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Thursday March 28, 2024

Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ slammed over shoddy Korean-English translation work

Fans turned to social media and blasted the translation work of 'Squid Game'

By Web Desk
October 02, 2021
Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ slammed over shoddy Korean-English translation work
Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ slammed over shoddy Korean-English translation work

The internet is buzzing this week with news about Netflix's new hit show, Squid Game, which has become a crowd-pleaser since it released. 

In spite of the good reviews, the show is also being called out for some minor details, by a number of social media users over the shoddy English translation work of the South Korean series that is currently Netflix’s number one series, and is being dubbed as the biggest show ever created by the streaming platform.

Youngmi Mayer, who is a  South Korean comedy writer and fluent Korean speaker, turned to social media and blasted the translation work.

“If you don’t understand Korean you didn’t really watch the same show. The dialogue was written so well and zero of it was preserved," she explained in a TikTok video 

Giving a reference of the character of Han Mi-nyeo, Mayer said her lines were “constantly botched”, adding that “she cusses a lot and it gets very sterilized.”

“She says [in Korean], ‘What are you looking at?’ It’s turned into, ‘Go away [in subtitles].’ Which might seem arbitrary … You’re missing a lot of this character and what she stands for,” said Mayer.

At another point, the subtitle reads, “I’m not a genius, but I can work it out.”

“What she actually said was, ‘I am very smart — I just never got a chance to study.’ That is a huge trope in Korean media: The poor person that’s smart and clever and just isn’t wealthy. That’s a huge part of her character,” explained Mayer.

“The [original Korean] writers, all they want you to know about her is that. It seems so small, but it’s the character’s entire purpose for being in the [expletive] show!” she shared.

“Translators are underpaid and overworked and it’s not their fault. it’s the fault of producers who don’t appreciate the art,” she added.