Can This Love Be Translated?

I haven't been watching any dramas for the last 2 years, but this one might bring me back for good.

I won't be discussing what made this drama good/bad nor will I try to convince you to watch it and ignore the low ratings from other users. I'll be discussing how this drama led me back to loving the genre as a whole.

Just to give a little disclaimer, my ratings encapsulate how dramas in MDL were originally rated; dramas were never review bombed and it felt like every drama except for maybe controversial ones were always rated fairly. I'd like to think that I'm fairly harsh on my ratings and I wouldn't give such a high rating to a drama that didn't deserve it. That being said, does 'Can This Love Be Translated' really sit atop with the heaviest punchers in the drama world -- which is 9.5 in my case. I would say no, but in my books it deserves to be higher than 9.0. I originally debated giving it a 9.0 or a 9.5, but after some thought I decided to give it a 9.5. I usually have certain criteria for rating dramas; to name a few, I put a lot of emphasis on the enjoyability of the drama, how easy/hard was it to watch and finish, and how the drama was able to keep me intrigued throughout the show. In those three, this drama definitely scored higher than a 9.0, and this was confirmed after letting it sit after a few days of completing the drama. The feelings that I felt have lingered throughout my mind, and I found myself being interested in the show's promotions and the cast.

You could say that I've fallen out of love from watching dramas, but watching this one truly made me feel the butterflies I've once felt. Is this drama perfect -- no. Is the story extremely deep and compelling -- no. Is this drama a good watch that deserves the hype and a rewatch in the future -- definitely.

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Can This Drama Be Saved?

It’s exhausting how stupid the writing of this show is. Anime have more depth in storytelling and character development. Can This Love Be Translated? Has a more important question that it needs to ask. Can This Show Be Saved? The answer in all frankness is: No!

The characters are bickering about nothings. The love that we’re supposed to root for has no roots. It just happens, and we suddenly have to start applauding and gushing like brainless amoeba. It goes here and there but goes nowhere.

The variety show that’s basically used to move the plot just feels like the worst programming idea, but also just seems to disappear in the melee of bad writing.

The ex who is supposed to create a love triangle tension - we are supposed to dislike her for making moves on the ML while also empathising with her confused plight. Cha Mu Hee’s agent seems more worried about the ex than the talent he’s supposed to manage. 😅 Hiro is just a character that’s walked on set. He literally adds nothing. A total dud.

The acting is awkward and dead (over-powdered) faced.

What is the saving grace? The cinematography? If someone wants to think colour treatment substitutes for cinematography and a pastiche of landscape, beauty shots of actors and photogenic European architecture is cinematography, then I can’t argue about taste here, as it’s subjective and relative to one’s exposure and understanding. However, for me the worst still is the background score and soundtrack. It is bombastic and cheap and omnipresent. Never a quiet moment. No reflection. It’s as if the drama itself doesn't want to sit with itself without the visual and audio noise.

There is a lot of high contrast colour treatment, location design, designer wardrobe and smoothed out hair and make up, not-a-hair-out of place pageantry here. But nothing of substance. Not the characters, nor the story. The tragedy is forced, the romance unbelievable. The comedy: cheap. It’s shows like these that literally help discern what quality means to people.

No lies, it’s as deep as the chair 🪑 you sit on while reading this. Just a noisy, overdressed, overlabeled and over-produced mega-budget brain rot.

If someone wants to watch a show that has an escapist quality, an angsty romance with a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding tropes, but with a bit of self-reflection and depth, I recommend you watch Lovestruck In The City. You will find that it actually is what Can This Love Be Translated wants to be.

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A whole buffet if I say so my self

To say I'm flabbergasted would be an understatement frfrfr. This series is well seasoned and balanced. There were so many twists I never saw coming. Overall, it’s a good, comfy, comedy, and intriguing show. Once you start watching, it really pulls you in.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say: y’all should go watch it—it was definitely worth my time, and I hope it will be worth yours too. Honestly, I think part of the reason I loved it so much is because of Chief Hong from Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and the female lead, who low-key looks like Zhao Lusi from China.

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A beautiful way to start the year with a romance drama

In my opinion, this is one of the better romance dramas to come out this year. If the ending hadn’t felt a bit forced, I probably would’ve given it an even higher rating.

This drama is not your typical romance. It’s not just about falling in love, but also about mental health and healing from past trauma. The character development of both leads is very noticeable. Kim Seon-ho’s character slowly learns how to open up and be honest about his emotions, while Go Youn-jung’s character finally confronts her childhood trauma instead of letting it control her life.

Their chemistry is really strong — honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve watched a romance drama where the chemistry felt this natural and believable. Their relationship feels mature and emotionally grounded.

Another big plus is the soundtrack, which fits the mood perfectly, and the beautiful visuals. With filming locations across different countries, the drama is visually stunning and genuinely pleasing to watch.

That said, the ending was a letdown for me. The plot twist about the female lead’s family being alive felt unnecessary. Emotionally, the story was already complete once she had faced and overcome her trauma. Introducing that twist so late, without properly exploring it, made it feel rushed and added in just to extend the runtime.

Even with that flaw, this is still a solid and recommendable drama, especially for viewers who want a romance with emotional depth and meaningful themes, not just a simple love story.

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Perfect Drama to Re-subscribe Netflix in 2026

As a male fans of Kim Seon Ho since Start-up, I watched this drama expecting only comedy part of it. But I can't deny the whole casts and chemistry have hooked me everyday for the past 2 weeks since release to watch it over and over again. It's truly heart-warming and inspiring romance story. I tend to be logical and my gf is very emotional. This drama helps me to understand my gf's language more. Recommended drama to watch for boy or husband to understand the language of their woman. I really like the Love Language OST, too. It's giving me back my band concert memory in high school. Hahaha

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I love them so much!

Oh the drama! The pain! Yearning! It was a while since I rooted for a couple so much!
I did not read the synopsis or anything beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised by all of this and binged all 12 episodes. I love tragic pasts and complex characters, so I quickly became addicted and couldn't wait to see it all play out.
I loved how ML tried to fully understand FL, got to know her inside and out and accepted her wholeheartedly - maybe because I would want that for myself. It's that unconditional love fantasy that always has me mesmerized.
The second male lead wasn't for me. I didn't feel bad for him at the end at all, maybe because of how he treated the FL at the start, mocking her without any real reason. He wasn't too annoying after that though.
I'm weak when it comes to characters with trauma and them finding someone, who soothes their pain. More of these, please!
And finally, we got more than just one, barely there kiss! I loved how they gazed at each other lovingly at the end and the scene in the dark - them kissing and "dancing" and how we could her their breathing, because they got together AT LAST.
It was like a reward.

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Very misleading premise

An interesting drama that seems like a crossover of It's Okay To Not Be Okay and Daily Dose of Sunshine.
Like other people have mentioned, it came across as a romantic comedy and the first episode delivered on that.
However it soon turned into something unexpected. While it was still enjoyable and watchable. the plot became a bit convoluted and strange and I ended up dropping it.

At first, I thought Dorami was a supposed to be a fun representation of her inner self to provide some insight on her thought process (much like the animation in Yumi's Cells Kdrama) but it became this complex alternate personality that had MuHui had the ability to switch to when it served her. So, that's not how delusions/hallucinations operate. And when Dorami started providing insight on herself to the Ju Ho Jin it was ridiculous, as well as everyone observing her acting strange but not checking in on her and just allowing it to be, even when she referred to her "original self" as her/she.

Hiro was a fun character that wasn't always executed right. At first we see that he is obsessed with her as the entire world is (apparently and very exaggeratedly) but then because he wasn't recognized by her at an awards ceremony he hates that she was cast in the show with him - or maybe not, this part was a little unclear to me. They alluded to it with his assistant but also mentioned that it could be due to the fact it was a surprise as her name hadn't been on the list of actress candidates but since he liked her originally why was it such a big deal? Later. his character goes back on forth on wanting "confirmation" of something and it seems like he gets it (she doesn't like him) but his crush on her continues to shine through in the last part of filming. And why did Dorami kiss him and tease him and tell him "I choose you"??? Was there a point to that? And when did Hiro start liking her so much?

Ju Ho Jin - I thought his parents relationship and 10+ year crush referred to as a "delusion" by MuHui deserved more attention. He lacked depth which made his actions seem a little bit unnatural. He was commonly referred to as "nice" to describe it but it doesn't cover why he would visit Muhui in the hospital more than once for someone he had no interest of. It also seems like as much as his paren't relationships impacted him and how he views romantic relationships for himself this was barely given any attention to. They made it sound that he needed his brother to marry JiSeon as a way to truly get past his crush but that seems unreal too. Most people wouldn't want to date someone their siblings dated. I like this actor and he managed multiple languages very well and seemingly natural but his minuscule smirk, haha, a tradition he carried in every drama he's in.

There were more things wrong with it that I can't remember now but overall if you can get past that, it's good for a one time watch. People have commented that the soundtrack was good. None of the music really stood out for me. Despite the things I have previously mentioned, I think all the actors acted well.

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A real-life translation.

What do I mean by that? You can't interpret everything perfectly. Some things might get lost in translation, literally. You have to pay attention to understand everything!

"Can This Love Be Translated?" is a perfect title for the show, because love or any personal connections can't be translated perfectly. Just like Yeong Hwan said, everyone uses their own language, and you have to listen carefully to understand them.

This drama is not your typical romcom with cute romance, perfect characters, a prince, and his princess. It's not a hardcore real-life story about real people either, but it tells an important story about personal struggles, mental health issues, and other relevant topics. There are many shows with similar subjects, but I can't name another one that showcased childhood trauma like this. I wouldn't say they did an amazing job with it, because the Hong sisters didn't delve into Mu Hui's past that much. To be honest, that's my biggest issue with the drama. I think with 2 more episodes, they could've done more with this.

So, we should ask one simple question. Do we need to see Mu Hui getting real medical treatment for her problems? Do we need to delve deeper into her past? Not really, because technically, the only thing she needs is someone who loves her and supports her. She never had that until Mr. Papago (Ho Jin) showed up. So I think the writers did a good job overall.

I know many romcom fans won't like the darker tone of the second half of the season, and it's a slow-burn romance, not cutesy, and it's more mature than other shows. If you can accept this, I think you're gonna love it, because it's well-written. The acting, the cinematography, and the OST are amazing as well. There are multiple characters you can like, even tho all of them can be irritating sometimes, just like real people. I have to give props to the writers because the character developments for pretty much everyone were handled well.

Some might say it's not a fast-paced series, but I think the pacing was perfect. It was kind of like the main story. Traveling around the world. You just want to see everything, walk peacefully, and do anything you want.

I was afraid of the potential love triangles because that's a usual cliche in romcoms, and most of the time it's annoying, but they handled this well too. I was surprised by the behavior of the characters, because they didn't ignore the problems.

Seeing Kim Seon Ho and Go Youn Jung's duo on screen with all the bickering, having fun, and doing crazy things was a joy to watch. They really are one of the best actors of their generation. Acting is not just about saying words, and these two are the prime examples of that. Their face-acting is out of this world.

The most important characters were complex enough. As I said above, it's well-written, and I feel like, if you watch this more than once, you can find more details because a lot of times they didn't spell out everything for the viewers.

Overall, this is a good drama, a lot of fun, two amazing lead actors with great chemistry, meaningful story, not really a typical romcom, so it can stand out a bit more than the rest, but not perfect, and I don’t think it has to be. It provides everything a show like this needs to, and thankfully, they didn’t mess up the finale either.

It does what it should without throwing too much unnecessary stuff in it.

Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

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For me, this drama was a massive fail and very offensive

I couldn't watch it to the end, so if anyone who has seen the last episodes wants to comment so I can muster a tad of redemption towards this drama, please do so.

I'm angry right now...just angry. At the casual and indifferent manner in which Korean entertainment treats mental illness. This story is about a woman with a serious mental disorder. One which needs serious help from a highly qualified mental health specialist. The writers use this disorder for entertainment and comedy in this drama and I think it's unbearably offensive.

I'm sure I'll come back as a fan, but right now, I need a break from Kdramas.

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Well its not like a usual rom com..it has a special knack for itself to make it unique

So after watching all the trailers and clips released obv i fiigured it will be a smooth ride of rom com
But i kinda liked tht they not only fully focused on the romance thingy..
The mental and psychological part was fine though they didnt show wht happend with her mother
But still its good to know she left it all and started a fresh beginning
I just want to say every drama is not fully perfect they have their own flaw ..and i kinda liked the flaw in this..many plot twist was one of the flaw i think like every was pushed in the final ep not a clear ending on the past..but for the future they gave a clear meaning too..
So watch it like its good i promise the visuals and all are breathtaking the osts are good too

Hope u find this helpful and sorry for my bad English 💙
Xoxo..!

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GYJ's Performance, Wendy's DAYDREAM, and CINEMATOGRAPHY Make This Worth the Watch

Look, I had plans for this drama. I was hyped, ready to binge, already planning my breakdown for the finale. The first 2-3 episodes came out swinging premium cinematography, the kind that makes you pause and screenshot. Episodes 4 and 5 kept that energy going. It gave me serious LOVESTUCK IN THE CITY vibes with how beautiful and exciting everything felt. I couldn't control my happiness, I was on cloud9. But then... the dragging started. Scenes that should've taken half an episode got stretched across two. The momentum just died. I found myself checking how much time was left in episodes.

Go Youn-jung's Performance
I need to mention GYJ because her acting was above excellent. She carried scenes that could've fallen flat and brought real depth to moments that the script didn't always earn. Even when the pacing frustrated me, she kept me somewhat invested.

The OST Situation
Honestly? I only really vibed with one song, Wendy's DAYDREAM. But it's that good. Good enough that I'm giving the OST a 10/10 just for that track alone. It hits every time it plays and honestly does more emotional heavy lifting than some entire episodes.

Bottom Line
Strong start, weak finish. Beautiful to look at, Go Youn-jung delivers, and DAYDREAM is on repeat. But the quality follows an xy=1 curve, as the episode numbers went up, my interest went inversely down. The second half drags badly enough that it's hard to recommend without major caveats. Watch the first five episodes and decide if you've got the patience for what comes after.

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