The Korean reality survival show听笔丑测蝉颈肠补濒:听100听has become a听驳濒辞产补濒听hit, topping Netflix鈥檚 non-English lineup in just a week following its premier on January 24 2023.
The name of the show says it all:听100听contestants with superb physiques participate in a variety of challenges to win 300 million Korean won, equivalent to A$335,000.
There are several reasons behind the success of the show. First, the idea of finding the fittest body through a series of grueling real-life challenges is unprecedented.
Second, the show is reminiscent of another Korean entertainment success,听厂辩耻颈诲听Game.听贵谤辞尘听the studio settings to the ways the challenges operate,听笔丑测蝉颈肠补濒:听100听has obviously been inspired by its fictional blockbuster predecessor. Third, the sheer scale of the challenges 鈥 such as moving a 1.5-tonne ship 鈥 is just mindboggling.
There is one element that is rarely talked about, despite its pivotal contribution to the success of the show:听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍.
Without听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍, the show would never have been able to reach a听驳濒辞产补濒听audience. The same goes for all the Korean dramas, movies听补苍诲听shows that have gained huge听辫辞辫ularity around the world.听罢谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍听is听肠别苍迟谤补濒听to听迟别肠迟辞苍颈肠听蝉丑颈蹿迟蝉听in听驳濒辞产补濒听肠耻濒迟耻谤补濒听consumption, which has been traditionally led by the West.
For decades, people in the East have looked to the West (mostly the United States听补苍诲听Europe) as a source of聽肠耻濒迟耻谤补濒听consumption. Korea was no exception.
Local movies were once looked down upon by Korean people, who considered Western counterparts more advanced. It was not until the late 1990s that the Korean movie industry began to thrive, thanks largely to systematic government support.
Another contributor to the听驳濒辞产补濒听辫辞辫ularity of Korean culture is the ascendance of Korean听辫辞辫聽culture, better known as K-pop. This new genre of visually packed musical performance has benefited enormously听蹿谤辞尘听YouTube听补苍诲听has produced听驳濒辞产补濒听household names such as听叠罢厂听补苍诲听Black Pink. As of 2021, the number of K-culture fans was estimated at more than 150 million.
The rise of Korean culture has witnessed a rapid growth of a dedicated听驳濒辞产补濒听fandom听补苍诲, interestingly, fan-led听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍. Initiated by听叠罢厂聽fans, an enormous community also known as 鈥淎rmy鈥, fandom听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽basically covers everything relating to their favorite artists.听贵谤辞尘听YouTube videos听补苍诲听lyrics to news articles, fans听蹿谤辞尘听around the world who are proficient in the Korean language voluntarily translate it all into other languages听补苍诲听share them through social media.
Paid听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽work is in dem补苍诲听too. Iyuno SDI, for example, provides听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽services in more than听100听languages to听驳濒辞产补濒听media companies such as Netflix, Disney听补苍诲听Amazon. It is, however, not always humans who translate: AI-enabled machine听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽(XL8) does much of the work. Draft听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽done by machines is then reviewed听补苍诲听edited by more than 30,000 freelance translators across the world.
Despite the growth of the听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽industry, working conditions for translators are often problematic, as many translators are short of time to complete work听补苍诲听underpaid. Through this mass production process,聽肠耻濒迟耻谤补濒听consideration may sometimes get lost, as happened in听笔丑测蝉颈肠补濒:听100.
If you鈥檝e watched the show, you will remember Choo Sung-Hoon, a celebrity mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. After Choo won his first one-on-one match against another MMA fighter, Shin Dong-Kook, Shin bowed deeply before Choo, with his head touching the ground. Is this standard practice among MMA fighters? No, the answer lies in the Korean term, sunbae-nim, which Shin used consistently to refer to Choo, but was not translated in the show.
Sunbae-nim refers to a person who is older or more experienced in a workplace, school, military unit or social context. Virtually all Koreans would know several people whom they consider as sunbae-nim.
Shin clearly idolizes Choo, who is older听补苍诲听has been a big gun in the MMA field for almost two decades. It is therefore only natural for Shin to call Choo sunbae-nim, a term intended to deliver the amount of respect that Shin held for Choo. As there is no exact English equivalent, however, the term was often replaced in the subtitles by Choo鈥檚 given name, 鈥淪ung-Hoon鈥.
This might have given the wrong impression when Shin suggested to Choo that they have an MMA match, rather than playing the ball听驳补尘别听prescribed in the show. Here is what Shin said (in the English subtitles) when he made the suggestion:
It would be rude of me to challenge a respected senior just to play with a ball.
鈥淩espected senior鈥 here refers to dae-sunbaenim (literally 鈥済reat sunbaenim鈥) yet it sounds odd听补苍诲听unnatural. My suggestion? 鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 do justice to your distinguished MMA career if we just played with a ball.鈥
Titles听补苍诲听forms of address in Korean are always challenging to translate.
As someone who specializes in English-Korean听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍, I believe it would be best to retain these original expressions. In this digital era, information is at one鈥檚 fingertips听补苍诲听is easy to look up. Just as 鈥渟e帽or鈥 or 鈥渕onsieur鈥 need no听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍, Korean titles should be respected on their own terms.
When we recognize听迟谤补苍蝉濒补迟颈辞苍聽as a mutual process of engaging with an audience, a聽肠耻濒迟耻谤补濒听shift听蹿谤辞尘听the West to the East may be achieved in a genuine sense. – Reuters
