Is It That Hard?

For fans of Korean and Japanese culture, the primary method to read the latest manga update or watch Korean variety shows is to rely on translations done by other fans. Of course, there are some well-done official translations available, but the amount of those official translations will never be enough to fully satisfy anyone.

I am an avid fan of reading webtoons, and I frequently use both Naver Webtoons and Line Webtoons, which is the English version of Naver Webtoons. I sometimes read the fan-translated English version of a Korean webtoon just out of curiosity. Some of them are translated proficiently, but others are not in such a good shape.

My biggest complaint of translations in Line Webtoons is that slangs and other informal words are usually improperly translated into English.

Also, many of the translators choose to literally translate the Korean word-for-word into English. The translations are grammatically-sound, but they end up sounding awkward and unnatural because the two languages aren't exactly the same in nuances and other complex linguistic features.

Cringe.

As a fluent speaker of both English and Korean, I fail to understand why people cannot translate things properly. Does Line Webtoon use translators who are not completely fluent? I will never know...