Turning Red: What Abby Say In Korean When She Yells At Her Classmates

Divesh Solanki
August 12, 2022

Here is what Abby stated in that scene and every other time she speaks Korean in Pixar’s Turning Red. Abby initially appears in the animated film Turning Red when she yells at other classmates in Korean. The plot of Turning Red centres on Mei as she learns that when under emotional strain or going through intense emotions, the ladies on her mother’s side of the family change into red pandas. Mei learns to handle her red panda with the assistance of Abby and her other friends, and she decides to keep it.

In Turning Red, Abby, Priya, and Miriam all contribute significantly by assisting Mei in resisting pressure from her mother and the other domineering women in her family. Mei’s pals are all well-developed characters with their own idiosyncrasies and characteristics, so they don’t just exist in the background. Abby, a 13-year-old with a short fuse and a bold demeanour, is unafraid of other kids and even Mei’s enormous red panda. Although Abby, a Korean-Canadian, speaks Korean throughout the film, there are no subtitles to explain what she says.

In Turning Red, Abby uses Korean as her first language. She asks three other students, “Hey, what are you trying to do?” when she confronts them about littering. Although Abby speaks a language they cannot comprehend, her tone is clear, and the kids appear terrified by her. The next time Abby yells in Korean, it’s to defend Mei from Tyler’s awful drawings of her that are all over the school’s hallways. Since all of Mei’s friends are standing up for her at once, it may be difficult to understand Abby’s Korean remarks in this situation, but the translation of her comments is, “What’s wrong with you?”

All of Mei’s pals, however, share her passion for 4*Town, and three of Abby’s uses of Korean are in response to the boy band. The first time is when Abby realises she miscalculated the date of 4*Town’s show in Toronto. She thinks they’re playing in Toronto on May 18, but Abby corrects her, saying they’re actually playing in Toledo on that day “What? Toledo? This is absurd! And where is this?” On May 25th, while they wait for the band to begin playing at the performance, Abby becomes impatient and yells, “Move along! Let’s chop! 4*Town!” She continues to express her emotional agitation while speaking in Korean until she finally spots Tae Young onstage and says, “I love you.”

As a result, it appears that she bursts into Korean when she is feeling really emotional. Abby presumably uses Korean in these situations because she wants to keep what she says to other characters a secret, or perhaps because she feels more at ease using Korean and uses it when she needs to react quickly. Abby’s use of Korean in Turning Red, whether in reference to 4*Town or out of annoyance, maintains her endearing persona and gives the character additional depth.