Can you give some examples? I'm really curious
i absolutely agree with you. i find the officials more of a "localization" rather than translation bc they always lose the linguistic essense of the dialogues to make them fit an english-speaking audience. readers in general can't sense that unless they go back to the original copy in korean or compare with fan-translated chapters. i personally don't vibe with the official releases as much and would rather read fan-translated works bc they're always more faithful to the original work and they conserve what's being said in a way that doesn't water down the cultural nuances of korean. even jokes, metaphors, nicknames, etc sound so awkward and dull when they're localized that way...
not OP, but what i noticed:
ch. 22:
Official R15: “A woman? No way, haha. If he was someone like that, he wouldn’t have been dumped so many times.”
Official R19: “A girl? As if. If he was capable of something like that…he wouldn’t go around getting rejected by everyone.”
Fan translation (and Raw): “A girl? No way~ If he was that kind of man, he wouldn’t get dumped by anyone.”
my theory is that he only had one ex-girlfriend, especially since the fan translation and raw worded it a certain way… which leads to exhibit B below:
ch. 38:
Official R15: “And my brother told me he thought you had a new girlfriend!”
Korean raw: “My brother said that it seemed like Yoonseong oppa has a girlfriend now!”
Localizations:
ch. 39:
Official R15: “I still have 3 more years until I turn 18.”
Korean raw: “I still have 5 years until I turn 20.”
The dog: Pungjak to Buddy
Ring: 300-won to 25-cent
did they also change the reason why hakyum called pungjak pungjak? since the name is buddy now
yup
ch. 15:
Pungjak means Good Harvest/Bumper Crop
Fan: “You can name him Pungjak, it just matches perfectly with his owner”
R15: “You should call it Pungjak, since it’s owner has so much”
R19: “You could call it Buddy… seeing as how you’re in dire need of a friend.”
Thank you so much everyone for your insightful comments and questions. I’m glad I’m not alone. Cuz, I 100% agree and feel, that the purpose and need for localizations makes complete sense, but for this beautiful piece of fiction… I felt like it just wasn’t matching the beauty of the original. YS’s words are always so… deep and passionate? Even when he’s saying everyday things. So seeing that get a little lost even subtly made my heart ache. But I so appreciate original translations 100%. And I enjoy reading them. It just feels like a different telling of the same story, if that makes sense. But glad I’m not alone in these thoughts. :) thank you all so much. I love having these discussions.
Also Ty so much beyblade for posting examples. That takes time and effort and it’s so appreciated. What kind generosity that was. Thank you!
Hope you all have a good one. I’m glad we get to enjoy Reunion in all of its iterations, and I am so excited for season 3 to continue being released!
Made a mistake! Meant to say “But I so appreciate OFFICIAL** translations 100%.” Original was not what I meant and also a little vague cuz what’s the original? Lmao. Anyway I’m so glad we’re getting mature official versions of the translation!! :) such a pleasure to reread this story as ch 3 is being released in the raws.
i could probably post more, but those ones were just the most obvious ones
it makes sense why you would feel frustrated with the translations. the artist put a lot of thought and effort into the story that it feels ‘lacking’ to not get all the nuances. i was scrolling through a Korean forum yesterday and comments kept pointing out the small details the artist made:
- the same clothes getting more worn out, showing passage of time
- difference in the cleanliness of the shoes
- Yoonsung wearing blue whenever something important happens
- Hakyung’s skin tone being slightly more warm-toned than Yoonsung’s
- a glimpse of Hakyung’s real hair under his wig when the wind blew
- Yoonsung’s hand protecting Hakyung’s head when they kissed at the villa
stuff like that just makes you appreciate the artist and author more, especially when it’s a story that is rich in subtleties. additionally, the dialogues between characters almost always contain double meaning… but ig nuances are bound to be lost when things get translated from one language to another ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Hmmmm idk how I feel about the official translations. Super grateful. But they DEFINITELY take a lot of creative liberties. Very much making it its own thing instead of translating directly from Korean to English.
Adaptations are all about balance and it’s very difficult to translate in general I am well aware as someone in that space, but as I am reading these official translations… I just find myself saying way too often “that’s not what he said in Korean tho….”
If it’s this distracting then perhaps the balance is off. Anyone else feel the same? Or perhaps im just so used to rereading the Korean original lines that I’m struggling to take in something different.