by The AP news agency of the United States, the world’s largest telecommunication company, highlighted the popularity of K-dramas following K-pop and introduced those who provide free English subtitles to Korean dramas.
The Associated Press reported on the 20th that Carol Holaday turns on her computer at 10 pm when most of her family goes to bed and works to add English subtitles to Korean dramas.
She has mainly worked on subtitles for more than 200 dramas on the video platform ‘Rakuten Viki.’
Rakuten Viki, which introduces Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Taiwanese dramas, is the primary audience for Americans, and 75% of them are non-Asian. All those who put subtitles on Rakuten Vicky are K-drama fans who are willing to volunteer.
Holiday, who can’t speak Korean, checks the English subtitles for grammar or spelling errors. In some cases, retired lawyers learn Korean at the University of Hawaii to get better English subtitles for Korean dramas.
Connie Meredith, who attended the University of Hawaii, confessed that it took about two hours to complete the subtitles of a 10-minute video, saying, “The grammar structure is so different from English.” She has worked on subtitles for over 500 dramas.
All of them are working on subtitles as a hobby, and they all agreed that Korean translation is the most enjoyable thing to do, just like solving a New York Times word quiz.
Rakuten Viki is named after Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopedia, and believes that the more people participate, the better English subtitles are made.
Vicky’s translation is not only in English, so subtitles in 20 different languages are produced within 24 hours of the drama airing. There are few paid translators, and a paid translator will participate if the drama does not have volunteer subtitles.
Apple TV is currently working on two Korean dramas. On the one hand, ‘Doctor Brain’ starring Lee Sun-Kyun, and on the other side, ‘Pachinko’ starring actress Yoon Yeo-Jeong. Pachinko is based on a novel by Lee Min-jin and tells the story of an immigrant family in Korea for four generations.
This year, Netflix invested about $500 million (about 590 billion won) in the production of Korean content. Korean dramas popular on Netflix last year include ‘Startup,’ ‘Psycho but it’s okay, ‘What’s wrong with Secretary Kim’ and ‘Crash Landing on You.’
Overseas K-drama fans cite a mix of genres like K-pop as a factor in the popularity of Korean dramas.
Although the drama that seemed to start with horror or romantic comedy was actually about a gangster, he evaluated the Korean drama as ending as a black comedy.
John McDonald, who covers Korean media for Forbes magazine, said, “Many K-pop stars appear in dramas, and actors in dramas also act as singers,” citing Cha Eun-woo and Suzy as representative examples.
