'Bad translations are insulting': Netflix comes under fire for making Squid Game scripts 'obtuse' and 'needlessly condensing' wording with poor Korean to English subtitles and dubbing

• e-mail

Netflix bosses have come under fire for poorly translating hit South Korean horror Squid Game, thus 'changing the meaning' of many scenes. 

Comedian Youngmi Mayer took to Twitter last week to flag issues she found with the English on the show, leading to an influx of agreement from disgruntled viewers who allege the translations are 'insulting' and 'needlessly condense' storylines.

In a lengthy prose alongside the instructive scene-by-scene video, she penned: 'Translation was so bad. The dialogue was written so well and zero of it was preserved. Such a shame. translation is extremely important.' 

Other viewers pointed out that there is glaring differences between the English [Closed Captioning] and the English, so warned viewers to chose carefully to ensure the translations were as accurate as possible amid the criticism. 

Poor: Netflix bosses have come under fire for poorly translating hit South Korean horror Squid Game, thus 'changing the meaning' of many scenes

Squid Game has soared in popularity worldwide since its release on Netflix last month and has been pegged to become the service's most successful show to date. 

The show follows a group of down and out citizens who are selected by a masked organisation to compete for money by playing children's games - with deathly consequences to those who lose out in the playground. 

Youngmi's main issue came from a scene featuring the character Han Mi-nyeo, played by Kim Joo-Ryoung, whose words changes hugely between the script, dubbing and captioning - hence losing some of the depth of the character.

In Netflix's close captions, she says: 'I'm not a genius, but I can work it out', but the direct translation is: 'I am very smart – I just never got a chance to study.'

Shocked: Comedian Youngmi Mayer took to Twitter last week to flag issues she found with the English on the show, leading to an influx of agreement from disgruntled viewers who allege the translations are 'insulting' and 'needlessly condense' storylines

Changes: Youngmi's main issue came from a scene featuring the character Han Mi-nyeo, played by Kim Joo-Ryoung, whose words changes hugely between the script, dubbing and captioning - hence losing some of the depth of the character

Shock: In Netflix's close captions, she says: 'I'm not a genius, but I can work it out', but the direct translation is: 'I am very smart – I just never got a chance to study'

Youngmi points out this is an integral character point as it points to gaps in wealth and education in Korea and why she would have landed in the Squid Game due to financial issues, like the rest of her fellow players. 

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Netflix for comment.  

Youngmi said: '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... i want to do a scene breakdown on tiktok to show you what they could've translated to i might work on it today just so you can see what i mean and see what you missed...

So popular: Netflix bosses are being sued by a South Korean internet provider over the stratospheric popularity of gory survival drama Squid Game

Illustration: She showed the points causing confusion

'Such a shame. translation is extremely important... ok i made this really fast so it's not very good but these are the small examples i could find in ten mins... 

'Also 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 it's not their fault. it's the fault of producers who don't appreciate the art... 

'I want to make one more point.. how stupid is it that in this country the media run by and large by white people get to criticize art? they don't even know what we are saying. this is language but same goes for food art music [sic]'. 

Followers soon responded to the sentiment with criticism of the service's translations, with Twitter users writing: 'I've noticed Netflix cuts out swears, needlessly condenses things (sometimes at the expense of meaning)... 

Disgruntled: Fans of the show were less than pleased with the traslation 

'[They] often takes out the most salacious/suggestive language from their subs. That's not how translation and closed captioning works!!!... 

'You can report those, especially if they change the tone/meaning of the dialogs. Netflix takes this pretty seriously... Every single dub I've encountered always alters the dialogue for the English version. They all suck.... 

'OK I was wondering about this because, clearly the acting is really good, and I kept thinking....surely the writing isn't this obtuse in Korean?... 

Eek: Other viewers pointed out that there is glaring differences between the English [Closed Captioning] and the English, so warned viewers to chose carefully to ensure the translations were as accurate as possible amid the criticism

'Oh this is really disappointing. i've been considering watching it. bad translations, especially in this day and age, are insulting to everyone.'

Another scene pointed out was when Anupam Tripathi's character Ali calls Park Hae Soo's character Cho Sang-Woo, 'Sir'. 

One fan penned: 'I was wondering what word Ali kept calling Sang woo in squid game because he kept telling him to stop calling him that. Could you tell me what word that is? It was translated as 'Sir' in English?'

'You're not supposed to read TV!' Some fans disagreed with the award-winning director and insisted that they were unable to concentrate on the screen and the subtitles at the same time

A user responded: '사장님 (sajangnim) - It means boss or owner. Shows that Ali is trying to show respect but goes overboard. Also lost context is when Ali calls Sang-Woo hyung. It is used by men to refer to older men that they are close with.' 

Fans pointed out the importance of selecting the correct subtitles, as some watched with the subtitles for the dubbing and others with the English translation subtitles. 

The Twitter user penned: 'I found you got different subtitles depending if you chose English or English Closed Caption (with the latter matching the dubbed dialogue and the former being wildly different). 

The criticism comes after it was revealed that Netflix bosses are being sued by a South Korean internet provider over the stratospheric popularity of the show.  

Controversy has arisen, as according to Reuters, a South Korean internet service provider, SK Broadband, is suing Netflix over increased traffic thanks to the streaming service's popularity in the country.

Plot: The South Korean series is a survival thriller set in modern-day Seoul, where a group of 456 people are invited to play a series of children's games with the chance to win a huge amount of money - but if you lose in the game, you lose your life

The internet provider said in its claims that Netflix is South Korea's second-largest traffic generator besides YouTube, and states that other streamers - Amazon, Facebook and Apple - are all paying network usage fees.

SK Broadband alleges that traffic from Netflix on its network has increased 24-fold from May 2018 to September 2021.

It's now processing a whopping 1.2 trillion bits of data per second as of September - the same month that Squid Game was released on the 17th. 

The internet provider wants Netflix to pay for network access dating back to 2018. For 2020 alone, that amount was estimated to be around 27.2 billion won ($31.55million AUD).

In a statement to CNBC on Friday, a spokesperson for Netflix said: 'We will review the claim that SK Broadband has filed against us.

Blockbuster: Squid Game has soared to popularity globally ever since its release last month - with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos saying it has a a 'very good chance' of becoming the streamer's most popular show yet