TikTok User Claims Squid Game’s English Captions Are So Bad, Some Meanings of the Dialogue Are Different

By
Zhi Hao
-

Did you watch Netflix’s Squid Game in its own original dub?

Because if you did, bad news.

Some of it may have been lost in translation.

TikTok User Claims Squid Game’s English Subtitles Are So Bad, Some Meanings of the Dialogue Are Different

On 1 October 2021, Youngmi Mayer shared something “revolutionary” with the public on Twitter: The English subtitles may not be as trustworthy as you initially thought.

In the tweet, Youngmi professed that the translation for Squid Game was actually “so bad.”

“The dialogue was written so well,” she wrote. “And zero of it was preserved.”

In fact, the translation bothered Youngmi so much that she felt compelled to make a whole breakdown video on it.

And she actually did; she eventually posted the video on video-sharing site TikTok.

“Ok I made this really fast,” she wrote in a subsequent Twitter caption. “So it’s not very good but these are the small examples I could find in ten mins.”

To date, the 2:20 clip has garnered over 1.2 million views.

Botched Translation

In one example, Youngmi showcased a scene where a character tried to convince people to play a game with her.

If you’ve watched the show, you would surely be familiar with the character’s identity.

During that particular instant, the closed-caption subtitles could be seen reading: “I’m not a genius, but I still got it worked out.”

But instead of that, what the character actually said was: “I am very smart, I just never got a chance to study.”

This was evidently unacceptable to Youngmi.

“Almost everything she says is being botched translation-wise… the writers, all they want you to know about her is that,” she said.

“Seems so small, but it’s the entire character’s purpose of being in the show.”

And Netizens have agreed.

Image: Twitter

Clarification

As it turns out, Youngmi was referring to the closed-caption subtitles.

These cater to people who have hearing problems, and include audio depictions, sound effects and speech. They’re often generated on an automatic basis.

Youngmi has announced that the English language subtitles are “substantially better” than the aforementioned counterpart.

But even so, it still has its flaws.

“The misses in the metaphors – and what the writers were trying to actually say – are still pretty present.”

Youngmi has, however, refrained from blaming the translators themselves.

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Featured Image: Twitter (@ymmayer)

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]