If you’ve been on Twitter lately, you’ve likely seen some of the endless discourse about Netflix’s new Korean drama series, Squid Game. The show hit the streaming service on September 17th, and is already on pace to be be one of the platform’s biggest originals to date.
Despite the obvious craze, some fans have taken to social media to share their complaints about Squid Game - particularly, the poor job that was done on the English translations.
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“Not to sound snobby but I’m fluent in Korean and I watched Squid Game with English subtitles,” one viewer tweeted yesterday. “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 has since taken off, earning nearly 20,000 retweets and 90,000 likes. The positive reaction prompted the creator to film a TikTok in which they break down one of the show’s poorly translated scenes.
After the video, they shared another important note, writing, “I want to point out that the reason this happens is because translation work is not respected and also the sheer volume of content. Translators are underpaid and overworked and its not their fault. It’s the fault of producers who don’t appreciate the art.”
The Twitter rant sparked a flood of other angered viewers to share their disappointment with the streamer’s sloppy work.
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While many still managed to enjoy Squid Game despite the inaccurate language, others couldn’t help but speculate that Netflix has botched the translation on purpose in order to prevent the director’s message from getting across.
Have you seen Squid Game yet? Do you think Netflix owes it to their audience to ensure that foreign shows are translated as accurately as possible? Let us know in the comment section.
