AP You may not know how many hours of work it takes for volunteer translators to create Chinese subtitles for each newly released American TV drama. 放大这张图片 Internet Gossip Girl 放大这张图片 Internet House 放大这张图片 Internet Ugly Betty

A NEW season of American TV shows has hit the Web, but before many Chinese can enjoy hits like Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty, groups of translators volunteer to first decode their idiom and language - or at least try to.

新一季的美剧已经在网上疯狂流传，不过在众多国人享受这些如《绯闻女孩》、《丑女贝蒂》等热门美剧之前，一群志愿译者们先要破译剧中的各种长短语句--尽量贴切地。

These translators are known as "subtitle groups" - people adding Chinese subtitles to American TV shows. From all walks of life, they have cultivated strong English listening and speaking skills.

这些译者就是传说中的“字幕组”——一群为美剧添加中文字幕的人。他们来自各行各业，均已练就了超强的英文听说能力。

Yu Lei, a 24-year-old senior at Hebei University, marvels at how fast the translators work. "I follow five dramas every week, and Chinese-subtitled versions of hits like Gossip Girl, House and Ugly Betty are available online six or seven hours after they air in the United States."

24岁的于磊是河北大学大四的学生。他十分惊讶于字幕组的工作效率之高。“每周我都在跟5部剧集，像《绯闻女孩》、《豪斯医生》和《丑女贝蒂》，它们在美国播出后6-7个小时网上就有带中文字幕的版本了。”

One of these translators is Huang Ying, a 23-year-old graduate student of Chinese at Fujian Normal University. Two years ago, she responded to a help-wanted ad on the Fengruan website, one of the top four subtitle groups in China. She applied, took a test via e-mail, and within days found herself racing to decode English dialogue.

福建师范大学的研究生黄莺（23岁），就是字幕组的成员之一。2年前，她在国内四大字幕组之一的风软字幕组网站上看到招聘广告，随即申请加入。之后，她通过电子邮件形式参与了资格审核。不出几日，她就开始马不停蹄地翻译英语对话了。

Every time a new episode of Gossip Girl airs in the US, she works for hours to complete a good translation, which a "colleague" then uploads to the Web. The work may be hard, but Huang says she enjoys matching her English skills against translators in other subtitle groups.

每次，只要美国播出新一集的《绯闻女孩》，她就要花几个小时做好翻译。然后，她的“同事”会将其上传到网上。工作或许很辛苦，但黄莺却很喜欢与其他字幕组的译者们在英语水平上一较高下。

Although several American TV dramas have appeared on domestic TV channels, they are aired months, even years, after their initial US airing. As a result, people like Huang have become frontline ambassadors of culture. They decode and interpret American language and idiom for a Chinese audience.

虽然不少国内的电视频道也有美剧上映，但时间会比美国本土晚几个月甚至几年。因此，像黄莺这样的字幕组成员就成了先行的文化使者，为中国观众解译美国的语言风俗。

Netizens have been quick to recognize the work of these translators, calling them "living Lei Fengs".

很快，网民们就认同了他们的工作，还将他们称为“活雷锋”。

Fu Yu, a 23-year-old studying at Bonn University in Germany, said watching subtitled dramas introduced him to a new world. "Under their influence, I become more open-minded to different viewpoints and lifestyles," Fu said.

23岁的付余目前在德国波恩大学留学。观看带字幕的电视剧给他打开了一片新天地。“受其影响，我对不同的观点和生活方式态度更加开明。”付余说。

Despite their best effort, these "living Lei Fengs" don`t always interpret the dialogue correctly.

然而，尽管是全力以赴，这些“活雷锋”仍不免有译错的时候。

"Translators who don`t have a systematic understanding of American culture may find it hard to convey the intended emotions," said Lin Yuyin, a professor at the School of Translation and Interpretation at Sun Yat-sen University. Translating word for word and being too vague are other common errors in the subtitle groups` work, Lin explained.

“那些对美国文化缺乏系统了解的译者很难将个中意味传达出来，”中山大学翻译及口译学院的林余音教授说。此外，林教授还说，逐字翻译和太过含糊也是字幕组存在的通病之一。

Although the translators are proud of their work, few would dare list it on their resumes. After all, they are well aware of the legal questions raised by their work.

虽说这些译者都对自身的工作感到自豪，但他们很少敢将其写在简历上。毕竟，大家都心知肚明这份工作中涉及的法律问题。

Last month, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, along with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Copyright and several new media copyright owners and publishers, launched a campaign to end illegal sharing of music and video online in China. Portals like Youku.com are being sued by licensed online distributors like Sohu.com.

上个月，国家广播电影电视总局、北京市版权局及其他新媒体版权所有人和出版商发起了一项行动，禁止在互联网上非法分享音乐、视频内容。门户网站之间，优酷被获得在线经营许可证的搜狐所控告。

"We`re concerned about this," said Luo Tianyi (not his real name), the 27-year-old leader of the "Ragbear" subtitle group. "If video-sharing websites are shut down, we`ll lose a big platform to share our work. We`re also worried that our websites could be the next target."

“我们很关注这件事，”27岁的“破烂熊”字幕组负责人罗天逸（笔名）表示：“如果视频分享网站都被关闭了，我们将失去很大一个分享工作的平台。我们也担心自己的网站，怕它成为下一个（被控告的）目标。”

Thankful viewers are also worried. "We really appreciate the translators` help, but we don`t want to talk much about it," Yu said. "We`re afraid that if we express our thanks too frequently and obviously, they will be wiped out. Then we will miss out on a lot of fun."

受益于字幕组工作的观众们也很担心。“我们真的很感激译者的无私奉献，但就这件事不想谈太多，” 于磊说，“我们担心，过于频繁和直白的感谢会为他们招来灾难。那样的话，我们就会失去很多乐趣。”