yoorin21

Come Back Mister was so special and it was really different from all the other Korean dramas that I've watched. If you're looking for something that is funny, crazy, touching and sad all at the same time I would recommend this drama =)

I really like your point about giving yourself a guideline so that you don't waste time watching something you don't like. My personal guideline is 4-5 episodes. There are many dramas that start out slow but once the story progresses it starts to get better and more interesting. However, if a drama is super boring and I'm just not liking the acting I can drop it after watching 1 episode lol.

Thanks for your detailed reply =) Languages are so fun to talk about haha. Yeah, honestly I was so stressed out about my Korean translation it made me feel better that even someone like my professor isn't perfect and even he has his limitations. Nobody is perfect and we just try our best to convey the meaning of the original author.

Hmm...I get what you mean as you’re talking about the different quality of translation that you have seen. However, I was actually talking about how difficult it is to capture the true essence of any language when it is translated. Even a talented translator can only capture 90-95% of the meaning because there are so many words that just don’t exist in other languages. I remember taking a Korean translation course during my university days and I was so frustrated when translating a novel because so many Korean words don’t have an equivalent English word. I asked my professor for advice, he’s like 60 years old and he’s been doing Korean-English translation his whole life. He says that if the word doesn’t exist, he tries his best to explain it in a way that his English readers will understand.

Wow you've got a lot of great content in your article!! I'm just going to address one thing which is the Chinese idioms. Yes, we Chinese use a lot of idioms in our everyday lives. There are a lot of different types of idioms for example 四字成語 Four Word Idioms, which we use all the time. Obviously, in real life I'm not going to start reciting a 唐詩 by memory unless I'm like a huge language nerd (I am in fact a language nerd, but my Chinese isn't THAT good yet). But yeah, a lot of the scholars or princes back then were forced to study so it's actually not that far-fetched when they start quoting 詩 or 成語 in the middle of their sentences.

Also, I can understand why English speakers watching Chinese historical dramas would be confused because the Chinese idioms are rooted in culture, in poems, in metaphors and sometimes even in Buddhism. So these are really hard to translate!! I salute all of you translators because even though I understand the idioms, I wouldn't even know how to explain them in English. I hope this information was useful =)

I know a lot of people liked the second season but I just couldn't go past the first few episodes...The plot was so weird and I didn't like how there was a present-day Mo Lian Cheng and a past Mo Lian Cheng. I loved The Eternal Love season 1, I watched it twice and all of my friends know I almost never rewatch dramas unless it's really good. I still really like the male and female leads and I think they have great chemistry with each other. However, the plot really killed it for me. I look forward to seeing these actors in more historical dramas =)

I don't mind love triangles in dramas and books as long as the person knows who they truly love. I hate it when people are wishy washy and they can't make up their minds (example: The Hunger Games, Jealousy Incarnate). Maybe because I am a very loyal person, I can never imagine liking two people at the same time. Thankfully in dramaland, there are male/female leads who outright friendzone the other person so they're not giving them false hope.

It's awesome that they've kept the main couple the same because that's who the audience is rooting for! Also, I'm excited to see Baron Chen in a historical drama because his acting was so much fun to watch in Bromance.

No I don't think you're an odd duck as I absolutely love Chinese historical dramas as well. As someone who is Chinese, I find historical dramas fascinating because of the language, acting, romance and all of the costumes. I sometimes think it would be so cool to be alive back then but then I remember that women's status was low and I would've been married off to some random stranger...so nevermind.

But yeah for episode length, I don't mind it if it's like 30-50 episodes but once it gets to like 70 episodes it takes a lot of commitment for me. It's not that I mind spending 70 episodes on one drama, it's that it starts to drag A LOT. If anyone has watched a drama that is around 70 episodes and doesn't drag please recommend it to me. I would definitely give it a try =)

Hahaha this is so hilarious! I love the "No it was made in heaven" part. I'm not a translator but I speak several languages and I totally get the struggle of explaining things to people. Thank you for your hardwork!

Best Korean Drama of 2018:
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim

Best Romance Drama:
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim

Best Romantic/Comedy Drama:
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim

Best Historical/Sageuk Drama:
100 Days My Prince

Best Melodrama:
Something in the Rain

Best Actor:
Park Seo Jun (What's wrong with secretary kim)

Best Actress:
Park Min Young (What's wrong with secretary kim)

Best Up and Coming Actor of 2018:
Park Hyung Sik (Suits)

Best Up and Coming Actress of 2018:
Im Soo Hyang (My ID is Gangnam Beauty)

Best Idol Actor(or Actress):
D.O (100 Days My Prince)
Junho (Wok of Love)

Best Couple:
Park Seo Jun and Park Min Young (What's wrong with secretary kim)
Son Ye Jin and Jung Hae In (Something in the Rain)

Best OST:
Jeong Sewoon - It's You (What's wrong with secretary kim)

Best Chinese Drama of 2018:
Ashes of Love

Best Historical Drama:
Ashes of Love
Story of Yanxi Palace

Best Wuxia/Xianxia Drama:
Ashes of Love
Fu Yao

Best Romance/Comedy Drama:
The Eternal Love 2

Best Chinese Actor(and for which role?)
Deng Lun - Ashes of Love

Best Chinese Actress(and for which role?)
Yang Zi - Ashes of Love
Yang Mi - Fu Yao

Best Chinese Supporting Actress(and for which role?):
Puff Kuo - Bloody Romance

Best Couple:
Deng Lun and Yang Mi (Ashes of Love)
Sun Yi and Elvis Han (Siege in Fog)

Best OST(and for which drama?):
Mao Bu Yi - Bu Ran (Ashes of Love)

Wow Amy, thanks for the wonderful post! As someone who is Chinese-Canadian I can watch Chinese modern dramas and understand everything. Chinese historical dramas I understand 95% of the vocabulary and then when it comes to lyrics from historical dramas I sometimes only understand 85-90% because everything is so poetical. I love the Chinese language because it is so profound and deep =) Great job on doing the translations!

I can't believe she's older than me. She looks like a cute marshmallow ^^ I love her acting so much!!

I watched this drama for Park Bo Young but I ended up falling for Park Hyung Sik. How can a grown man be so adorable? It's crazy. I will never forget when he sings DO INTERN!! in his opera voice. I love the romance and chemistry between these two. The main problem I have with this drama is that I really didn't care about the crime and the gangster parts, I had to do a lot of fast-forwarding. I wish they stuck to rom-com instead of trying to do rom-com and thriller at the same time. Nevertheless, it was a nice feel good drama.

Wow! What a detailed reply thank you so much =D Right!! I've been watching so much historical fantasy lately I can't believe I overlooked that point. It's true that historical fantasy dramas and historical dramas are very different in that aspect. Thanks for all the great info!

Hey guys, I have a question about this drama before I start watching. Is the male lead loyal to the female lead? I know in some Chinese historical dramas the kings have lots of wives/concubines and I only want to watch a guy who is really loyal. For example in Bu Bu Jing Xin, the king would sleep with another concubine and she would just have to forgive him for doing that.

I totally agree! Chinese dramas really need to start cutting down on their episodes. It always starts off so great and then it gets draggy. I had high hopes for this one but alas, like you said once it got to the middle it started getting really boring.

Thanks for the article! I will never forget his role in "It's Okay That's Love". His acting brought tears to my eyes and I was blown away by how he was able to portray such deep emotions. Ever since watching Kyungsoo, I sometimes try out dramas with idols as the main actors because who knows, they might be good at acting as well.

Wow this article was so well-written!! I am blown away because all of your arguments are on point and also you gave so many good examples with pictures. *Starts clapping slowly*. It really boggles my mind when people don't even give historical dramas a chance because "I'm not used to looking at half-bald men" or "they have too many episodes". Obviously it's their personal choice but I just feel like they're missing out on so much! Watching historical dramas allows us to fall in love like you already mentioned. Especially in our day and age where love is cheapened and people find random strangers to meet on Tinder and other platforms, historical drama teaches me that finding true love is rare and it must be treasured.