'Squid Game': Korean speaker calls out Netflix series for ‘botched’ English subtitles

South Korean drama Squid Game has taken the online streaming giant, Netflix by storm. The K-drama is receiving rave reviews and terrific responses on the streamer and has transcended cultures and language barriers to reach No. 1 in 90 countries in 10 days, from Qatar and Oman to Ecuador and Bolivia. The series originally premiered on September 17 on the OTT platform. While the series has received positive reviews, a Korean speaker has called out the series for 'botched' English subtitles that alter the nuances of certain characters.   

A Korean User criticises Squid Game's English subtitles

A Twitter user named handle Youngmi Mayer has said that the English subtitles in several episodes of Squid Game do not accurately represent the actual Korean lines. She tweeted, "Not to sound snobby but I’m fluent in Korean and 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[si]."

The user also dropped a video on TikTok and Twitter, pointing several errors and the right meaning behind the lines. Referring to one of the episodes on the K-drama, the user highlights the lines said by Han Mi- nyeo (played by Kim Joo-ryung), are 'very sterilised.' 

She pointed out, "She says ‘what are you looking at’, it's turned into ‘go away’ which might seem arbitrary but everything she says is not really aligning and you're missing a lot of this character and what she stands for." The user referring to a scene where Mi-nyeo tries to convince people to play with her. She said that while the subtitle read, 'Oh, I’m not a genius but I can work it out,' the actual translation is 'I am very smart, I just never got a chance to study.' She added, "Almost everything she says is being botched, translation-wise," and further noted that the concept of Gganbu was not translated properly, misrepresenting the purpose of the episode. The streamer is yet to respond to the claims. Earlier, Netflix has been accused of similar practices even in India. Earlier this year, numerous viewers pointed out the inaccurate subtitles in the Malayalam film titled Nayattu.

(Image: Instagram/@squidgame)