Netflix admits its subtitles and dubbing are "good but not yet great"

The Hollywood Reporter

Squid Game's international popularity has shined a spotlight on foreign translations used in dubbing and subtitles. Asked about its quality control, a Netflix spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter: “Generally, we think our subtitles and dubbing are good but not yet great. So we’re constantly working to improve them.” As The Hollywood Reporter's Gavin J. Blair writes, "there is a widespread lack of appreciation in the industry for just how challenging the work of a subtitler can be, insiders say. Workers in the field are generally required to limit the length of their subtitles to approximately half the number of letters or characters that are available for an audio dubbing script, but they also are expected to retain the full meaning of dialogue while making it so easily readable that it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the onscreen action. The task is difficult enough when the meaning is straightforward — but when translating across cultures, it seldom is. As complex expressions of language, scripts often contain words that don’t translate well, jokes that don’t travel, cultural references that are meaningless to outsiders, and even concepts that have no equivalent in other countries. In East Asian languages, for example, there are terms used specifically for older and younger siblings, and aunts and uncles, which also have culturally specific meanings when applied to people outside the family. These have no direct equivalent in English or many other languages, creating headaches for those translating across them. Such issues arose in Squid Game, where the Korean word 'oppa,' used by women to address an elder brother or man a few years their senior, became 'old man' and 'babe' in different scenes, while 'ajumma,' which refers to a middle-aged married woman, was translated as 'grandma.' Unsurprisingly, given the scale of the show’s success, Netflix took a fair measure of heat on social media from bilingual viewers worldwide over the clumsy treatment of Korean cultural nuances."