By Frank Langford

Announcer： Every week thousands of young Chinese gather on line to translate Hollywood movies and TV shows into Mandarin. They call themselves， “Fan 1）Subtitle Groups”. Some do it for fun and to help people learn English， others see it as a subtle way to introduce new ideas into Chinese society. Frank Langford reports on how theyre trying to open minds one download at a time.

Frank Langford： Among the more popular American TV shows on Chinas internet these days is HBOs The Newsroom. One reason is this exchange between a college student and a news 2）anchor， played by Jeff Daniels.

Student： Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world？

Anchor： There is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that were the greatest country in the world. Were 7th in literacy， 27th in math， 22nd in science. . .

Ziu： The first episode really catch[sic] my eye.

Langford： Zius a college 3）junior and a member of an on-line group that translated the shows 1st season. The group， about 20 people spread around China， 4）divvies up the scenes and translates them with the help of dictionaries. Ziu says

she loved that scene， because it was so refreshing to hear someone challenge a national myth.

Ziu： Not being， you know， fooled by the whole 5）propaganda to really think about what is really happening in this country.

Langford： Chinese viewers have downloaded The Newsroom more than half a million times， and posted more than 10，000 comments， including criticism of the acting. But one fan， using the nickname Terrance， had this observation. “Maybe its hard to summarize why Americas the greatest nation in the world， but having a remarkable 4th 6）estate is definitely one of the reasons why this country is so great”. This is the sort of stuff Zius looking for.

Ziu： Im not gonna say I want teach [sic] people. Im not gonna tell you what we should do. You think by yourself. That is our goal.

Wolfe： I want to welcome everyone to assume the position， and this is gonna be a different way to look at history. Langford： Chinese translation groups 7）scour the Internet for any show that might resonate， even 8）obscure ones like Assume the Position. Its a 9）stand-up routine， slash， history class by comedian Robert Wuhl.

Wolfe： Its the stories that made up America and the stories that America made up.

Langford： It aired on HBO in 2006. Jeremy King， and English teacher in Central Chinas Jiangsu Province， translated it in December.

Jeremy King： I had my hesitations， cause I thought， well， this ones about history， but then， when I released the 1st episode， it…it was very popular.

Langford： King says the video， which has been downloaded more than 10，000 times here， is interesting to Chinese because it focuses on how people perceive history. And stylistically， its totally different than Chinas tradition of 10）rote learning.

King： Most of the reply[sic] will say ‘this is the best class I have ever watched， or ‘I wish I could have a teacher like him.

Langford： Of course not everyone is translating TV shows in hopes of changing society. At least 3 groups focus on Downton Abbey.

Alice： My name is Alice Wu， and I study in Shanghai International Studies University. In my group there are probably 6 or 7 people doing the same episode， so its go pretty fast. We probably have to finish it in one day.

Langford： Wu likes the show because it gives her entré to a foreign world of privilege and class dynamics. Like others， Wus subtitle group works off pirated versions of TV programs. She knows its illegal， but Wu says her group doesnt make any money off the videos， and just translates them because they love the show.

主持人：每周都有數(shù)以千計(jì)的中國(guó)年輕人聚集在網(wǎng)上，把好萊塢電影和電視節(jié)目翻譯成中文。他們自稱為“粉絲字幕組”。有人純粹為了好玩，幫助人們學(xué)習(xí)英文，其他人則把這看成是將新思想帶入中國(guó)社會(huì)的途徑。弗蘭克·蘭福德報(bào)道了他們是如何在同一時(shí)間翻譯下載的影視作品。

弗蘭克·蘭福德：近來在中國(guó)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)中大受歡迎的美劇是HBO電視臺(tái)的《新聞編輯室》。其中一個(gè)原因是里面講到的一場(chǎng)交流會(huì)，一個(gè)大學(xué)生與杰夫·丹尼爾斯飾演的新聞主播的對(duì)話。

學(xué)生：你能說說為什么美國(guó)是世界上最偉大的國(guó)家？

主播：沒有確鑿的證據(jù)表明我

們是世界上最偉大的國(guó)家。我們文學(xué)排第7，數(shù)學(xué)排27，科學(xué)排22……

茹：第一集就把我吸引住了。

蘭福德：茹是一名大三的學(xué)生，也是翻譯了該劇第一季的在線字幕組的一員。這個(gè)字幕組由遍布中國(guó)的2 0人組成，他們分配場(chǎng)景

并借助字典進(jìn)行翻譯。茹說她喜歡這一幕，因?yàn)槁牭接腥颂魬?zhàn)國(guó)家信念讓人耳目一新。

茹：這會(huì)讓人想到不是被通篇的宣傳攻勢(shì)愚弄，而是會(huì)仔細(xì)想想這個(gè)國(guó)家究竟發(fā)生著什么樣的事。

蘭福德：中國(guó)觀眾下載《新聞編輯室》超過百萬次，有多于萬條影評(píng)，包括對(duì)表演的批評(píng)。但是，一個(gè)網(wǎng)名叫特倫斯的粉絲卻持如下觀點(diǎn)，“也許很難概括為什么美國(guó)是世界上最偉大的國(guó)家，但是光看美國(guó)國(guó)土面積位居全球第四位就足以說明這個(gè)國(guó)家確實(shí)很大?！边@類評(píng)論正是茹希望看到的。茹：我不會(huì)說我想教人們什么，我也不想告訴你們應(yīng)該做些什么。你

們自己去思考，這是我們的目的。

伍爾夫：我要?dú)g迎在場(chǎng)的各位，這將是另眼看歷史的一堂課。蘭福德：中國(guó)的翻譯團(tuán)隊(duì)在網(wǎng)上搜索任何會(huì)引起共鳴的影視作品，甚至名不見經(jīng)傳的如《少數(shù)派第21彈：另眼看歷史》。這是由喜劇演員羅伯特·烏爾表演的單口相聲，狂批猛侃的歷史課。

伍爾夫：這個(gè)故事由美國(guó)以及組成美國(guó)的故事所構(gòu)成。蘭福德：2006年這部劇在HBO播放。杰米里·金在12月翻譯了這部劇，他是位于華中地區(qū)的江蘇省的一名英語(yǔ)教師。

杰米里·金：我猶豫過，因?yàn)槲蚁耄@是關(guān)于歷史的，然而，當(dāng)我發(fā)布了第一集之后，它就……就火了。

蘭福德：金說這個(gè)視頻被下載超過一萬次，之所以引起中國(guó)人的興趣是因?yàn)樗麑Ｗ⒂谡f人們?nèi)绾慰创龤v史。在風(fēng)格上，這與中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)的死記硬背的學(xué)習(xí)方法大不相同。

金：大多數(shù)回復(fù)會(huì)說“這是我看過最棒的課了”或者“我希望我的老師也像他一樣”。

蘭福德：當(dāng)然不是人人都希望通過翻譯影視作品來改變社會(huì)。至少有三個(gè)字幕組在翻譯《唐頓莊園》。愛麗絲：我叫愛麗絲·吳，在上海外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)上學(xué)。我所在的字幕組大概有六七人翻譯同一集，所以速度很快，一天就可以完成。

蘭福德：吳喜歡這部劇是因?yàn)樵搫∽屗私饬送鈬?guó)貴族階層的世界。和其他字幕組一樣，吳的團(tuán)隊(duì)完成的是盜版電視節(jié)目。她知道這是不合法的，但是吳說她的團(tuán)隊(duì)沒有從視頻中牟利，翻譯的目的純粹是因?yàn)樗麄兿矚g這些劇集。