Netflix blasted over ‘botched’ Korean translations in ‘Squid Game’

Netflix’s hit show Squid Game has hit the headlines for all the good reasons this week.

However, the show is also being called out 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.

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

In a TikTok video, she explained: “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.”

Referencing 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.