Translation might affect a personality image

Always!

2 Likes

I guess that as what i was trying to ask, the most accurate subtitle. But like in english there are many synonym’s for one word. I don’t usually get bothered by bastard, but I mostly see it used in more rough or angrier settings. Idiot or even jerk , sounded more in tune with this setting.

6 Likes

I live on an island in the middle of the ocean. All the kids here just go to the beach. :sunglasses::palm_tree:

5 Likes

It’s funny you did this post bc lately I’ve been boiling over some ‘‘ghetto/street’’ words I see in drama’s subtitles, and to add more pain to the insult, the ‘‘subtitled word’’ comes from the mouth of an elderly person in the drama.

I encountered in several dramas: no kidding/ freaking/ my bad/ the infamous; ANYWAYS and many, many more.

It’s so unpleasant to find subtitles that sound so vulgar, and out of ‘‘context/ era’’ bc this is not even in a modern drama, but they were in several traditional stories with elders involved.

The word bastard in my Island means: the mother and father of a child are not legally married or the child is from the father’s concubine/lover while his father is legally married to his mother. We will only use this word in a drama’s sub when referring to a situation like that (child of unwed parents).

I really wished I could be proficient in Korean to know what is the real meaning behind the words they used in dramas/movies etc. I believe some subbers get a kick from shocking the viewers when they see some of this vulgar? curses? words as subtitles, and in their ignorant/clueless mind, they think it’s funny and amusing to the viewers. To see a Korean grandfather telling his grandson ANYWAYS…it’s a bit too much to take.

I’m wondering if they(CEO and Staff) are even aware of this going on here at RViki.com.

5 Likes

Kids where I live all think they’re tough so rougher language is a must. :rofl:

3 Likes

There is no direct English translation for this Korean word.
saekki literally means baby, and you can hear it affectionally spoken by a grandmother.
But it’s also used as an insult, especially with the word gae (=dog) before it, which makes it into “son of a dog”. Koreans had to invent a different word for when they actually mean “puppy”, baby dog.
Most of the time it is translated as “jerk” or “bastard”, depending on the seriousness of the situation. But it is an insult, make no mistake about it!
You may want to read a more in-depth analysis about how Viki translating teams view insults and swearwords in the following discussions, where many respected Viki veterans took part and some of them being Korean gave us a more rounded view of things.


3 Likes

Thank you for the articles. I appriciate it! Without reading them, I’ll just conclude that bastard rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe my upbringing or I just didn’t like this particular adorable character saying it.

5 Likes

Like irmar pointed out, there have been many discussions about this topic, which you can peruse in your copious free time. :wink:

The difficulty comes in where there’s not just one equivalent translation of the Korean word 새끼. It literally means an offspring/child, but it can be used as a precious child, buddy, dork, brat, punk, rascal, jerk, or bastard - all depends on the context.

In this particular scene, I would have chosen “brat” or “punk” as there was no malice in his tone, but just a little annoyance.

And the verb he used 신고하다 means to report to the authority. In this case, it looks like someone reported the situation about someone being on top of the roof. So both “reported me (well, probably reported the situation, not so much reporting him)” or “called them (calling authority/police, etc.)” are correct.

6 Likes

Brat would be good too. Since watching Run-on I took an interest of the FL lead and her career of translating and subbing for film. She got hired for re-doing a movie because it was older and the wording was archaic and the orginal person put too much of their own self/thoughts ( I think they added some religious out of context stuff if I remember right) into the translation. It stuck in my mind when I watch things now. Would I have used that word in this situation?

I think if when I was younger and took more interest in learing a language I might like this job. I became a pastry chef. lol

6 Likes

I should definitely check out Run-on! I didn’t know there was a drama with a ML whose job is a file translator. That sounds interesting. :slight_smile:

Yum! You should check out My Lovely Sam Soon. :smiley:

1 Like

@ajumma2 In Golden Time 이선균’s character supplements his income as a medical resident by subtitling American drama into Korean.

2 Likes

I watched it twice. First I was looking for Siwan dramas, :blush: then I wanted to see just her story. It seemed pretty real life if freelancers work from their bedrooms. lol Thanks for the recommendation too. I’ll check it out!

2 Likes

It’s from 2012. It would be interesting to compare the difference in generations.

1 Like

I often have this internal conflict with how words/phrases are translated as well. Which is not the subbers fault. I know that sometimes there isn’t a literal translation. I’ve had this problem when subbing myself. When a character uses excessive obscenities or when they use an abundance of informal nouns, it’s difficult to choose an equivalent English word/phrase.

4 Likes

Yes, I remember! That’s one of the reasons why I agree to sub that drama! haha

2 Likes

A BIT off topic but perfect example how one word(subtitle) can affect a SCENE/SENTENCE in a drama/movie, and also can affect other people’s translation in their respective language.

In this case the scene was also ‘‘affected’’ in a sense because according to the subtitle the ‘‘desperate crying lady’’ is saying this ‘‘word’’ that makes absolutely no sense at all by stating; ‘‘the heaven is so inattentive!’’ [the heaven is so inattentive].
I’m sorry, but the editor here; has no clue that the correct word should have been [UNFAIR]??? The heavens it’s so unfair/injusto. What I have heard said by crying parents/family members when they have lost a loved one; EL CIELO ES TAN INJUSTO. Why? Some say GOD IS SO UNFAIR (but that’s another example in Spanish!) DIOS ES TAN INJUSTO. I KNOW in an ASIAN drama the word GOD would rarely or more like it would not be used.

image
So in Spanish the subber here instead of using his/her common sense, and say: I’m not writing that word that doesn’t belong there bc it makes no sense being there. DISTRAIDO.(in english this would be translated as [DISTRACTED] not [inattentive] [INATTENTIVE] really means INATENTO or NO PRESTA ATENCIÓN.

image

PS. This drama needs a new editor to fix the so many incorrect words used in a Joseon era. At one point one of the male character is called a ‘‘mama’s boy.’’ I doubt in that era they used such word that sounds so out of place in that drama.

3 Likes

Very interesting. I thought people worked in teams? Clearly not on this one, :smile:

I have an off topic one. I still can’t get over how funny it was . In Kingdom on Netflix a group of men were riding horses. One shouted out “Giddy Up”. :rofl: I had to rewind it to make sure. lol What would be a good translation for that situation in the 16th century?

4 Likes

FASTER!! hahaha :rofl::joy:

2 Likes

Don’t get me started. In the past, I have seen so many like that on NTFX, and I laughed my head off from how funny some translations are in some old time dramas/movies. Sometimes when I’m bored, and although I don’t like the drama, I’ll just watch the drama/movie just to enjoy the crazy subs/translations they added there. It can be funny and make you laugh wholeheartedly, and you know the saying…’‘Laughter is the best medicine.’’

3 Likes

They do, but sometimes there are different subbers subbing different parts of an episode. If there’s no proper list of terms, names and other things, the subbers use whatever they see fit. And if the GE isn’t attentive, different parts may have different terms.

I agree with @ajumma2 about observing the tone in which the word is said before deciding on the English word substitute. Lately, I’ve been seeing way to many dramas that just substitute the F word or the B word for every insult there is. I also have a question:
Is b*tch the only word there is for the phrase “이 년아”? Sometimes I feel it’s too harsh when it’s just friends talking…

3 Likes