Squid Game

[Drunk Monk]

I'll be curious as to your reaction. It's gratuitous. But it's got some great sets...

[Greg]

Some time in mid October.

[Greg]

Hey, here is some news.....

There's a reason that the term "lost in translation" exists, but usually it isn't so on the nose in its meaning. As the Netflix series Squid Game continues to pick up popularity on the streaming service, a relatively big issue has come up: the Korean-to-English translation may not be as true to the story as you'd hope. As most Americans aren't fluent in Korean, the K-drama features English subtitles (or English-dubbing for those who prefer), but those are most effective when, you know... they're correct. At least one viewer noticed some inconsistencies worth pointing out.
The issue first gained traction on September 30, when New York-based comedian Youngmi Mayer tweeted out that the context of the translation was largely incorrect. She said, in part, "I watched Squid Game with English subtitles, and if you don’t understand Korean you didn’t really watch the same show. Translation was so bad. The dialogue was written so well and zero of it was preserved." The tweet, at the time of publication, has nearly 24,000 retweets.
Mayer then said she would head over to TikTok to do a more involved illustration of how Netflix's translators missed the mark when it came to getting the context of the series down. She focuses specifically on the character of Mi-nyeo, whose brash behavior and irreverence toward the guards in Squid Game comes off as, honestly, a bit bonkers considering that if you don't win this game, you die. But with additional context from Mayer, Mi-nyeo's character makes a lot more sense. 

As explained by Mayer, certain pieces of dialogue are slightly mistranslated, which makes a huge difference when meaning is considered. In one clip, the character says (as told via subtitle), "I'm not a genius, but I still got it work out. Huh." Translation is close-ish, but upon review from Mayer, she says the line is more like, "I am very smart. I just never got a chance to study," which, as Mayer explains, is a huge trope in Korean media. It's not just a mistranslation; it's a lack of understanding of Korean pop culture. 
Netflix has not released a statement on the mistranslations, but as Mayer explains it, the misunderstood translations happen frequently enough that if you don't speak Korean, you're watching a slightly different series from start to finish. The sad part of that is that Netflix potentially missed an opportunity to take one of its most-viewed properties and really introduce audiences to some staple aspects of Korean film. The silver lining is that if you really apply yourself and learn Korean over the next year or so, you'll have a whole new show to watch and also be ready for the inevitable Season Two(God help us).

[Drunk Monk]

This is true of any translation. Translation is seldom X=X. It's closer to X=something akin to Y.

[Greg]

True. But it seems in this case, according to the author, it is somewhat more egregious.

[Drunk Monk]

Reminds me of when the far right was complaining about how Amurikkka should speak English, the language of the Bible...

[thatguy]

I have (mostly forgotten) high school-level French under my belt, and I noticed minor inconsistencies in both "Lupin" and "Call My Agent"

--tg

[cranefly]

Two episodes in.  This has got a long fuse, and I'm a bit surprised it's doing so well.  Wish the main character was brighter, and that I didn't find him so despicable.  But it does give him a whole lot of room to redeem himself.  Somehow.  There are kinds of dumb that, well, stay dumb.   A surprising reset early on.

For Nairobi!

oops.  wrong series.  maybe soon...

[Drunk Monk]

Like I said, it didn’t grab me until ep6, which made me appreciate some of the earlier eps more. I did enjoy it in the end, but I do feel it’s garnering much more attention than it deserves. 

At least it’s not as bad as Venom 2, which I didn’t enjoy and is also doing well.

[cranefly]

Okay, I'm through ep 5, ready for the touted ep 6.

I find that eps goes faster if you nap.  More a criticism of myself.  I don't mean to.  Surprises along the way, unexpected complexity, some of which I haven't followed due to my damned napping.

[Greg]

I'm getting a lot of mixed messages about this show.

[Drunk Monk]

I feel ya on the napping. As long as you were awake for the ugly sex because that’s important later.

I suspect some of the mixed messages are because American audiences are split in their familiarity with K-dramas. Cf & I are familiar with K-cinema sensibilities so this is not so surprising. For those unfamiliar, this undoubtably seems super fresh. I enjoyed it in the end but I don’t think it’s deserving of all the attention - it’s one of those timing things I guess.

Stay awake for e6.

[cranefly]

Finished it.

Ep6 was the strongest, but not for the reason I expected.

All in all, lots of twists and turns, very strong on suspense, and ultimately the series goes very deep into emotion-laden dilemmas.  Time and again makes you ask, "What would I do?  No, really."  Ultimately, great sets, deftly filmed, intriguing puzzles, well-acted, especially in the late going -- with the possible exception of a person who seemed to think overacting is a superpower.

A really good framework for a series, with an infectious vibe to it, helped by a catchy score.

Will there be a sequel?

Does a squid have tentacles?

Oh, hell.  I'll answer my own question.

Squid are soft-bodied molluscs whose forms evolved to adopt an active predatory lifestyle. The head and foot of the squid are at one end of a long body, and this end is functionally anterior, leading the animal as it moves through the water. A set of eight arms and two distinctive tentacles surround the mouth

[Drunk Monk]

Ep6 was the strongest, but not for the reason I expected.

Yeah, I was blindsided by that one. At that point, I was like, well, this is okay and I might as well finish it since I've come this far. But 6 was the Squid Game changer. 

I'm happy this series is doing so well because it shed more light on K-culture's rise. I'm not exactly sure what its popularity says about global society right now beyond that. I don't want to think about that too hard.

[Greg]