ABSTRACT
In his Oscars acceptance speech when Parasite won Best Picture, Bong Joon-Ho stated, “once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” However, the issues of viewing foreign films are more than the inconvenience of having to read subtitles. For non-Korean audiences, particularly Anglophone European (Anglo-Euro) audiences, Korean films bring considerable challenges due to their vast differences in linguistic and cultural heritage, verbal and non-verbal communication styles, and cultural meanings and contexts. This chapter discusses the challenges of translating/subtitling South Korean films, using the case study of Parasite to provide examples of what is lost in the English subtitles and highlighting the tools required to gain an understanding. Examples of meanings beyond the one-inch-tall barrier were selected from a cross-cultural perspective (Korean/Anglo-Euro) based on the inability or inefficiency of their translation in the English subtitles.
