May 2
Some of my favourite lines that the English version changed or left out in the story mode on Day 6 where Sarah crashes the meeting with the executives
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Some of my favourite lines that the English version changed or left out in the story mode on Day 6 where Sarah crashes the meeting with the executives
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Saeyoung has never been more relatable honestly.
(In case you're wondering, the footnote is me affirming that I am not, in fact, paraphrasing. That's actually what he says.)
So, I've started working on the translation again (I have a few chats done so far but I want to do a few more before I start posting them) and once again found something they changed in the English version that I wish they'd kept. I made a footnote about it in the actual translation but I still want to share it with y'all in this post.
It's the chat on Day 4 at 11:45AM with Yoosung where they're talking about Seven changing his legal name to Luciel. The English version goes like this :
MC : Yeah, I thought the name Luciel was a bit too cartoonish. Yoosung : Really ? Jumin : Doesn't the name remind you of a character in a fantasy novel ? Yoosung : How would you know that ? Jumin : I do have common sense.
But — you guessed it — that's not what he says in Korean. The Korean version actually translates to :
MC : I did think the name “Luciel” sounded a bit like a character from a comic book. Yoosung : Really ? Jumin : Doesn’t it feel like middle-school syndrome ? I mean, “Luciel”? Yoosung : Hyung;; how do you even know the term “middle-school syndrome”? Jumin : It was in a “Modern Language Dictionary” that Assistant Kang told me to read.
WHY DIDN'T CHERITZ KEEP THIS IN I DON'T UNDERSTAND—
Don't mind me coming back here after a year of no news, I haven't abandoned this project I promise
So I'm back working on translations and I'm onto the Day 5, 8:55PM chat in Jumin's route and something really interesting happened that made the English version make a lot more sense to me, lol.
So, in the English version, Jumin calls Sugar Round a "complete no-name", to which the MC replies "being so hostile doesn't suit you, but okay" which always felt weird to me bc using the word "hostile" to describe what Jumin said feels a bit much ?
Well, you guessed it, the Korean version explains that answer. What Jumin actually said is "슈가라운드는 ‘듣보잡’이야." (Sugar Round is a 'deutbojap'.) You'll notice that Jumin puts the word 듣보잡 in quotations, and there's a reason for it : it's a slang term, short for 듣도 보도 못한 잡것 (deutdo bodo mot-han japgeot), which translates to "worthless piece of trash I've never heard of".
And MC's reply in Korean roughly translates to "this kind of language is really unexpected coming from you, but it doesn't feel wrong/it's not a bad thing" and THAT makes sense. The use of 듣보잡 isn't considered vulgar or obscene language but it's definitely rude and, well, a straight-up insult, which explains MC's reaction bc fr I had a similar one when I read that for the first time 😂
Something about the way Jumin speaks in Korean that I can't really translate into English is the fact that (even when speaking, not just texting) he ends a lot of his sentences with ~군 (pronounced gun, where the 'u' makes a 'oo' sound, if you wanna check for yourself by listening to one of his calls). Without wanting to get too much into boring grammar, this is kind of interesting to me bc you would normally use that verb ending (Korean sentence structure is Subject-Object-Verb) to express surprise upon learning something new. So to me it's like Jumin is discovering everything for the first time and it's both funny and kinda cute, lol. If I were to try to explain what using ~군 as an ending would be in English, it's like Jumin is always starting his sentences with "I see that" or "I realize that".
An example of this would be something like someone saying "눈이 나쁘군" ((I see that) your vision is bad indeed) after a friend tries to read a sign from afar and messes up bc they can't see the letters properly.
Just thought I'd share this for those who follow me and wanted to know what I mean when I say Jumin sounds a lot softer in Korean. This is part of the reason why.
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Hesitating on publishing the next chat because I can't choose whether I go literal or liberal with the translation... literal would be more accurate and prevent misunderstandings but it would lose SO MUCH meaning whereas liberal could cause misunderstandings but retain its overall meaning... the age old translator's dilemma
Look, I know it's a normal cultural thing. We do the same in Chinese. But my heart gets soft everytime one of the boys calls Jumin "hyung". You'd think that bc of his status they'd be using his title like Jaehee does, but nope. To them he's big brother Juminie and I'm soft ok
Hi! I just wanted to say I like your blog! I only know one language myself but I'm always fascinated by the process of translation and the things that get lost or changed.
I'm not a Jumin fan necessarily, and there are times during Jaehee's route where I would like to guillotine him, but I do think he's a good and compelling character with understandable flaws. The MysMes characters all have really well-done flaws that can make them more compelling if you like them, or make them seem like monsters if you don't.
I assume you're not getting to Jihyun's route for a good while, but I am curious about that. He's the only character that I feel completely flopped. The game's writing and design works against him from just about every angle, and I'm curious how much is different in the Korean.
Hi ! Thank you so much for taking the time to send me this ask.
To answer your first point, after playing through the game several times, I think the reason some characters are easier to hate in certain routes is bc some routes exacerbate their flaws more than in others. The game is super well designed in that aspect - it's like MC is adopting the POV of whoever love interest they choose. Jaehee's story puts her at odds with Jumin, and the game is trying to make it easier for you to agree with her, so of course Jumin's flaws will be brought to the frontline.
I think it's okay not to like Jumin. There is no one, irl and fictional, who is going to be loved by everyone. I just hate that 99% of the backlash he gets comes from mistranslations and a lot of hate posts about him just reek of ableism (no kidding, they sound the same as my ableist family members do when it comes to my autism) which is just shitty. I just want to set the record straight.
About Jihyun, playing his route in English is actually what pushed me to play the game in Korean at first. The amount of weird sentences I couldn't understand (first example that comes to mind is the first solo chat with Jihyun on Day 1 where the English translation says "so we've been holding parties as best as we could, with rewards such as the rewarding feeling" - like wtf does that even mean) completely threw me off. I just HAD to look up the Korean version. Eventually it led to me replaying Jumin's route in Korean and that's where it hit me how much was lost in translation. It's not always blatantly obvious but every little change adds up over time.
I will get to Jihyun's route eventually because I think it's the route that needs it the most, lol. But with my new job (well, it's not so new anymore since it's been a year but it's a different job from the one I had when I made this blog) it's difficult to find the time to work on this project, so it might take a while before that happens.