Thanks to translators, we, the foreign audience, get to understand our favorite Korean dramas and movies. And if you don't know how to write and speak Korean and have seen "Parasite," here is the person behind the subtitles of the critically-acclaimed movie.
Darcy Paquet, the subtitle translator of the Oscar-winning film "Parasite," becomes Busan's honorary citizen for his substantial participation in the city's film education.
Paquet, 48, met his wife Yeon Hyeon-sook and got married in 2001 and they have two sons. He is a native of Massachusetts and majored in Russian language at Carleton College, Minnesota. He then proceeded with his Master's Degree in Applied Linguistics at Indiana University.
Paquet first came to Seoul in 1997 to teach the English language at Korea University. He needed a way to learn the language and culture, so watching movies became his hobby. He launched the film review site Koreanfilm.org in 1999 since nothing came up online when he was searching for information about Korean Films in English. Unexpectedly, his website became popular and started to get jobs in film magazine companies.
His fascination with Korean films led him to meet the famous Bong Joon-ho when his friend turned down a job as a part-time copy editor at the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). Since then, he worked the translations with his wife or with friends until such time he worked independently.
As an adjunct professor since 2017, he has delivered educational lectures at the International Film Business Academy of the Busan Asian Film School. Asian Film Industry and Cinema Genres are the courses he teaches. He has been guiding the films of students by discovering and educating promising students about films in Asia.
According to the local government of Busan, the students of Paquet have been invited to the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlinale, and Venice Film Festival, and even won awards, thus, promoting the school, Busan Asian Film School, as well as the city in becoming Asia's film education hub.
"Barking Dogs Never Bite" was Bong Joon-ho's first feature, where he asked Paquet to revise the English subtitle. From then on, Paquet mostly translates Bong Joon-ho's movies into English.
Paquet has been quoted as one of the hidden heroes for deftly bridging the gap because of translating Korean dialogue for the English-speaking viewers.
"Ram-don," Paquet's translation to "jjapaguri," was one of his best coinages, and even became an iconic dish of the movie. Mixing Chapaghetti, a popular ramyeon brand, and Neoguri, an udon noodle dish served in a spicy soup, is called "jjapaguri." Since "ramyeon" and "udon" are widely known, he came up with "ram-don."
Paquet is also the author of "New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves" (2010). Through his efforts of introducing Korean Films, Paquet was awarded by the Korea Film Reporters Association Award at the 15th Busan International Film Festival in 2011.
In 2014, Wildflower Film Awards Korea, an awards ceremony acknowledging the achievements of low-budget and independent films, was co-launched by Paquet.
"The Handmaiden," "The Day After," and "The Age of Shadows" are among the movies that Pacquet translated English subtitles.
Going back to "Parasite" subtitles, although the film has black humor, foreign viewers seem to laugh at all the right moment.
After receiving the honorary citizen certificate, he quoted: "I am honored to be appointed as an honorary citizen of Busan. Busan is a great city to work in films. We will see Busan more often in international films when our students, who are the future of their country's movie industry, return to the city as producers."
