Kocowa is guilty of over-Americanizing the translation. I don't understand it because they are a Korean company.

My biggest problem with subtitles at the moment is on Netflix - if characters start speaking English they drop the subtitles, but I have my subtitle reading brain on so it takes me a moment to catch up...often there’s a strong accent too, and it’s only a few lines, can’t they just subtitle it all?

I always like when I get to know the language well enough to know the subtitler hasn’t actually done a direct translation but rather translated the idiom, or if I pick up a word joke from the original language without the subtitler explaining it.

I can see why some people don’t like subtitle though - you do need to be a fluent reader. My brother is dyslexic and it just wouldn’t be fun for him.

Subtitles have always been around for me and even before I started watching K-dramas, I was watching my country's Chinese dramas with English subtitles to understand them better.

So subtitles have never been an issue for me and in fact I enjoy having them because now it just feels weird not to have them there.

Personally, subtitles is a wonderful discovery. My first experience with foreign serial TV was a dubbed one. It was very disconcerting to hear something that didn't match what the actors saying at all. So when I found out about subtitles, I was very happy. (And it's also forced me to learn English, which is quite a fun 'education') It's nice to listen to them speaking in their own language while still being able to understand what they're talking about.

As for the type of translation, my only problem is when they tried to "americanized" it too much that it doesn't resemble the original phrases at all. I'm even a bit disappointed nowadays when I read a Chinese novel that isn't being translated in the usual "flowery English". Somehow, it just doesn't feel the same.

I was just thinking about this, as I've been watching a lot of variety shows lately and I prefer to turn off the subtitles because they cover the captions. The captions are half of what's funny in Korean variety shows, and the language used in variety shows is usually less technical than in dramas.

But I always turn on subtitles, and have ever since it was made available, on English-speaking shows. I have some weird issue where when people speak, there's a slight delay in my brain in understanding what was said. Reading for me is much faster. Interestingly, I don't have this issue listening to Korean. It's just that I don't understand some Korean vocabulary that I have to turn on subtitles.

Hobby: (me) reading......... subtitles 🤭

Almost every show or movie I watch I use subtitles or captions, so I am pretty much used to it. I have trouble hearing in a narrow frequency range (due to hearing damage in the military), which happens to be partly in the range of human voices. Some voices, especially men's are sometimes hard to understand.

Excellent and relevant topic @missvictrix!
I was nodding along in agreement especially here:
"They translate the original language, but they also make the content and language current and relevant, almost to a fault. These harder translations turn a simple “Aish!” into a strong expletive, and sometimes, at least to me, a lot of nuance is lost in trying to make something sound like America in 2020 when it’s clearly not."

If I wanted to watch an American contemporary show, I would.

I am looking at you, Netflix. Ahem.

It is truly mystifying that anyone has a problem with subtitles for me because I have grown up outside my native country and that was my norm. I feel so sad for those who miss the opportunity because subtitles are a barrier for them. They have no idea what they are missing!

they almost lose their Korean-ness and become more “American”

This is my pet peeve. I hate when translators take liberties with subtitles. I want everything translated word-for-word (e.g., "잘 먹겠습니다." = "I will eat it well.") If a character calls the male lead "oppa," then the subtitle needs to read "oppa," not his name. I hate when they translate honorifics as "sir" (e.g. Itaewon Class: "모릅니다" ≠ "I can't, sir."). Park Seo-joon did not call that wretched man "sir."

In Crash Landing on You's bawl-inducing goodbye, the actual dialogue made the scene even sadder. Hyun Bin: "뛰지 말라고!" = "I said, 'Don't run'!" ≠ "Stop running!" Son Ye-jin: "사랑해." = "I love you." ≠ "I really do."

Agree word by word! And to put it simple, let's use the famous "what if"... what if we wouldn't have subs at all?
Well, to start off, none of us would be here. But also, our lives in general wouldn't be as richer and broader as they are.
One of my literature teachers said to us in class: "we are the books we have read, but we are also the books we haven't read"... sometimes the same happens with a drama, and if the drama is so bad that you can only get together to trash it out (Abyss, Melty and recently Forest 😂, to give you few examples), still we have fun talking about it.
So, yeah, subs are our friends, and they keep your mind working while so many others would say you're wasting your time with "tv" (I honestly can't think of k-dramas as tv-whatever, although I know they are, but anyway... 😒)

I’m also one who grew up with subs for things I watched, even when the content was in my mother tongue.
I remember when watching the HK Cantonese dramas from HK’s biggest network, TVB, the drama came with subs that were yellow in colour with black outlining, and has since moved onto being white-with-black outlining for the last, I’d say, 10-15 or so years.
I also grew up watching Americanized anime—mostly “Sailor Moon” and “Cardcaptor Sakura” or Chinese donghua, like Doraemon—where it was dubbed, and it wasn’t until I reached high school and joined my high school’s anime club was I finally enlightened to the original language of what anime should be: Japanese. Ever since then, I have watched all of my anime—even re-watching the things I grew up with— all in its original language and have continued on my road of subtitles. It’s been 10 years since high school, and I’m still on the road on reading subs and watching my anime in original Japanese 😁😁 The only exception I will— and have— make (made) is that I will re-watch Studio Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle” in Christian Bale’s dub once in a while, because I actually think that one is done right, and Christian Bale’s voice is also 🥰🥰🥰🥰😘😘😘🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

I agree with you Missvictrix, and thankyou for this piece.

Subtitles are wonderful- if the translator understands both languages well. Happily this has usually been the case for me. There was one exception- I used to bring home DVDs from the library to share with my wife shows that I had enjoyed on the late and much lamented Dramafever. Most were OK. The exception were those which came from Koala Lumpur- they were almost excruciating.

Happily, I no longer have to roll the dice with library DVDs- now that I have my Roku stick. My wife is now thoroughly familiar with Viki and OnDemand Korea.

Watching Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean shows has been enlightening and even liberating. Thank goodness for subtitles- and may boundless blessings flow to those who make them.

oh, must mention here is that some movie critic suggested that everyone watch Parasite twice, because the first time you are reading the subs -- so one should watch it again to be able to appreciate the sound editing, music scoring, watching the expressions, hearing/appreciating the nuances of the spoken lines, etc.

let's all rewatch the movie!!
: )

The first time I enjoyed the movie was in 2007 when I first watched the Indian movie Krrish, that was the first time I watched a movie with subtitles and I liked it so much.
Ever since, I am a sucker for subs and they've helped me enjoy all kinds of movies. I personally think subbed movies are better than dubbed.

Dramabeans was --and still is-- an integral part of me learning about and understanding the nuances and cultural significance within dramas.

Long long ago and far far away (well, Taiwan in the 1970s) the Chinese language dramas were subbed in Chinese, I guess for the benefit of speakers of other dialects.

I thought that was a great language-learning tool. If I didn't understand something I would scribble it down and look it up during the commercials.

Nowadays if I watch something in Chinese with English subs I end up wishing it had Chinese subs too.

Thank you for an interesting piece @missvictrix! This is indeed very refreshing that we have a chance to talk about something that seems trivial because it happens all the time in our daily life i.e. subtitled shows, and analyze it from different perspectives.

I love learning other languages especially languages with Germanic root (e.g. English, Norwegian, German.) And for as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to watch English-speaking shows that have English subtitles. To me, it would have helped foreign language learners like me a great deal if we can watch those shows with the same language subtitles. Then, we'll be able to know how different structures are used, how they really sound like when they communicate in those languages in real life.

In my country, English is a foreign language. This means that people normally don't have a chance at knowing how English really functions in other English-speaking countries. The average English proficiency of people is quite low. Thus, it was common even years ago that main TV channels provide English language-dubbed movies instead of subtitled. However, it's better nowadays that people are becoming better at using English, so there are chances that you can watch those movies with subtitles in our own native language. I regard this as a huge improvement in terms of English language education, and will forever hope that these shows' subtitles can be made English in the near future.

And yes, I am also the one who turns on English subtitles even when I am watching shows in my first language on Netflix. In a country where English is a foreign language, I think people should try to get themselves immersed in English as much as possible, and that's what I have been telling my students.

I live in a country in which everything is translated: movies, tv series, anything. Finding subtitles was really the exception until a few years ago. In fact, in cinemas ALL movies are dubbed. No big deal for me.
When I was a teenager I had to buy my Speak Up magazine because it brought one a month a movie in original version with subs in English. I would go through the movie again and again, listening, writing down and reading the subs.
For me, personally, I always watch things in the original version with subs. Even if there is the option of being in Spanish. Now it feels weird to listen to things if not in the original language.
For instance, My Holo Love is available in Netflix in Spanish. I tried to watch it dubbed and I couldn't. It jus wasn't a Kdrama, it was something different.

Recently rewatched Secret Garden in Netflix and Ha Ji Won calling Oska as Oppa was translated to Oskie, the whole nuance and essence was lost.

I used to hate subs before watching korean dramas, but i have grown so fond of it, that without subs i feel like something is missing now when i watch any show.

There are some instances i feel like subtitles take a more deeper meaning of what the actual dialogue is in simple terms is and it makes me a bit feel detached from the story and characters. Recently it happened to me while watching an episode from 'Forest' k-drama. I swear some simple lines said by male character was translated to totally different meaning and i was confused as hell. That episode made me feel like i watched a completely different show.

So I believe good subtitles isn't a barrier. It makes you even more engaged in the show. I even love when the lyrics are translated in Korean dramas.

Forgot to say that I still don't recognize accents unless it is exaggerated. I am really bad at that.

@missvictrix Thank you for this interesting piece. As a lover of languages with a master’s degree in translation I am naturally very passionate about the sub vs dub debate. Over here we mainly get American/British content with subs. Only Disney and other family content gets dubbed. Many of my peers and I learned English through subtitles rather than in high school. We found our way to even more American/British content online, with English subs if you got lucky. As a result subtitles and book translations in my native language feel fake and cringy to read now, even when their quality is excellent, simply because I am wired to read (and write) everything in English.

“There’s a lot more to subtitles than waiting for them to be magically uploaded and accurately timed to onscreen dialogue. It’s a rather delicate transaction between languages and cultures” I was obligated to pass a course on subtitling during my master program and I can confirm this. Translating from source language (let’s use Korean here) to target language (f.ex. English) in itself is a difficult task, as mentioned above. Subtitling, from the way I remember it (feel free to correct me if my approach is ancient by now!) starts with transcribing the Korean you hear if there is no original script available on the left side of the page and then creating a translation in English in the middle. The right side is reserved for creating subtitles.

Knowing what is said in Korean and knowing how to explain it in English is not enough. This is where the timing comes into play. I was horrible at this because it is hard to time accurately. The employer or broadcaster tells you how fast their audience can read (X characters per second) and off you go. So your excellent English translation does not amount to much if you cannot convey (X multiplied by Y) characters in (Y) seconds, and there is a limit to the amount of seconds you can use. You are translating twice or more in a way, because you keep tweaking the translation to fit in timing. Also there is the timing technology that kept altering or deleting your hard work whenever you dared to open it in another similar software or on another computer.

Annoying whenever subtitles appear and disappear in the blink of an eye or appear at the wrong moment, right? I admit guilt, but it is not always the translator’s fault. Sometimes a character talks fast or says little, but it translates to a long speech that has to be conveyed in a few subtitles in the same time span. All in all fun (but difficult) to do, until your grade and career depends on it. I have decided not to pursue translation for a career because courses such as these took the fun out of learning languages. Basically, I am not surprised some comments talk about volunteers being better at subtitling than the professionals.

To conclude on another matter, subtitles can be a barrier as well. My mother used to rapidly read subtitles, until she got diagnosed with a rare eye disease...

Guess I'm in the minority where I think that translations should be as faithful to the translated *into* language as possible. If by virtue of watching enough dramas you pick up the minutiae or even the language itself and you feel that the subs are not accurate enough anymore that's a good thing for you, but imo it provides a very large barrier of entry to people not familiar with the language.

Subtitles are supposed to help understanding for people who do not speak the language or are necessarily familiar with the culture. Leaving words untranslated (oppa etc) can really tear someone out of their enjoyment and make them miss other things because their eye is caught on that one unfamiliar word and they cant catch what is happening on screen. Since subtitles inevitably draw attention away from the acting having the language be as simple and accurate as possible makes it easier for people who can just read the text and then see the acting in the scene itself.

Second of all I am very against what viki likes to do, which is extremely long lines of dialogue, sometimes even two lines of text presented over the whole screen. That is just too much. Add to that that they sometimes also add Translation notes and I just feel like they want to overexplain.

Translating very much hinges on personal preferences too, or what you understand the meaning of a text to be, which can clash with what other people understand a line to mean.

One aspect I think that is sometimes not given enough thought wrt subtitles is the fact that for visually impaired people they can provide an insurmountable barrier. People with dyslexia might also have a hard time with subtitles, which is another reason that unfamiliar words might not work as well.

Before I discovered K-dramas I was a foreign film buff. French, German, Japanese. And these of course included subtitles. The people I knew who feared subtitles seemed to actually fear that they weren't 'intellectual' enough to watch serious grown-up films. 'Subtitles' was just their excuse for avoiding them. These are the same people who refused to watch black and white movies, secretly afraid they'd find themselves watching an 'art house' film they'd be unable to keep up with.

I've always stayed away from dubbed and subtitled movies and shows. I can follow American accents so never required subs for their shows and movies but even British or Australian or even Spanish shows I avoided because of the accents and also fast talking. I think they speak slower in Korean shows so I can keep up with the scene and subtitles but its not the same for other countries' shows. Even when a Kdrama has a fast pace or have people talking quickly like Chief of Staff recently I've have to back up and rewatch scenes to understand them. So I'm also really thankful to Dramabeans for recapping shows!
I always appreciated Kdramas because even as a foreign viewer I feel touched or laugh out loud at a scene even without understanding words and that's all because of the subtitles and more so overall the acting is so good. I always imagine that if I'm enjoying this so much by just reading subtitles then how enjoyable it must be for a native speaker. Reading subtitles also takes practice I guess but Kdramas convey emotions and comedy so well that you want to keep watching them, even without knowing the tongue, and they are worth the wait for subtitles.

What has been ignored here is that for deaf or partly deaf people, subtitles are the only option for watching a movie.

As such, we the hearing impaired can appreciate any movie without a language issue as long as the translator and whoever types out the subtitles are both fluent and properly educated in both languages.

Korean movies are fairly good in this respect although some issues show clearly that English for instance is not the translators first language. The results are usually funny.

Humour carries through surprisingly well in subtitles despite the nuances of the paired languages. We all find the same things funny.

A benefit to subtitles - especially when viewed at home, is that the scene can be paused to capture the entire dialogue which is usually lost in a movie theatre.

Generally I watch the first time to get all of the dialogue and understand the story. The second time I focus on the visuals more since I know the story. I watch the best ones several times because there is generally so much detail and thought put into non-American movies that if you don't watch them multiple times, you cannot possibly absorb the subtleties of the movie. That is where the brilliance of the movie or series really separates foreign films from American films. American films generally have no depth.

Subtitles are a beautiful thing in another way: A foreign film where the dialogue is in spoken English always comes across as cheap and phony. A Roman Gladiator in the Coliseum in Rome speaking English does not capture the spirit of the moment or the times for me. It comes across as cartoonish.

Hearing the correct language as it was meant to be heard delivers the art form in its purest sense. The dialogue flows with the action. When dubbing is present, that makes complete babble of the spoken word for the hearing impaired who often expect to be able to read the lips. So making sure lip movements are in sync with the vocals is vital.

Finally, the flavour of the language is nice to hear. The subtitles are like a window into their world. You can't beat that for a beautiful movie watching experience.

Parasite's dialog almost seemed tailored for the American market. There were no jokes, for example, about the inappropriate use of banmal, which would have only confused neophytes to Korean dramas. I recall in 'Hotel Del Luna' there was IU's snide appending of '-yo' to ends of sentences where she had obviously been speaking informally. Long time K-drama viewers would get the joke, people sitting down to their first Korean movie wouldn't.

I am firmly in camp subtitle.

I have learned a lot of Korean idioms because of certain subbers that would either leave it as is/direct translate, then note what the meaning behind it is. Yes, sometimes that requires a lot of pausing to read it all, but totally worth it to me.

I've also really liked some historic subs where the subber goes out of their way to use different formality levels of language to match the classes represented in the shows. I know some find that over the top, but they feel more enriching to me than detrimental.

One thing I can't stand is when a sub is translated from another sub. Those are often the worst, and sometimes they even leave in their own languages' native words/idioms instead of using the original Korean which drives me crazy. A somewhat recent show had that, and the "nickname" for the female lead was some sort of "yam" which was obviously slang. But it took me over an hour to even figure out the word meant yam since I didn't speak the language that the untranslated word was. So I spent an hour just trying to do a search (and even took a stab at Google translate) to try to understand what that word was when I also have no idea how to spell it in a Romanized form. 😣

I am also laughing because just last night, I winged to a different interest group discussion about how watching a less popular Kdrama always means you have to wait longer for subs. There are a lot of folks that watch a wide variety of media in other languages in that group, and my comment ended up in a side discussion that lasted almost an hour where folks were talking about subs versus dubs, and also voice over actor related issues and preferences as well.

This is a great article from the herald on the subject.
"Translation, wings that helped 'Parasite' soar free and high."

"While Bong’s biting advice awakened many to the reality of Hollywood still largely unreceptive to foreign language films, it also raised awareness about the importance of subtitles in effectively delivering a movie to people of different cultures and languages."

“The subtitlers don’t translate literally or simply deliver the words, but they identify the message the director intends and ‘design the language’ so that the foreign viewers can arrive at the core of the message,” Kim told The Korea Herald. “It’s a complicated job that requires both professional insight in film making and linguistic proficiency.”

That's one of the reason why Sharon Choi was an amazing interpreter. She is an aspiring film maker beside being proficient in both Korean and English.

“I often find myself toning down complex English phrases, idioms and slangs that all North American English speakers say on a daily basis because not all audience who will read my subtitles are from North America, and the phrases have to be simple and elegant to be retranslated to other languages,” said Jo in an email interview.

DF and Netflix comes to mind. They were/are gathering to a more global audience.

For K-dramas, commentaries like how WITH S2 did with their subs was very helpful when I first started watching K-dramas. They didn't tone down anything. They explained the idioms, slangs etc.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200206000722&np=6&mp=1

My problem with subtitles (especially on Netflix) is that when some grampa says, "Aigo." He is not saying, "@#!!*%&$." The subtitler(s) on Netflix really annoy me with their potty mouths (pens, keyboards?) Often I see a character sigh and the subtitler writes "#$*!" It was a SIGH, you nob! You didn't need to translate it into profanity or vulgarity. The person was breathing heavily! I can understand when it is an adult program. But I've been watching family fare (Korean TV comedies) and they've been ruined for me by stupid subtitlers who think everyone--even children swear like sailors.

Subtitles are HEAVEN!!!Grew up with them and absolutely hate dubbing as it destroys for me at least,the whole experience...Thanks to them i've learned many new words,expressions not only from english but many other languages...What i don't like on the other side about subtitles are the translations that are many times mistleading,that have nothing to do with the original meaning that i realize started more and more to be present unlike the past(if u understand is even more annoying),becoming over-Americanized(here i'm talking about korean product)...Many people take by default that subtites are 100% corect and don't doubt there can be faults into it and end up having problems understanding a plot or essence of a movie/drama someting is quite sad and for some can ruin the experience sadly...As i mostly understand by now korean per ex. i use the subtitles as more reference rather than being something of necessity and usually roll my eyes when what i hear and read are total opposite even by the so called same language oficial translators(Netflix it's u)...Gonna come out and say it also plainly,i hate the way they force the names(for korean in this case),just to fit their standard of comodity in place of leaving it as it's meant to be...Please leave Gu Dae Goo and not for me to read it as Dae Goo Gu(end of petty rant),koreans don't use it the same as americans...In the big picture to end it pretty,subtitles were always and will be a friend and it indeed helped a lot from when i was little till now!

In my country there used to be subtitles for all the movies. It was difficult for parents with little children watching cartoons: "mom/dad, will you read for me, please?". Then kids would start school at 6-7 years old and by 8 years old they could read the subtitles by themselves.
This also helped them learn a foreign language - mainly English, but we also learned words and expressions in Japanese, from the anime series. Or my aunt and uncle, who were farmers and lived in the country, would learn Spanish and Portuguese from the soap operas. It was so fun to hear my aunt asking my uncle: "Un cafezinho, don Aurelio?" (his name was Aurelius). And he would answer: "Obrigado!" (We're really far away from Portugal or Brazil!)
My friends' kids would learn English from the subbed cartoons on Cartoon Network. Nowadays they dub the cartoons, and kids have to find other things to watch in order to learn English.
Also, I work as a movie translator. Some of the companies have very strict rules about what we can and cannot translate. For instance, for a certain company, we couldn't add explanations in brackets in order to explain a pun. So, in a movie, there was this girl named Finn and a guy made a joke about the fin of a fish and we just couldn't render his joke in any way (we - translator and proofer - tried, but it was not approved).
Of course it's difficult to render a whole culture when you have time and space constraints (if the actor says a lot of words in just one second, we have to shorten them to something that can be read in one second, i.e. a much lower amount of words. There is also a limit for the number of letters on a line, and sometimes just one extra letter that must be deleted forces us to rephrase the sentence and get something less fluent and clear.)
As regards Korean specific words, like unni, hyung, oppa, I think it would be better if they would be left like this in the translation, after all people either know what they are about, or they can learn something new about the Korean culture! But I can also understand that some companies might have certain requirements (i.e. translate everything, don't leave words in the source language) and this is how we hear "hyung!" and the subtitle says "Seo-joon!"
I admire a lot the translators who manage to translate one episode in less than one day, I can't even imagine how difficult it is (we have 2-5 days for that). And even if there are 2 or more persons working on it, they manage to make it uniform.
I remember watching Pride and Prejudice, where there was a character called White Bear, another one who was Panda Bear and another one who was just Bear. I really thought there were 3 separate characters, but in reality there was just one, whose name was translated differently in the different episodes. Fortunately, the quality has improved enormously lately. And this is why I'd like to thank all the people who provide us with great subtitles and help us enjoy our passion!

I came to America when I was three years old. Therefore, I grew up with watching subtitles. That was the only way me and my mom learn English before I go to school. However, it was daily Chinese and Korean dramas that we watched growing up. LOL My pet peeve is the incorrect English spelling words of the English subtitles. Smh.

There is another dimension for subtitles. Hard of hearing people like me. I have gotten hooked on Korean dramas very soon after I have lost my hearing - they were interesting, acting was fantastic, and I could understand what was going on because they had subs. And I am beyond thankful for their existence, for in my depressed state after the hearing loss, they were my main source of entertainment. I am not a part of the group that lobbies for subtitles in the cinemas, but there is a lot of resistance to the idea. I still am not able to understand any of the blockbuster movies there. And time and again I return to Netflix and switch on a K-drama again.

"One drawback is that when you’re listening to a language you don’t understand while reading a line-by-line translation, a few important things can be missed: inflection, intonation, and nuance." I honestly couldn't agree more. I enjoy watching movies/dramas that aren't in my native language, but I'm sure that there is a lot that I miss when relying on the translation.
I have a cousin that will only watch foreign films if they are dubbed in English. I have never been able to tolerate dubbed films. They just seem so off and unnatural.
I'm truly grateful that we have access to sites that subtitle these dramas that we all enjoy and love ♥

I guess I've always had an interest in films and dramas from other countries, so much so that I feel I grew up reading subtitles. LOL. I even find myself leaving them on when watching English-language productions. They can be helpful when dialogue is drowned-out by ridiculously loud "background" scores.

Anyway, I love this topic. It's just so fascinating to me. I'll take subtitles over dubbed any day. I love hearing the actual language spoken; I have to hear the performer in his or her own voice.

When it comes to languages that I have some degree of familiarity with, I find myself able to read at a decent pace and observe the subtleties of performances at the same time. It can be harder with other languages, but I am up for the challenge.

I once suggested a foreign film to a patron who loves gory action flicks and she told me that she might as well read a book. She also multi-tasks while watching things, so subtitles were not for her.

I wouldn't want to limit myself. There is such a rich world out there. I might not actually travel, but I love experiencing different cultures through literature and dramas.

I am Italian and in Italy dubbing is a form of art. I did not grew up with subtitles. I was lucky enough to be born in a border region where I grew up learning 2 languages so I had no issues watching any channel one tv (just normal channels, no satellite dishes involved or cable) from 4 different countries (the perks of living in a border region is having all the channels from the nearby countries). I experienced subtitles only when I started learning English and French and then when I dived into the dramaworld subs became a daily thing for me. During my uni years I was part of a subtitling community (for English tv show) so I experienced first hand how nuanced subtitles can be.

For me now watching something with subtitles is the norm. I always prefer watching a show or a film in original language than dubbed.

Reg Parasite and it subs: remember the scene when the son is struggling to connect to the wifi at home? The mother asks him to check whatsapp reg the pizza boxes job. I found it quite funny that the subbers used whatsapp since we all know that is probably not the messaging service mentioned but the translation needed to find something that western audiences would relate to and understand.

I like subtitles so much that I can even get anxious watching without it, even when the show is English or native language. But until the whole hoo haa recently, i didn’t realise how important subtitles are for the hearing-impaired, so they too can enjoy watching a show. I still don’t understand why some ppl are against it.

I think the only downside is that you can’t really multitask n need to focus on the words, which means you may miss an expression or reaction ( which is why DB recaps are so handy 😉) Sometimes I really wish i understood Korean as the jokes / satoori are usually quite lost in translation, also miss the transition btw jondae n banmal. All said, I’m happily pro-subtitles ✌🏻