on the controversy - and netflix mistranslations

i'll post my comment here too since the article and comment section will probably bury it in a while, so this is for anyone who hasn't read it or is watching the drama in the future and is wondering what the hell happened lol.

i wonder who actually bothered to use their media literacy skills and look up the correct translation of the news report. did we forget that netflix subtitles for korean are inherently unreliable? and google translate, if that's not obvious. case in point i guess 😅 before anyone @s me about this, please try to learn korean! i do understand all the outrage as someone who also supports palestine, because before further going into this, i also assumed it was zionist propagranda i was dealing with. but things aren't always as clear and especially not when we're dealing with topics in another language than our own. it's definitely annoying, because we should be able to trust subtitles, but sadly netflix has a track-record of butchering or half-assing kdrama subtitles so i'd recommend opting for other streaming services (e.g. viki) if you can, or seek second opinions when trying to clarify a dialogue.

this is to shed some light on the context of the entire controversy and to analyze the situation for those who aren't familiar with the korean language, which is most people. i want to preface this by saying that i'm neither a hater nor a lover of this drama, i actually dropped it early on. but i am someone who is actively studying korean language and culture (university major) and who is also consistently disappointed with how both media and fandom interact with them. and just with how little nuance people treat anything in general.

so, korean can be a highly ambiguous and context based language and this is the case here too. keep in mind this issue is not making any headlines in korea itself because for koreans the intention was mostly clear. the dialogue by the anchor did in fact not state that "paltima" was the one doing the airstrikes, it's the other way around. but if you really look at it gramatically, it definitely /can/ be ambiguously interpreted and the netflix translation seems to have fumbled this. 

속보입니다. 팔티마 공습이 이루어지고 있는 이즈마엘에서 한국인들이 무장 세력에게 납치되었습니다.  =  This is breaking news. Koreans have been kidnapped by armed forces in Izmael, where the Paltima airstrike is taking place. (my translation)

공습 means airstrike or air raid and it being placed after 팔티마 (paltima) can gramatically indicate both "airstrike on paltima" OR "paltima's airstrike" because of the omission of particles. this is common in korean because you will often know and figure out what is really meant by the context of the conversation alone.

however, the bottom text in the picture clearly states that it was "izmael" who is kidnapping korean citizens and the illustration behind the anchor (! really only requires knowledge of hangul to see this) shows an arrow pointing from izmael towards paltima - it's clear what they are implying here. with these three things - and korean as a contextual language - in mind, the assumption that the drama is indirectly trying to condemn the genocide would make more sense. unfortunately misunderstanding through mistranslations can be the crux of korean (and any other non-english) pop-culture reaching foreign audiences, and it looks like that's pretty much what happened here.
 
if anything, and this is my personal opinion, kdrama should leave the inclusion of real-life conflicts to further the plot to, say, period dramas where they are better handled most of the time and leave them out of modern romance dramas because they often break the immersion, feel like they're done in poor taste and are rarely ever substantially relevant to the overall narrative (i'm reminded of 2521 intrumentalizing one for ... a breakup).

so in the end, no matter how you spin it, i think it's clear that it would have been better had the writers here just left out this entire plotline and the subsequent mentioning/referencing of a real world political conflict, because the risk of them fumbling the execution is too high and the possibility of them having the guts to properly & correctly execute it is too low. the damage has already been done here because now mbc has the international audience at their throat. most of us know that kdrama has a history of not properly researching socio- or geo-political issues and failing to address or depict them in a non-problematic way, so i believe if they cannot or don't have the ability to be more conscious about these things, it's best to just leave them out entirely.

ending this with a request to please not harrass the actors on their social media accounts about this - they don't have a say in any of this and it's not their fault.

Thank you so much for detailing everything. Makers could have avoided the sensitive issue I get their intention but the vitriol hate it caused is unimaginable. Technically channel should address but I guess since in locals it went correctly they will not bother what is happening in international section. Netflix which is the main culprit will brush the issue just like that instead of apologizing and reconstructing the translation or even deleting the scene . Sad how things have turned out.

Agree with everything you said 👍🏻

>>>속보입니다. 팔티마 공습이 이루어지고 있는 이즈마엘에서 한국인들이 무장 세력에게 납치되었습니다.  =  This is breaking news. Koreans have been kidnapped by armed forces in Izmael, where the Paltima airstrike is taking place. (my translation) 

I didn't watch the show and i am translating your text

the word "무장 세력"  have a negative connotation.

 "armed forces"  mean government/freedom fighter 

but 무장 세력 literally means t**rorist group

so the proper translation  is "Breaking news koreans have been kidnapped by t**rorists  in isreal, where the palestine air strike is taking place. "

@bidulgi 

There won't be any big controversy because no korean celebrity will go against the netflix for fear of losing potential future contracts same goes for directors and staffs , not sure about west tho.

Maybe some tweets by the viewers that's the all traction this "controversy" going to get IMO.

@bidulgi 

Much needed for the users willing to learn. For the other users, they have an extremely short nose.

Entiendo y coincido contigo en que no era el momento de incluirlo, pero ya había mucha gente molesta por los cambios que se le hicieron al drama.

 En la novela existe esta parte, aunque no es algo trascendental, simplemente era darle más contexto, cosa que en realidad no supieron manejar bien esa parte, porque tuvieron que agregar que el protagonista antes de su puesto político pasó muchos años sirviendo en el ejército y precisamente en Argan. Y por qué se fue allí.

Supongo que porque había mucha gente molesta por los cambios decidieron no cambiar esa parte. La intención no tenía ninguna connotación negativa pero viendo la situación actual puede que no sepan ver ya que fueron a un templo a ser tareas comunitarias en otro país, no te rías de esto, simplemente buscaron una solución aunque mi planteamiento sea tonto.

Aunque esto se ha ido de las manos, si vas a la sección de comentarios todo es un caos, hay mucha gente insultando a los actores principales, cuando la verdad ellos no tienen la culpa e insultando con mucha violencia a otros usuarios que en realidad no han dicho nada malo y no han dado pie a una discusión política.

Esto se está convirtiendo en un desastre. No solo porque el dramatismo baja cada vez más sino porque se está volviendo peligroso comentar, ya que cualquier comentario inofensivo ya está empezando a insultarte como si estuviéramos en un campo de batalla.

 Entiendo el enojo, pero insultar y crear tanta violencia es un límite que han ido demasiado lejos. Cuando veo los comentarios insultantes me preguntó honestamente dónde están los moderadores.

 LucyL:

@bidulgi 

Much needed for the users willing to learn. For the other users, they have an extremely short nose.

cool it with the anti sematic remarks.