The line in “The Glory” that Netflix’s English translator must have thought hard before translating

Netizens pointed out how Netflix interpreted a Buddhist term “The Glory” into English for viewers who are not familiar with this culture. 

The popularity of “The Glory”, starring Song Hye Kyo, is spreading beyond Korea. Recently, a post titled “Difficulties in translating Korean into English found in ‘The Glory’” recently spread in online communities. Especially, the line “You don’t give a f*ck because we’re all grown up?” became a hot topic.

This line comes out in the scene where Moon Dong Eun (Song Hye Kyo), the school violence victim, meets and quarrels with Lee Sa Ra (Kim Hieora), a member of the bully gang, after becoming adults.

In that scene, Lee Sa Ra angrily asked, “So what? We meet again after growing up so you’re going all for it?”. In response, Moon Dong Eun said, “Be careful with your words, Sa Ra. That’s a Buddhist term”, mocking Lee Sa Ra, who is a Christian.

In this scene, the word Lee Sa Ra mention is “Yi-pan-sa-pan”, a term in Buddhism that means going all for something because you have nothing to lose. 

In countries where people are familiar with Chinese characters and Buddhist culture, this word can be easily translated. However, it’s very difficult to interpet it in English. 

Therefore, here is how Netflix translated the lines in this scene.

Lee Sa Ra’s ‘yi-pan-sa-pan’ line was replaced by a curse word and translated the line as “You don’t give a f*ck because we’re all grown up?”. Moon Dong Eun’s answer was metaphorically expressed as “We are in the house of God”.

In response to this detail, netizens commented, “Like ‘Jjapaguri’ in the movie ‘Parasite’… It’s not easy to translate words that are difficult to understand due to cultural differences”, “The translator must have thought hard about that part”, etc.

Meanwhile, according to FlixPatrol, “The Glory” ranked 4th in Netflix’s Worldwide TV Show chart. The series is especially popular in Southeast Asia as it ranks No.1 in a total of 8 countries, including Korea, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Netflix recently revealed a special trailer for “The Glory” Part 2, which will premiere on March 10th.

Source: Nate