That Wench is such a Rascal

Pat here:

Let’s talk about translations in Kdramas. The more I watch Kdramas, the more I think I could do a much better job translating Korean into English. Here is the obvious though: I don’t read or speak Korean, but I still think I could do a better job. (That’s called ‘chutzpah’, and for the uninitiated it means ‘audacity’ in Yiddish [although I like ‘balls’ better,] and it is commonly used by people who don’t speak Yiddish…like me.) But I digress. Again.

If I were to do the translating, the two words I would never choose would be ‘wench’ and ‘rascal‘, and Judy is completely on board about this. WENCH??? Should we tell the Kdrama translators that The Middle Ages wants their word back? This is a derogatory word, and if the translators mean to use a negative connotation of femaleness, then for heaven’s sake pick a modern day word! What would I use as a synonym? Better, here is what I WOULDN’T use: ‘strumpet’ ‘harlot’ ‘peasant’ ‘hussy’ ‘shrew.' And my choice for a more appropriate substitute? I’ll get back to you on that…as soon as I learn some Korean.

Now, onto rascal. RASCAL??? This is a negative term to describe male behavior, but it has a mischievous component. Actually, Judy dislikes this more than I do. Shall I let her weigh in?

Judy here:

Of course I have an opinion! Come on... who uses rascal when describing adults? Yes, you might use it when discussing toddlers - or puppies - but adult men? I don't think so.

What this tells me is that the translation teams are native Korean speakers....not native English speakers who also learned Korean. I think that's a mistake. If they

had native English speakers who also understood the Korean, the translations would be much better for us.

So, after I complete my Korean 101 class at the local community college this fall I will be dusting off my resume and applying for these positions. I'll probably have to turn down several job offers.