Don’t tell me you haven’t caught on…she has sUPER powers!
@choitrio fingers completely crossed! 
I do prefer watching on Viki because of the awesome community, the TC feature and the reviews. I really like looking them up first…on the old ones they have more accurate reviews than the new ones. Yesterday, I had decided to watch a movie on Amazon Prime, and I found myself trying to scroll down the show page trying to find the reviews and wondering WHERE in the world they were! 
also finding shows on YT is a headache and I’m too broke for NF
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Hahaha… I have all my fingers and toes crossed. It is supposed to start on 11/30. Hopefully, you will be done with all your exams by then.
I enjoy translating but I think I enjoy spending time talking to some of my favorite people here in the community even more.
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Ah! So that’s why there’s a K-drama called “The Legendary Choitrio” in the Coming Soon list!
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Thank you for your explanation. I do really, really appreciate the generosity of the translators in volunteering their time and expertise. I know it’s a lot of work! I am eternally grateful for this gift you/they give me and I never, ever complainin my reviews.
Are you saying that it makes translators feel pressured if I start watching an episode before it is fully translate even if I don’t comment on the fact? If so, I will try to wait. I will practice my patience.
Re Kairos (and I’m just saying this as an fyi, not to get you to translate it), It’s not actually about time travel. The concept is more like Il Mare/The Lake house except the time difference is only a month and the medium is a cell phone rather than a mailbox. And, of course, it is a thriller/mystery rather than a romance.
On why I prefer Viki:
- I’ve been watching Kdramas via Viki (and, once upon a time, Drama Fever) for about 15 years now. Viki and DF introduced me to this wonderful programming, so I feel a strong loyalty. I feel like Netflix’s came to Kdramas solely as an income source.
- Since I haven’t been able get my friends to watch Kdramas (I think they all multitask when they watch shows so they don’t do subtitles), I value the shared experience I get here. ( My husband really enjoys Kdramas, too, but he only watches an hour at a time and only once or twice a week).
- I don’t want some algorithm choosing my shows for me. I find reading others’ reviews gives me a better idea of what I want to watch than looking at the overwhelming list of shows that Netflix has picked out…
Totally unrelated, can I get up on my soapbox for a minute?
One thing has changed at Viki over these last few years though that makes me sad: I miss having common Korean titles and phrases left in the translation. I really enjoyed learning about Korean culture as part of the viewing experience. I feel like something was lost when such an integral part of Korean culture as relationship titles like Sunbae and Noona started being replaced with given names and when non-translatable expressions like Aigoo (such a good word!) is replaced with “My God”. It is actually jarring to my ears.
I know this was a group decision and don’t expect things to change, but I had to “get it off my chest”.
Okay, I’m stepping off now.
Anyway, thanks again for your response and for all you do!
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I’m surprised. As far as I know we still have the Korean titles and expressions in (most of) the K-dramas.
In which dramas did you notice that?
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yes I do enjoy watching these K & C dramas, love watching the history, sure I know a lot of fiction there too. but I do like history of all countries
Translation: spirit fox Alternate names: senko (wizard fox) Habitat: usually found near Inari shrines Diet: none; they no longer need food Appearance:
legend of 9 tailed fox, I am watching it
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For example: Gumiho is always the nine tailed.
(But it is more worst in the Nf subtitles.)
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I could use my message to you two, and also I don’t recall a male 9 tailed fox till I started watching this drama, and yes I do miss aigoo, and the rest.
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I guess this is also a choice between keeping it Korean and making sure people understand what is meant.
However, at least in the shows I work on, we usually keep words like oppa, unni, etc.
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I’ve only been volunteering here at Viki since this July and I am still “learning on the job” so I want to again preface what I say as a personal thought and observation. For optimum viewing pleasure, I would recommend that you wait until the episode is at least 95% English. As you know, Viki translators work when we can, and as a team. Most of episodes (1 hour long) I’ve seen are divided into 6 parts for the subtitles. If we have more than one translator working at the same time, different parts will be translated at the same time thus there may be gaps in translations. Also, as a rule, when a translator is unsure as to how to translate a particular segment, s/he leaves it blank so that someone else can make an attempt. Now ideally, we would have multiple translators working on different parts to completion with the editor immediately available to edit the subtitles for quality. However, all translators work at different pace and some prefer to translate the easy parts first then go back to work on the harder ones. Also, the editor does not shadow the translators to immediately edit the subtitles. All of these factors lead to the occasional comments such as "Why are there gaps in the translations? or “The episode is missing translations in critical parts.”, etc. Perhaps after a while I will learn to ignore some of these comments and not take them personally but I would be lying if I said they don’t bother me. By the way, there are some very appreciative viewers such as yourself who make the time and effort spent volunteering all worth it. Thank you!
Now as to certain Korean titles and expressions, I personally agree with you that it’s better to inform the viewers of their meaning and usage than to translate them to “match” the English words. In fact, I have created a topic called “The English language lacks…” to discuss the difficulties translators face in translating certain titles and expressions. However, just as opinions differ among the viewers, translators and editors have different opinions and it is ultimately up to the Chief Editor of that particular show. Whenever I can, and only if it’s critical to the dialogue, I try to add a T/N (Translator’s Note) to further explain. Some viewers prefer the subtitles as short as possible due to the limited time they appear on the screen and some want to learn the culture and/or the slang terms. As a translator, I know I can’t please everyone but I certainly will try.
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well its better than someone calling someone “babe” darlin or honey, but y’all are right, I liked them, and no I am not saying anything bad, hey I just got over mine! anyway, I do like the Oppa or sunbae, yeah a lot of us English folk don’t understand the words, of some of these, so forgive us English folk is
all I can say. You just do what you gotta do, ok? and don’t let someone cut you down cause you said something they didn’t like, (angelight?) and me. sorry but it does hurt, again just take it with a grain of salt, you are doing great!!
God of lost fantasy, and this so reminded me of The Taoism Grandmaster just some of the story anyway
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All opinions are valuable to me whether in agreement or disagreement because I will learn something from both.
Although my preference is to leave some of the terms and titles as is but I see that it clearly presents an issue for Other Language translators as well as viewers who are new to K-dramas. I think if I were to work as a translator anywhere other than Viki I would somehow try to find an English equivalent and refrain from using the Korean terms and titles at all. The unique thing about Viki is that many who visit the site are already somewhat familiar with Korean terms and culture, not to mention we have this awesome community where you can ask questions and learn from each other.
I agree that if the English word or title has the same meaning, we should translate into English. For example, “Mister” is appropriate for “Ahjussi” if it is used between strangers. However, I personally hesitate to use “Mister” for a familiar relationship. I will continue to translate the way I feel comfortable doing and leave the final judgment to our capable editors.
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I haven’t watched Start Up so I can’t really answer whether it was used in a joking manner. Maybe after I have the chance to watch the show, we can talk about this again. For me personally, “Ahjussi” and “Ahjumma” are two Korean titles that are hardest to translate because to use “Sir” and “Ma’am” would not work very well for familiar relationships and I would never replace those titles with given names because as you know Koreans do not call elders by given names. I have seen some translators (or maybe it was the editor) opt to replace “Ahjussi” with “Uncle” though.
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I love that you are so curious and eager to learn. I haven’t been a part of this community for very long but I know that @emilyazel and @ajumma2 are both very knowledgable and helpful. Whatever question you may have concerning Korean terms or culture, hopefully one of us can answer.
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They definately are! And so are you. 
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Honestly, I think leaving the title as is helps you remember what the culture is like there, that it’s not a western place. I now know why a person is doing the things he’s doing because of the hierarchy/respect level. When a guy calls another guy ‘hyung’, you realize why he is given more importance, or treated in a different way.
I’m so sincerely grateful for those translators who have put extra effort into explaining the culture whle translating, which makes it so much easier to understand!
Obviously, this is only my opinion and I don’t mean to hurt or offend anyone by it, all of you translators are ah-MAZING!
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Angelight,
I hear what you’re saying, but consider this: Wouldn’t you think it strange if you were watching an American movie and a clerk in a large corporation or a private in the army in replying to their CEO/commander said “Yes, Joe” instead of “Yes, Sir”? That “Sir” says a lot about their relationship, right? Well Korean titles like Noona, Sunbae and Oppa also give us information about relationships. Not just status relationships, but also those of age and emotional closeness. For me, when a name is substituted for the title, all that information is lost and the drama loses some of its richness Yes, the terms may be confusing to those new to Kdramas, but it doesn’t take long to catch on. We’re not talking about a lot of words here, right? And don’t fangirls love calling their idols “Oppa”?
Also, re replacing oppa with darling, honey, hubby – I think most Americans have pretty strong feelings about which terms of endearment they like and which annoy them. For instance, while I don’t dislike the word, “darling” to me it is something out of the 1930’s or something you call a child. And while I actually do sometimes call my husband “Hubby” when we’re being cute, it would be jarring for me to see it in a drama. Also, I think oppa – when used toward a love interest – definitely has a flirty feeling to it that darling and honey lack.
So that’s my two cents. And even though we disagree on this particular, I want you to know that I really appreciate your generosity in putting in the hard work that makes it possible for me to watch my favorite shows!
One last thing: is Choitrio not a native American-English speaker? You could have fooled me!
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Thanks for explaining how the process works Choitrio. I was really tempted to watch Kairos last night when It was 80% translated, but I heeded your advice and waited.
When I first started watching Kdramas, I really appreciate translators who added parenthetical information clarify terms and I’m sure many viewers appreciate yours now.
I’m off to watch Kairos Ep 5 (98%) now! Thanks again!
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ok y’all opened the door up about words, so here goes
so you confused yet??
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It’s funny that you tagged me now because I was just planning on putting a list of terms in the Wordplay in K-Drama topic today!
And yes, I’m very happy to try to answer any question on Korean terms or culture (thought I’m no expert). I usually have to do some research myself before finding a good way to answer so I love when I’m prompted to do that!
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