By Kim Ji Hoe and Kim Young Shin
Seoul l Oct. 20, 2017

People who don't speak or understand Korean can now enjoy theatrical plays and musicals in Daehangno(대학로), Seoul's main theater neighborhood, thanks to tablets that show captions.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) started offering tablets with captions during the Welcome Daehak-ro Festival, an event that promotes Korean theatrical productions to overseas tourists. Tablets with captions in English, simplified Chinese and Japanese are offered to audience members at “Finding Mr. Destiny” (김종욱 찾기), “Only You” (당신만이), “Loving in the Rain” (사랑은 비를 타고), “The Goddess is Watching” (여신님이 보고계셔) and “tick, tick…BOOM!” (틱틱붐).

A tablet with captions can be requested on-site, and staff will set up the tablet on the back of the seat in front of you. After selecting the required language, the captions show up automatically in sync with the performers. A protective film over the screen prevents any light from disturbing the people next to you.

Janine Pineda from the Philippines, who saw the musical “Only You” using tablet captions on Oct. 20, said, “The tablet captions, compared to the ones shown on-screen, were up-close, and it helped me to focus on the show. I hope captions are included at more productions so I can enjoy more shows in Korean.”

The KTO sponsored the tablets and captions so as to be able to offer more shows to tourists, and to expand the potential target market for Korean performing arts.

“Captions have been offered to audiences in the past, but this is the first time for theaters in Daehangno, the mecca of Korean theater, to offer captions on tablets. We'll soon get more musicals to offer captions, too,” said a KTO official.

sofia2426@korea.kr