每日英語跟讀 Ep.804:「寄生上流」流行後 美國人有克服了字幕障礙？After ‘Parasite,’ Are Subtitles Still a 1-Inch Barrier for Americans?

Last month, when Bong Joon Ho, the South Korean director of the film “Parasite,” accepted the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, he teased American moviegoers that a whole world of wonderful cinema awaited them beyond Hollywood.

上個月，南韓《寄生上流》一片導演奉俊昊領取金球獎最佳外語片獎時，挑逗美國電影迷，好萊塢之外，有一整個世界的精彩電影在等著他們。

“Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,” Bong said during his acceptance speech.

他得獎感言說：「一旦你克服一英寸高的字幕障礙，就會被引往許多很棒的電影。」

In the United States, foreign language films with subtitles rarely gain the traction that “Parasite” has. It won over both audiences and critics and raked in more than $35 million on its way to winning four Academy Awards , capping a glittering awards season with a best picture Oscar. It was the first film not in English to take home the top prize in the Academy’s 92-year history.

在美國，帶有字幕的外語電影很少像《寄生上流》那樣受到歡迎。它叫好又叫座，並在攻下4項奧斯卡金像獎的途中，賺進超過3500萬美元的收入，以奧斯卡最佳影片獎為它光輝的獲獎季畫下句點，是該學院92年歷史裡第一部拿下這最高獎項的非英語電影。

It was a seismic night for fans of foreign films in the United States, where moviegoers have historically preferred their popular films in English. And it left some wondering: Are those 1-inch-tall subtitles still a barrier?

對美國的外片迷來說，這是個震撼的夜晚。當地影迷向來較喜歡通俗的英語電影。這讓一些人納悶：「那一英寸高的字幕仍是一道障礙嗎？」

Even before “Parasite,” a thriller about the class divide in South Korea, took off, there were signs that things had begun to shift for subtitled entertainment in the United States. The film joined a small group of subtitled films that have broken through to mainstream success in Hollywood over the last two decades, like “Roma” (2018), “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), “Amelie” (2001) and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” (2000), a Chinese drama that earned $128 million, making it the highest grossing foreign language film in the United States.

甚至在這部關於南韓階級分化的驚悚片《寄生上流》走紅前，即有跡象顯示對有字幕的娛樂節目來說，情況開始轉變了。這部電影加入了過去20年間取得突破，並在好萊塢打入主流獲得成功的少數字幕電影的行列，這些電影包括《羅馬》（2018年）、《羊男的迷宮》（2006年）、《艾蜜莉的異想世界》（2001年），以及華語電影《臥虎藏龍》（2000年），該片以1.28億美元拿下美國票房收入最高外語片榮銜。

Over the same period, as streaming services have replaced network and cable television, subtitles have also gained a stronger toehold on smaller screens, from cellphones to TV sets.

同一時期，隨著串流服務取代電視網和有線電視，字幕在手機、電視等小屏幕上腳步也站得更稳了。

Researchers credit the shift in part to two factors. The first is a 2016 rule from the Federal Communications Commission that made it mandatory for a TV show that has been captioned for broadcast to also be captioned when it is posted online or on a streaming service such at Netflix or Hulu. The second factor, they say, is Netflix itself. It is the most popular streaming platform in the United States, with more than 60 million paid subscribers, and much of its original content is in languages other than English.

研究員將這種轉變部分歸功於兩個因素。第一個是2016年聯邦通訊傳播委員會的一項規定，即為了播出而附上字幕的電視節目，在網路或串流平台如Netflix或Hulu上發佈時，亦須附上字幕。他們並說第二項原因是Netflix本身。它是美國最受歡迎的串流媒體平台，擁有超過6000萬付費用戶，許多原創內容語言均非英語。

More than 50% of the audiences for the Netflix shows “Dark,” which is in German, and “3%”, which is in Portuguese, are international.

Netflix德語節目《闇》以及葡萄牙語節目《3%》，外國觀眾超過一半。

A Netflix spokeswoman pointed to “Narcos,” a series about drug dealers in Mexico and Colombia. It has scenes in both Spanish and English, and uses subtitles for the Spanish dialogue, but that hasn’t kept the show from being popular, she said.

Netflix的女發言人談到《毒梟》這部關於墨西哥和哥倫比亞毒販的連續劇時指出，片中有西班牙語和英語兩種場景，西班牙語對話部分配有字幕，但並不會影響它受歡迎的程度。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/350337/web/