Can you tell me how was your first experience watching a historical series ?
Thank you in advance for your response
my experience was running in my jammies and stuff with the Ladies of the Palace on LOUD and eating cold buckwheat noodles. There are 160 episodes…
Uh the loud laughing and the over the top acting was impressionable.
I like costume shows for their costumes.
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It was a bit stressful but fascinating. Without knowing what I was getting into, I asked to moderate a team in “Jackpot” and it was approved. It was on air, my first sageuk ever, and a difficult one to translate at that, and one of my first moderator posts. But I enjoyed it immensely. In the meanwhile I saw historical parts in non-historical dramas (such as My Love from the Star and Rooftop Prince). After that I developed a taste for it, and I am currently watching Jewel in the Palace, which is really very good!
In historical dramas, the ladies look much more beautiful, and the men less handsome because of their hair being conceiled by that net showercap thingie (it looks like something my father wore in bed to keep his hair smooth). So one has to be reeeeally very handsome to survive that non-flattering appearance. It is when I realized how much hair really makes a difference in perceived handsomeness. For instance Kim Soo-hyun survived it, and Jang Keun-suk too, although he looked much better with his long hair before becoming a gentleman.
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The first Historical I saw was Iljimae with Jung Il Woo and I was disgusted by the sounds they make when they talk. I can’t explain but I switched it off… Day later I tried again and I was able to just ignore it and watch the Kdrama. And yes I liked the costumes and such but I also had to get used to the dirt.
@irmar Lucky you didn’t run for it because it must have been so hard with all the different terms and it being your first sageuk. Specially when you also don’t have a lot experience as a moderator either.
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Well, I hadn’t realized a sageuk would present extra difficulties because of the military and administrative rank names, royal family titles… On the other hand, while doing it, and giving it my all, at the same time I did acquire extra experience with a few other dramas. By the time it was over I felt as though I had gone through an initiation - something like military service, lol. After that I feel confident to tackle just anything. So I’m really glad you gave me that chance back then - and thank you thank you thank you!
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btw Jewel in the Palace is an ajumma2 and co. work ^^
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Interesting. I didn’t know the vocab we picked as a team also meant that it was equally challenging for non-English languages. @.@ For some reason I thought the equivalences would be easier to pick.
Jackpot is the hardest drama I ever subtitled. Without others to help me, I could only complete high 80s or low 90s even when I looked up everything on naver and google. Usually I always hit 100% as long as I can hear everything.
I thought it was funny you compared it to a military training. The discussions were very fun. I think that is why like a fool I signed up for 3 period works at once…
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Well it was challenging because there is no equivalent. I don’t know about other languages, but Greeks never concerned themselves with making terms for all Joseon Era ranks. So we had to practically invent it in a way that makes sense.
Take Left Minister and Right Minister. If I translate it just like that, Greeks will think that Left Minister is something like Mr Alexis Tsipras (the current Prime Minister of Greece, who is from the Left). So you have to make it a little more exotic so it doesn’t remind viewers of current Left and Right.
As for the concubines’ ranks, I was inspired of the Greek translations of Pearl Buck novels, reasoning that China and Korea were much closer in Joseon Times and I could borrow some terms used for the Chinese court.
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They’re actually the same! I found a note in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture that because King Sejong deemed it inappropriate for a vassal state to have the same ranks as that of the mother empire, all the ranks are artificially lower. Bin = Pin But Bin in Joseon is #1 consort and in China is much lower. Fei = Bi which is number 1 consort in China is actually the title we use for the legal wife of the king… (wang bi (fei) = queen)
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If we’re talking about K-dramas, it was Jewel in the Palace, which was really good. Save that I got a little annoyed after a little while when it became too popular and my mom got into watching it as well. Cause the channel had a choice of listening to it in Korean or dubbed, and my mom insisted on playing it dubbed, which sounded absolutely yucky. Luckily that channel always replays episodes twice or thrice a day, so I’d choose a timing my mom wasn’t at home to watch it.
@irmar @sophie2you Just curious. How do you guys translate concubine titles? I think out of all the royal titles the concubine rankings are the ones that are the most pain in the ass to translate. Because in English, there’s only concubine, consort, and sometimes madame to use to translate them. But in Chinese, there’s at least 8 or 9 types of concubine rankings each dynasty. I’m guessing it’s similar in Korean. So how do you guys do it?
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Just blindly did what the team decided. It is roughly similar to what the chinese historicals use
Pin (Bin) - Royal Noble Consort (remember #1 rank in Joseon) ==> my lady
all royal concubines and consorts==> referred to as my lady
Royal Noble Consort of Purity (sū in pinyin)==> Royal Noble Consortship of Sook (because it is a rank because bin = consort so omit) of the Haeju Choi Clan ==> full title
Most complete title from Dong Yi:
Ok Jeong, Royal Noble Consortship Hee (meaning joy) of the Indong Jang clan.
royal servants: ma’am if commoner to servant
noble ladies: madam
(non-throne royals your highness the xyz)
perhaps this is helpful for anyone who would like to find more about the titles in joseon
https://thetalkingcupboard.com/2013/05/25/royal-titles-and-styles-in-joseon-dynasty/
http://www.dramasrok.com/2013/04/titles-ways-address-joseon-society-horse-doctor/
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I’m a student writing a dissertation on Korean Dramas. I need to do an online focus group, and see how ppl respond to one another… who do I speak to in regards to this???
For the Greek translation, I used 1st lady Sook Bin or 2nd Lady Something etc…(I’m quoting from memory, it might not have been like that). The idea of 1st Lady, 2nd Lady etc. is what I took from the Greek translation of Pearl Buck. To that I added the title as the English team dictated Especially since in Greece the term First Lady does not have the connotations it has in America as the President’s wife.
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