Love, director Yoo Young-eun felt while creating Can This Love Be Translated?, is that universal emotion which could travel across cultures and borders. This is also the reason that the show is ranked among the most popular shows on Netflix India currently. To elevate the story, Yoo collaborated with Hong Sisters—writers Jung Eun and Mi Ran—known for genre-bending hits such as Alchemy of Souls and Hotel Del Luna. The globetrotting romantic drama blends romance with fantasy and horror, lending the narrative an almost fairy tale-like quality.
“With this particular project, through the tone of the genre of a romantic comedy, we wanted to convey a universal emotion,” she says. “What made it effective was the fairy tale-like world-building and universe that the Hong sisters are so well known for. And on top of that, we wanted to deliver not just the storyline, but also visuals as well.”
At the centre of the story is a talented polyglot and much in demand interpreter (Kim Seon Ho) who crosses paths with an upcoming actor (Go Youn Jung), a sudden breakout star grappling with dissociative identity disorder. The multi-genre narrative unfolds as each individual speaks their private language.
“I believe that as relationships grow closer, we expose parts of ourselves... somethings we are unawares off, and those which we try to hide... but which inevitably resurface as one gets closer to another,” Yoo says, “That completion of love is the willingness to embrace that darkness as well. The story unfolds through a diverse range of backdrops, which served as a metaphor in the narrative too.”
Sharing her creative sensibilities, Yoo explains that while the starting point was simple—a story between two individuals with contrasting temperaments who come together—the series gradually revealed something more introspective. Beyond romance, it explored how inner consciousness shapes who we are, and how intimacy exposes both fragility and truth.
Yoo began her career as an assistant director on the 2016 superhit Descendants of the Sun, a year widely regarded pivotal because Korean popular culture began slipping decisively into the global mainstream. That momentum only intensified with the rise of streaming platforms and an increasingly borderless audience. As K dramas evolved into a shared global cultural language, India emerged as a key market, with viewership jumping by over 370 per cent in 2020 and accounting for nearly half of all non-English streaming watch time by 2025.
“I think the reasons audiences love Korean dramas vary from viewer to viewer. In the past, some dramas were more emotionally intense and dynamic, while these days, newer and slightly different tempos—fresher rhythms—also seem to be receiving a lot of love,” she says. Rather than there being one defining factor, she believes that it is the strength of stories that are fast-paced, energetic, and capable of delivering strong emotional impact that resonates with audiences.
With its global surge, Can This Love Be Translated? makes one thing clear: the world may speak in different tongues, but the ache, absurdity and risk of love sound the same everywhere, and the show captures exactly that.