When Engrish attacks...

[dangermousie]

I just got my DVD of the Korean drama Love Story in Harvard. I bought it on ebay so had no idea what kind of DVD it would turn out to be (It's Kim Rae Won being awesome and angsty, so I wanted to actually buy the Yes Asia version but that's R03 and I haven't gotten around getting a multiregion player yet and am not keen on computer watching).

Anyway, the picture quality is good enough (though I still want official DVDs to get it really crisp) and the subs are excellent.

But the COVER. The COVER summary. Whoever wrote it was not the one who did the subs and clearly had only passing familiarity with English. Passing in a next county that is. Not as bad as the Chinese cover for Spring Waltz (I am so excited YA is releasing a version later this month. I am waiting for that boxset to watch it). But still...worth quoting in its entirety.

Now, before I copy the summary on the back, let me briefly specify what this drama is about, as you will likely not get anything of that sort from the summary. LSiH is about two Koreans studying abroad in Harvard. The guy is a law student and the gal is a med student. They fall in love blah blah.

Now, here is what the DVD says: spelling, punctuation and capitalization (the authors seem to hate spaces between sentences) copied exactly:

a Works to Despict the Dreams Andlove of the Korea Students Abroad in Harvard.

In the most competitive place in the world,they meet each other.in the foreign harvard place,struggle for their dreams and love struggle for the lucidity making progress ambition and romance in life.

On the hard wooden chair,the books which are getting more and more corrodent during the several hundred years,and the nameless souls which being with the time.the light in the harvard library would not br turned off.the young people will stay over night to study as a hundred years ago.

This TV play represents the most competitive place in the world,different typts of people in harvard.though their intentions are different.but they are the same :throwing themselves into the study process whenever they are please happy ardor or painful.the dramatix personaes are the nucleus guys.

"LOVE IN HARVARD"is a story about love.naive people,mutual impassioned love without any formalists.the romantic love in campus,and the pure period for every audience who are expecting passion.

This summary definitely makes it clear Harvard is competitive and there is a lot of studying going on (though clearly not by people who wrote the summary on the back of te DVD). Should have mentioned the kissing instead :D

Comments

[grey-fuzzy.livejournal.com]

"dramatix personaes are the nucleus guys" <-- I feel that, okay?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

ROFL. Maybe they are physicists?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It challenges my Hwang Ji Ni box description. I'd have to look again at mine to see which is worse.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Nothing is as bad as the spring waltz one. just click on the engrish tag :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*shall do so in about an hour as she's about to get off. and find the post w/ the hwang ji ni one*

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I had the same Engrish problem with my GetBackers DVDs that I bought in the Japanese versions. Whoever translated those things did NOT pass their English cram class, let me tell you.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Isn't it amazing? It's sort of...whaaaaaaaaa?

How were the DVD subs themselves?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

if they're like my basara ones of the same type, engrish. like the chinese versions of doramas. (though if you're asking because you're looking for cheap getbackers DVDs, i can direct you to y regionless person)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I have good GetBackers DVDs, thanks!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

i thought you did, but it never hurts to check.

Speaking of good DVDs...your Tokyo Juliet ones come yet?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Not yet. They've been shipped and should get here soon. If the site works out, I'll let you know as they are a tiny bit more pricy ($4/disc or so) but they have everything under the sun...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm largely hoping for a LOT of period dramas that I'm having trouble tracking down. *not that I don't have a lot already waiting for me anyway...*

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

yeah i hate it when at times i buy dvds of asian dramas on ebay.. let's just say when they get try to write english it never comes out the way we think it's all cause to us english is basic but to them it's like hell to learn and to write..

i have seen the first eps of love story in harvard but i procrastinated seeing the rest of it since my must watch list keeps on growing

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

let's just say when they get try to write english it never comes out the way we think it's all cause to us english is basic but to them it's like hell to learn and to write..


English is not my first language but Russian is also in the Indo-European group so it's easier than switching between Chinese and English. Still, I don't write DVD covers for a living :)

LSiH looks so cute!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

All anyone needs to know for why English is a pain is that it's a Germanic language that tries to follow Latin rules and likes to randomly incorporate any word from any language whenever it feels like it.

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

LMAO! WTF! And I thought dramawiki was bad...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heh. If you want to see true horror, click on my engrish tag and read the spring waltz summary.

[allbloomedout.livejournal.com]

My eyes are still watery, lol. ^^

AHHH they filmed Love Story at UCLA? AH! I wonder which buildings!! I could actually check that out..well on the way to class lol. :P Eh, how geeky can i be thinking of walking to a place because Rae Won was here..I need help.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You should watch to find out for yourself :) I just started and it's awesome.

[greycoupon.livejournal.com]

On the hard wooden chair sounds rather kinky.

I think it is safe to say this wasn't shot anywhere that resembles Harvard at all?

throwing themselves into the study process whenever they are please happy ardor or painful.the dramatix personaes are the nucleus guys.

Also sounds kind of kinky.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think it actually was shot at either Harvard (not that I know what Harvard looks like) or what looks like some sort of an American university at any rate. Let me google...

Yes. Wikipedia is your friend. They filmed at UCLA and USC.

Heh. I wish there was kinky stuff here, but for that you have to watch Korean movies (OMG, Chunhyang!) This does have a sex scene which is quite a big deal by Korean drama standard :)

[shinystory.livejournal.com]

I understood the story, I really did. With language like that? It was very hard not to.

(Oh, who am I kidding?)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

ROFL. I really want to know who wrote this and if they got paid :)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

OMG. I think I have stiches now from the laughter. The Engrish totally killed me :D

*still LMAO*

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heeee. Isn't it awesome?