2

Ok, how about this then?

“My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean) , because I spend goo-baek-mahn won ($9000) on him each month.”

Bravo! Perfection! I’m still learning too! The correct romanization is key!

[vivi_1485]

Ooh this is perfect! I actually wouldn’t have noticed it if I was watching alone but my brother was all “Man? Which man?”
I’ll have to search for timing because i was binge watching

[ajumma2]

I actually wouldn’t have noticed it if I was watching alone but my brother was all “Man? Which man?”

This is precisely why I believe it may be beneficial for an English editor to not know Korean. Since my brain had already processed that sentence in Korean, the original English subtitle didn’t seem weird to me at all at that time, and that “man won” was simply 만원 (10,000) and nothing more. It didn’t occur to me some viewers may think of some man winning some money! lol

[shraddhasingh]

“My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean) , because I spend goo-baek-mahn won ($9000) on him each month.”

I would like to suggest, too. Not sure if it would make sense to non-native speakers.

My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean), because I spend goo baek thousand won ($9000) on him each month.

[vivi_1485]

No, “man” is 10,000 - not 1000

[shraddhasingh]

oooh. Then “goo baek ten thousand” will be unnecessarily long. Goo baek mahn is better then.

[angelight313_941]

Another less literal, less funny translation could be simply: ‘My dog’s name is Goo Baek (900 in Korean), because I spend a lot of money on him each month’.

That still doesn’t explained is 900 won a month.

Separating those two sentence with a period is best because if not, the sentence is considered a run-on sentence, although the word because was added in the sentence which can unite those two sentence in an English sentence (rules of writing).

I suggest this way although would love to ‘‘hear’’ and ''know* the correct dialogue in Korean. There are some inconsistencies in the amount of money.

만 원 (man won). The first half 만 (man) means 10,000. The last is once again Won.
Goo in Korean had several meaning one of them was: price.

Baek other meaning was: the color white. Was the dog white in the drama?

@angelight313_168
My dog’s name is Goo Baek man won (10,000 in korean money). That is because I spend that much on him every month.

That keeps the joke intact, and makes more sense as a structure english sentence, and not a run-on sentence.

By the way, in my understanding I didn’t find 900 as the value of Baekman won. that interesting enough in USA money is now in the market: $8.24. the joke is that in reality, he’s not really spending that much. That’s a joke.

Since Goo in Korean also means price, the following makes more sense
Baek man won?

1,000,000 is 백만/baek man. Let’s practice how to conjugate these big numbers. 1,000 won is about 1 US dollar* . 1,000,000 won is 1,000 US dollar.

If we get the correct Korean translation in the drama, then, we can know the real amount in won (korean money) the owner is spending in the dog.

This is the main reason I say that certain Korean sentence makes no sense to the English speaker/reader (that doesn’t know Korean) because the Korean translation has flaws, and the subber has not done enough research to give the most close as possible translation from Korean to English.

In my opinion, @choitrio always accomplish that in her translations since her English proficiency is really good so she’s able to catch those things right away.

Her input would be very useful here, too. I COULD BE WRONG since I don’t know the Korean Language, and I just did a short ‘‘research’’ which can be half and half right or wrong.

[spaufler_89]

Please save the original pun.

[vivi_1485]

Goo baek man won means 9 million won.
Goo baek = 900
Man = 10000
In the Korean number system, it is literally 900 10000 won.

Its not a joke. He is lying to her and pretending he’s rich. I think @ajumma2’s suggestion was the best, since it saves the original meaning

[angelight313_941]

I though the thread was about ‘‘funny subbing mistakes’’ that the mistake in them becomes a joke, and makes us laugh. Several lines here in dramas are a testament to that statement. They have made me laugh.

It was also funny for me to think a person can spend so much for a dog in a month, but coming from the drama [TLOTBS] you mentioned in the other thread; that explains to me a whole lot.

Thanks for the added info.

[angelight313_941]

@spaufler_89

I agree with you that @ajumma2 should stick to the first original subtitle since it’s the best option, given the case it wasn’t really intended to be a joke, but a sarcastic true statement.

That clears the [Funny subbing mistake issue] so much better, and in the process we can learn something new each day, and still can laugh about it in the end. I laughed.

@spaufler_89 @vivi_1485
PS. Forgot to note here that in the English language [@ajumma2] needs to erase the comma before the word [because] since ‘‘because’’ was added in the sentence, and it no longer requires a comma.

[choitrio]

For the subtitle involving the dog’s name, Goo Baek, wouldn’t it have been a lot cleaner to have something like “My dog’s name is Goo Baek because I spend goo-baek (900 in Korean, referring to 9,000,000 won) on him each month.”?

[choitrio]

I’ve been catching up on some of the older K-dramas on Viki and I noticed that 대포폰 (dae-po-phone) was translated as “cannon phone” throughout a series. This is an example of literal/Google translation. Although 대포 does mean “cannon” and 대포폰 is translated as “cannon phone” on Google, it actually refers to a “burner phone”.