Top 6 National Alley Games
Squid game It's really hot these days, right? It is the first Korean drama content to be ranked No. 1 on Netflix in the US, and as of October 2, '21, it is ranked No. 1 in 82 countries with the United States as of October 2, '21. I think it's worth taking a lot of pride in K-pop content.
The Netflix drama Squid Game is a survival game with prizes and a traditional Korean alley game (?) It became a box-office hit by incorporating it. To prevent spills, I'll keep the story to a minimum. 😉 While watching the drama, I was wondering how our alley game would be translated into a foreign language when we were kids. Below are six typical traditional alley games.
Mugunghwa flowers have bloomed.
Making dalgona (sugar removal)
tug-of-war
Beading
Crossing the Gengeum Bridge
Squid game
How does the translator translate these games? I tried using the Gicon Studio comparison translator.
The translator shows the translation results as above. However, some expressions such as “Mugunghwa has bloomed” and “Making Dalgona (Drawing Sugar)” seem difficult for foreigners to understand if you use them right away. This is because the content of a sentence with a proper noun, subject, and predicate clash. As a result of checking the Netflix translation, asking friends who know English well, and searching through Google, I was able to get slightly better (translation) results by expressing it differently in relation to similar games in the local area. Also, I was able to obtain better translation results by exploring a cultural area close to localization rather than the results obtained by converting words as they are in translation work.
The Korean/English translation of the traditional alley game is expressed as follows.
Translation of traditional alley games
오징어게임
| 국문 게임명 |
영문 게임명 |
| 무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다 |
Red Light, Green Light |
| 달고나 만들기(설탕뽑기) |
Sugar honeycomb |
| 줄다리기 |
Tug of war |
| 구슬치기 |
Marbled |
| 징검다리 건너기 |
Glass stepping stones |
| 오징어게임 |
Squid game |
“Mugunghwa has bloomed” is said to be a similar game in the Anglo-American region. When I think of a traffic light, I think it's similar; it's a game where shouting “green light” moves and stops when you shout “red light.” The game “Mugunghwa has bloomed” is currently classified as a folk game in the Korean Folk Encyclopedia.
Next is making Dalgona. In the video, it's translated as “sugar honeycomb.” In fact, there are many different names for calling Dalgona. From Dalgona, there are honeycomb toffee, sponge toffee, cinder toffee, and hokey pokey, and in Korea, they are also called “lottery” or “obi” depending on the region. (It's called a lottery in my town... hehe)
Tug-of-war is so common that it was used as an official Olympic sport in the early 1900s, so it's hard to say that it's a traditional game unique to Korea. As the translator says, it's called tug of war identically. (**The above result line waiting reflects Google Translate at the time of translation using a translator. Currently, it is translated as tug of war, reflecting the latest translation results.)
Also, there is a trend where it is more commonly used and translated locally as marbled, and crossing the bridge is a glass stepping stone.
Finally, Squid Game, which is also the title of the drama, is literally translated as Squid Game in the form of Squid Plus game. At the time of the production presentation, I think it was the director's message that it was “the most intense game I played in an alley or playground when I was a kid” and “a game that symbolically metaphors the modern competitive society we live in.”
Cf. By the way, if you add the game name in Chinese, 😉
오징어게임
| 국문 게임명 |
중문 게임명(발음) |
| 무궁화 꽃이 피었습니다 |
一二三木头人(이얼싼무토우런) |
| 달고나 만들기(설탕뽑기) |
抠糖饼(코우탕빙) |
| 줄다리기 |
拔河(바흐어) |
| 구슬치기 |
弹珠(딴주) |
| 징검다리 건너기 |
踩玻璃(차이보어리) |
| 오징어게임 |
鱿鱼游戏(요우위요우시) |
This is how it tends to be used locally. Is the Chinese translation of the translator really the same as above? Check it out for yourself~
***
Proud “translation” content such as Zapaguri and Squid Game adds flavor to the inner world of Korean content, including Parasite, Buttercup, and even this Squid Game. Beyond alley games in the global era, I look forward to Hallyu content that shines more beautifully when I understand the context and culture and immerse myself in the taste of translation, beyond literal translation and paraphrase.
See you in the next post 😊
*This content has been transferred from Gicon Studio to Letterworks.
