Hi Euna! I have a super simple question. In ITS2 episode 5 while the guys are talking at night infront the camper van jimin makes a comment on jungkook's sleeping habits. It was super cute but I've been seeing translators translate his speech as both the present tense and past tense and idk which one is right.
For example some translate it as "I never knew when jungkook went to sleep" vs "I never know when jungkook goes to sleep" And I've also seen discrepancies as to whether or not jimin said "sounds" present tense or "sounded" past tense.
Would love if you could clear it up please if you have the time!
Hello anon!
I'd be more than happy to answer your question, though it might not be as simple as I'd like it to be.
Since meaning is so heavily interlaced with context in Korean, it can be a tricky language to translate word for word to English. It doesn't always follow the same conventions for conveying present or past tense, and especially in casual conversations, those kinds of grammatical structures tend to become even more loose. There's a lot of instances where a translator would have to insert missing (understood) subjects and tenses just to make the sentence clear for English audiences. But as a result, there can be times when there isn't exact consensus as to which tense to use/how best to convey the missing components. Sometimes this is due to the inherent ambiguity of the original sentences. Sometimes this is human error/confusion on part of the translator.
But to answer your question anon, for the recent episode, my opinion is that it would make the most sense to translate what Jimin said in present tense.
정국이는 진짜 언제 잠드는지 모르게써. 어? 자나..? 이러면 갑자기 어느순간..허어어얽~ I really can't tell when Jungkook goes to sleep. At a certain point I'd think "Oh? Is he sleeping?" and then suddenly I'd hear him go "Huuuaaaak"
Past tense limits Jimin's "not knowing" as a specific, isolated event, when actually the phrase in Korean doesn't seem to have the same kind of temporal constraint. He could be talking about this one recent instance where he couldn't tell if JK was sleeping or not, but the way he phrases it suggests that it's not a one time thing. That it's a continuous source of funny confusion for him.
It's that kind of domestic, casually knowledgeable way he talks about JK's sleeping habits that made this moment a hit with the k-side today, and I think that nuance of meaning really only comes across by translating it with the present tense!
