Mystic Messenger: Korean Phrases/Translations Clarification
After browsing the “Mystic Messenger” tag on Tumblr, I’ve just wanted to clear some possible confusion or misunderstandings about certain phrases the characters use that arose from the translation.
1. Did you eat?
When we use this phrase in Korean (informally: 밥 먹었어?) we sometimes do mean the literal translation of “Did you eat?” However, most of the time we don’t literally mean to ask if you ate or not nor are we usually interested in what you actually ate unless we specify. This is more of a phrase similar to the English “How are you?” The phrase “Did you eat?” is just a way to check up on someone’s wellbeing or how someone is doing.
2. Zen’s real name (Hyun Ryu/류현)
I wasn’t sure if I had to clarify this but I saw some fan-made content spelling his name as “Hyunryu” or “Hyun-ryu.” Zen’s first name is just Hyun (현) while his last name is Ryu (류), so in the Western style of first name-last name, his full name would be Hyun Ryu, while in the Korean style with the family name first, it would be Ryu Hyun (류현). I understand the confusion about this since his name is only one character while most Korean names are two characters. (Actually this isn’t rare or anything as I have plenty of friends with one character names)
3. Zen’s “babe”
Haha this translation was comical and slightly awkward for me. In the game, every time Zen refers to you as babe, honey, sweetie, etc, in Korean he is actually referring to you as “jagi” or 자기. This is actually a very fond and endearing way of referring to someone or of saying “you” (basically, the same thing as the Japanese “anata”) For example, my parents call each other jagi. This expression is usually so endearing that not all non-married couples refer to each other this way. Personally, I’ve never called someone or been called jagi before but I know some friends who call their significant others jagi even though they’re not married so in the end it’s just preference and how lovey-dovey you are. In my opinion the most accurate English translation for this word or phrase is “dear” or “honey” although there is no 100% proper English translation of this word/phrase as the English language does not have different ways of referring to people based on your relationship with them. In any case, “babe” is fine too but I just wanted to clarify that what he actually says has a more fonder and deeper undertone. However, even in the early phone calls in the Common Route, Zen still refers to you as “jagi” sometimes even though you’re not in any romantic relationship yet so my initial impression of him was “Wow this guy is a total flirt.” ^^;;
4. “Lovely Zen”
I started playing the game in English first because that was the default setting for my game and I didn’t know you could change the language to Korean until later on, so when the option came up to call Zen “Lovely Zen” or “Zenny Zen” I was kind of flustered because it kind of sounded so awkward. You wouldn’t actually call someone “Lovely ______” in real life, right? But after I changed my game language to Korean, it all made sense. Every time a nickname for Zen comes up, you are actually calling him oppa or Zen-oppa (오빠/젠오빠). I’m sure if you’re even a little bit interested in Korean culture, you would already know that this is either a way for a female to call a male that’s older than her, or for a younger female to call her older boyfriend. In the latter, romantic sense, this term is also pretty endearing but definitely not as deep as “jagi.” For example, my ex-boyfriend was one year older than me so technically I should have called him oppa or (his name)-oppa. However, since we both live in America, it’s not that enforced and I didn’t really like calling him oppa casually since I’m used to calling my older male cousins oppa so it was just weird for me. Still, sometimes if I wanted to cheer him up or something and I called him oppa, then I remember he would get really happy and kind of embarassed, just like how in one of the chats, Zen said he felt his heart skip a beat one of the first times you called him “Lovely Zen.”
This last thing is just my opinion so I hope people don’t take too much offense or see me as narrow-minded.
5. In fan-made content: “nii-san” or “baka” (형, 바보)
I love Mystic Messenger so any fanart or imagines I see, I love looking at and reading them but when I see English comics or short stories of the Choi twins and Seven says something like “Listen to nii-san” to Saeran or of one of the RFA members calling someone else “baka”, it’s just a little strange for me. Remember, all the characters in this game are Korean so instead of “nii-san,” they would say “hyung (형)” and instead of “baka” they would say “babo (바보).” If the content was originally in Japanese, then I would understand using nii-san or baka but if the content is originally in English I think it would be nice if they portrayed the characters as sticking to their roots and using the proper Korean terms. Mystic Messenger is not an anime and is not related to Japan at all >.<
If you read everything, as always 감사합니다~^^
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