I love your articles so much. Thanks a lot! Thanks for your work as a translator, I'm sure a lot of people appreciate it!!! Many times during your articles I sit here and nod in agreement as a fellow translator/segmenter. (Espescially when you bashed your old workplace viki because I do too lol) Merry christmas!
Since you mention being a sub-titler for Viki, I have a question that I have been wondering a lot about. Viki…
Well, I have to be honest and say that I don't know for sure and can only tell you my assumptions because Viki doesn't really tell us the reason. So that's my disclaimer. I assume they use the money they make with their subscriptions on licenses and for paying their officially hired employees. Also, I do not think they make that incredibly of an amount of money with their subscriptions since I would assume that most people using Viki don't need a subscription and therefore might not have it, as well as that you get the "Viki Pass Standard" for free if you have reached an certain amount of contributions as a volunteer. They don't make money off most their volunteers in that way. Another thing I would like to mention is that they have started to appreciate their volunteers less and less ever since Viki belongs to Rakuten. Just to name some examples: they have this new "Viki Pass Plus" which gains access to even more shows and here is the thing: not even do you have to pay for that even as a volunteer, it is also only available in AMERICA. And there are so many shows with the license for only Viki Pass Plus. You may be able to imagine how thrilled European users might be. To add to that, on some shows Viki collaborates with a new platform which only works in America too, called Kocowa and there you are not allowed to sub and slowly the subbers translating into English are starting to be replaced by some kind of bot which causes not only for English subbers to lose their work but also horrible subs without any understanding of references or metaphors are a consequence. You get my point, I guess. Viki sinply does not seem to give a shit about their volunteers, so why bother paying them?
I absolutely love dramas with a law or medcal part in it. Once, I wanted to be a lawyer; prosecutor or judge and when the time came to do a 2-week long practical work experience thingy in 9th grade of middle school, I went to the court in my city. It was super interesting but now I am much more interested in medicine. That doesn't mean that I'm not interested in law anymore though. I gained that interest through dramas and I am definetely going to work in that field after having completed an internship at a hospital for a week.
People say dramas are not reality and you gain nothing but entertainment from it but I can absolutely say that this is not true. Dramas have helped me find interest in a work field to specialize in after graduating! So I would really recommend to just try and do an internship if you have found something which seems like a nice job option if you can!!!
I also find it very interesting to know, which part of sageuk are actually historically correct, so I welcome articles such as this!
Keep up the grood work! ;)
My favorite Kpop song would definetely be Flower by XIA Junsu ft Tablo because there is so much meaning behind the song and the video and leaves quite a lot of space for interpretation and philosophy :D
So many negative comments about this :o I for one was so happy to see this on Netflix! I don't get DramaFever…
Well, you are right, not everyone discovers the dramas there but still, like kingsqueen also said, it's the adaptation to American interests which might become a thing if it gets popular and I don't want that at all.
For people like you and many others, it might be a good alternative to watch dramas legally on Netflix though, but I get pretty disappointed if Netflix/DF gets the exclusive license because then it is hard for Viki to get any license amd then it is only very restricted, mostly only for people they call "QC" (Qualified Contributor) which would be very active volunteers who get this viki pass (you normally have to pay for) with other benefits like access to A LOT of dramas which are not licensed for your region. I personally am a QC and am glad to be able to use these benefits but not everyone is one. So it would be easier for viki to get the licenses for everyone, not only QCs, when Netflix doesn't join the competition. If you know what I mean ;)
But I still prefer Netflix getting the exclusive over DF getting it, since you can get Netflix pretty much everywhere, while DF is not available in Europe legally. Of course there are ways around that to use DF too, but that's cheating and somehow illegal or at least not conpletely legal in my opinion.
I hope I didn't bore you and you can somehow get my (and kingsqueen's) point. ^-^
I find it kind of nice to have kdramas on Netflix! But first of all: I don't have Netflix yet, bit I'm planning on getting the subscription soon after my birthday.
It's nice to see that more people can have a legal (!!) access to kdramas and adding to that, with an access to movies and other series since a lot of people already had Netflix before they started having Kdramas or because there are many people like me, who wanted to get Netflix anyways and find it pretty convenient to be able to watch some Kdramas there too!
BUT I can also understand all those people who think Kdramas could become "mainstream" and wouldn't be special anymore. Personally, I don't find this itself a huge problem because I am convinced that American shows are something with a completely vibe and approach and therefore has a different audience. Or at least I find them very different and I "fled" to Asiaan dramas because I don't really like most American shows' vibe. Of course, more people would check out Kdrama and maybe even like it but that's fine! I'm just more scared that the Drama industry in Korea, if Kdramas would get very popular in America and other countries, would try to modify their writing, acting etc to the interest abroad for whole dramas to make more money! Because then, Kdramas might lose their charm and their differences from American/Western series and I absolutely do not want to happen. I mean, I don't even find it so totally impossible, just look how the reaction was when Moon Lovers/Scarlet Heart: Goryeo didn't satisfy the Chinese viewers!
Also, another point why I kind of dislike Netflix getting on on the Kdrama train is my volunteer work. I am a subtitler on Viki and I definetely already noticed a change in my work. It's all about competition: who gets the exclusive rights and who gets the normal license and who has to return empty handed. The competition has become harsher since Netflix is competing with Dramafever and Viki and we are losing licenses. It's not about exclusive rights only, but the normal license.
As someone who lives in Europe, you don't have a lot to choose if you want to watch your dramas: you can use Viki as a legal site which you DON'T necessarily need a subscription for, although the subscription does have some advantages (HD, no ads, earlier access...), or Netflix where you need a subscription or you watch dramas ilegally on streaming sites. DF doesn't work for us, so you can only hope Viki gets the license despite DF having the exclusive license. If you want to watch dramas legally, then you would most probably use Viki and most of the times the sibs are very good! I don't know about the sub quality on Netflix but I watched Night Light (one of their exclusives I believe) with their subs and oh my gosh! Some episodes were HORRIBLE!! I have never seen anything so bad on Viki and I think that should really be appreciated, considering we are all VOLUNTEERS and have usuall pretty fast teams! So despite all the crap you experience lately as a volunteer on Viki, you can still say it is not a bad site and for those in Europe at least, you are the only legal option with a bigger variety of dramas and movies from Asia.
I will still check out the Kdramas on Netflix and "inspect" the subtitle quality ;)
I also usually enjoy dramas which are airing more but right now for example I have the problem of having so much less time than usual and can barely keep up with any of the dramas I'm watching. While trying to catch up, I don't have time to watch a conpleted drama and there are many dramas in which I'm so much behind so that it's basically like binge-watching them. In such cases where I have less time and can't catch up witch everything, I tend to watch the dramas I like the most first and catching up with them which causes me to neglect the dramas which I don't like as much and I lose interest in them because I often forget why I even liked it or because I just grow tired of it being on my list. That is kind of sad but I can only prevent that from happening by watching less but I can never know when I will really have so much less time... that makes it kinda hard
I'm so sad and disappointed that I missed the pilot in German movie theatres although they even played it in the bigger movie theatre of my city! If I had known that it would only be played on one evening, then I would have watched Train to Busan instead of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...
Best Japanese Drama of 2016: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto/A Girl & Three Sweethearts, Never Let Me Go
Best Japanese Movie of 2016: -
Best Romance Drama: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto
Best Comedy Drama: -
Best Romantic/Comedy Drama: -
Best Historical Drama: -
Best Family Drama: -
Best Action/Thriller/Suspense Drama: Never Let Me Go
Best Mystery Drama: -
Best First Episode of Japanese Drama of 2016: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto, Never Let Me Go
Best Manga/Anime Adaption: Wolf Girl and Black Prince
Best Medical Drama: -
Best Japanese Actor: Yamazaki Kento (Shibasaki Kanata in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto), Miura Haruma (Doi Tomohiko in Never Let Me Go)
Best Japanese Actress: Kiritani Mirei (Sakurai Misaki in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto), Ayase Haruka (Hoshina Kyoko in Never Let Me Go), Mizukawa Asami (Sakai Miwa in Never Let Me Go)
Best Japanese Supporting Actor: Nomura Shuhei (Shibasaki Touma in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto), Miura Shohei (Shibasaki Chiaki in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto)
Best Japanese Supporting Actress: -
Best Up and Coming Actor of 2016: Yamazaki Kento (Shibasaki Kanata in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto)
Best Up and Coming Actress of 2016: -
Best Villain: -
Best Idol Actor (or Actress): Yamazaki Kento
Best Couple: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto (Kiritani Mirei and Yamazaki Kento)
Best Bromance: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto
Best OST: Never Let Me Go, Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto
Best Korean Drama of 2016: W, Signal, Another Miss Oh
Best Korean Movie of 2016: Train To Busan, The Last Princess, Unforgettable
Best Mini Series/Web Drama: Page Turner
Best Romance Drama: W, Another Miss Oh
Best Comedy Drama: -
Best Romantic/Comedy Drama: -
Best Historical/Sageuk Drama: Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Love in the Moonlight
Best Family Drama: -
Best Action/Thriller/Suspense Drama: Signal; Bring It On, Ghost; Pied Piper
Best Melodrama: Uncontrollably Fond
Best Actor: Lee Jong Suk, Song Joong Ki, Ji Chang Wook
Best Actress: Kim So Hyun, Seo Hyun Jin, Kim Hye Soo
Best Supporting Actor: Seo Kang Joon, Nam Joo Hyuk, Kim Min Suk
Best Supporting Actress: Jung Eugene
Best Up and Coming Actor of 2016: Ji Soo, Park Bo Gum, Lee Je Hoon
Best Up and Coming Actress of 2016: Lee Se Young
Best Villain: Kim Ui Seong, Lee Chung Ah
Best Idol Actor (or Actress): Lee Joon, Kang Min Hyuk, Onew
Best Couple: W (Han Hyo Joo and Lee Jong Suk), Another Miss Oh (Eric Mun and Seo Hyun Jin), Descendants of the Sun (Jin Goo and Kim Ji Won)
Best Bromance: Moorim School, Descendants of the Sun
Best OST: Moorim School, W, Descendants of the Sun
Thanks for your work as a translator, I'm sure a lot of people appreciate it!!!
Many times during your articles I sit here and nod in agreement as a fellow translator/segmenter.
(Espescially when you bashed your old workplace viki because I do too lol)
Merry christmas!
I assume they use the money they make with their subscriptions on licenses and for paying their officially hired employees. Also, I do not think they make that incredibly of an amount of money with their subscriptions since I would assume that most people using Viki don't need a subscription and therefore might not have it, as well as that you get the "Viki Pass Standard" for free if you have reached an certain amount of contributions as a volunteer. They don't make money off most their volunteers in that way.
Another thing I would like to mention is that they have started to appreciate their volunteers less and less ever since Viki belongs to Rakuten. Just to name some examples: they have this new "Viki Pass Plus" which gains access to even more shows and here is the thing: not even do you have to pay for that even as a volunteer, it is also only available in AMERICA. And there are so many shows with the license for only Viki Pass Plus. You may be able to imagine how thrilled European users might be.
To add to that, on some shows Viki collaborates with a new platform which only works in America too, called Kocowa and there you are not allowed to sub and slowly the subbers translating into English are starting to be replaced by some kind of bot which causes not only for English subbers to lose their work but also horrible subs without any understanding of references or metaphors are a consequence.
You get my point, I guess. Viki sinply does not seem to give a shit about their volunteers, so why bother paying them?
People say dramas are not reality and you gain nothing but entertainment from it but I can absolutely say that this is not true. Dramas have helped me find interest in a work field to specialize in after graduating! So I would really recommend to just try and do an internship if you have found something which seems like a nice job option if you can!!!
Keep up the grood work! ;)
For people like you and many others, it might be a good alternative to watch dramas legally on Netflix though, but I get pretty disappointed if Netflix/DF gets the exclusive license because then it is hard for Viki to get any license amd then it is only very restricted, mostly only for people they call "QC" (Qualified Contributor) which would be very active volunteers who get this viki pass (you normally have to pay for) with other benefits like access to A LOT of dramas which are not licensed for your region. I personally am a QC and am glad to be able to use these benefits but not everyone is one. So it would be easier for viki to get the licenses for everyone, not only QCs, when Netflix doesn't join the competition. If you know what I mean ;)
But I still prefer Netflix getting the exclusive over DF getting it, since you can get Netflix pretty much everywhere, while DF is not available in Europe legally. Of course there are ways around that to use DF too, but that's cheating and somehow illegal or at least not conpletely legal in my opinion.
I hope I didn't bore you and you can somehow get my (and kingsqueen's) point. ^-^
It's nice to see that more people can have a legal (!!) access to kdramas and adding to that, with an access to movies and other series since a lot of people already had Netflix before they started having Kdramas or because there are many people like me, who wanted to get Netflix anyways and find it pretty convenient to be able to watch some Kdramas there too!
BUT I can also understand all those people who think Kdramas could become "mainstream" and wouldn't be special anymore. Personally, I don't find this itself a huge problem because I am convinced that American shows are something with a completely vibe and approach and therefore has a different audience. Or at least I find them very different and I "fled" to Asiaan dramas because I don't really like most American shows' vibe. Of course, more people would check out Kdrama and maybe even like it but that's fine! I'm just more scared that the Drama industry in Korea, if Kdramas would get very popular in America and other countries, would try to modify their writing, acting etc to the interest abroad for whole dramas to make more money! Because then, Kdramas might lose their charm and their differences from American/Western series and I absolutely do not want to happen. I mean, I don't even find it so totally impossible, just look how the reaction was when Moon Lovers/Scarlet Heart: Goryeo didn't satisfy the Chinese viewers!
Also, another point why I kind of dislike Netflix getting on on the Kdrama train is my volunteer work. I am a subtitler on Viki and I definetely already noticed a change in my work. It's all about competition: who gets the exclusive rights and who gets the normal license and who has to return empty handed. The competition has become harsher since Netflix is competing with Dramafever and Viki and we are losing licenses. It's not about exclusive rights only, but the normal license.
As someone who lives in Europe, you don't have a lot to choose if you want to watch your dramas: you can use Viki as a legal site which you DON'T necessarily need a subscription for, although the subscription does have some advantages (HD, no ads, earlier access...), or Netflix where you need a subscription or you watch dramas ilegally on streaming sites. DF doesn't work for us, so you can only hope Viki gets the license despite DF having the exclusive license. If you want to watch dramas legally, then you would most probably use Viki and most of the times the sibs are very good! I don't know about the sub quality on Netflix but I watched Night Light (one of their exclusives I believe) with their subs and oh my gosh! Some episodes were HORRIBLE!! I have never seen anything so bad on Viki and I think that should really be appreciated, considering we are all VOLUNTEERS and have usuall pretty fast teams! So despite all the crap you experience lately as a volunteer on Viki, you can still say it is not a bad site and for those in Europe at least, you are the only legal option with a bigger variety of dramas and movies from Asia.
I will still check out the Kdramas on Netflix and "inspect" the subtitle quality ;)
#4 Who needs sleep? Pshh totally overrated.
Me watching the first episode: What kind of trash is this?!
*continues to watch drama*
Best Japanese Movie of 2016: -
Best Romance Drama: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto
Best Comedy Drama: -
Best Romantic/Comedy Drama: -
Best Historical Drama: -
Best Family Drama: -
Best Action/Thriller/Suspense Drama: Never Let Me Go
Best Mystery Drama: -
Best First Episode of Japanese Drama of 2016: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto, Never Let Me Go
Best Manga/Anime Adaption: Wolf Girl and Black Prince
Best Medical Drama: -
Best Japanese Actor: Yamazaki Kento (Shibasaki Kanata in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto), Miura Haruma (Doi Tomohiko in Never Let Me Go)
Best Japanese Actress: Kiritani Mirei (Sakurai Misaki in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto), Ayase Haruka (Hoshina Kyoko in Never Let Me Go), Mizukawa Asami (Sakai Miwa in Never Let Me Go)
Best Japanese Supporting Actor: Nomura Shuhei (Shibasaki Touma in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto), Miura Shohei (Shibasaki Chiaki in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto)
Best Japanese Supporting Actress: -
Best Up and Coming Actor of 2016: Yamazaki Kento (Shibasaki Kanata in Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto)
Best Up and Coming Actress of 2016: -
Best Villain: -
Best Idol Actor (or Actress): Yamazaki Kento
Best Couple: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto (Kiritani Mirei and Yamazaki Kento)
Best Bromance: Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto
Best OST: Never Let Me Go, Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto
Best Korean Movie of 2016: Train To Busan, The Last Princess, Unforgettable
Best Mini Series/Web Drama: Page Turner
Best Romance Drama: W, Another Miss Oh
Best Comedy Drama: -
Best Romantic/Comedy Drama: -
Best Historical/Sageuk Drama: Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Love in the Moonlight
Best Family Drama: -
Best Action/Thriller/Suspense Drama: Signal; Bring It On, Ghost; Pied Piper
Best Melodrama: Uncontrollably Fond
Best Actor: Lee Jong Suk, Song Joong Ki, Ji Chang Wook
Best Actress: Kim So Hyun, Seo Hyun Jin, Kim Hye Soo
Best Supporting Actor: Seo Kang Joon, Nam Joo Hyuk, Kim Min Suk
Best Supporting Actress: Jung Eugene
Best Up and Coming Actor of 2016: Ji Soo, Park Bo Gum, Lee Je Hoon
Best Up and Coming Actress of 2016: Lee Se Young
Best Villain: Kim Ui Seong, Lee Chung Ah
Best Idol Actor (or Actress): Lee Joon, Kang Min Hyuk, Onew
Best Couple: W (Han Hyo Joo and Lee Jong Suk), Another Miss Oh (Eric Mun and Seo Hyun Jin), Descendants of the Sun (Jin Goo and Kim Ji Won)
Best Bromance: Moorim School, Descendants of the Sun
Best OST: Moorim School, W, Descendants of the Sun