Creating Multilingual Surtitles (뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical, Korea & Canada)

By Jack Paterson | 2026-02-23

This article is adapted from an essay by Jack Paterson originally published in “뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical” (Dongin Publishing Co.) supported by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea.

Introduction

In 2025, I had the pleasure of working on the international emerging artist collaboration 뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical between Hanyang University, Korea, Capilano University, First Nations University of Canada and The University of Saskatchewan, Canada, as part of the “2024-2025 Korea-Canada Year of Mutual Cultural Exchange”.

뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical was written and directed by 김가람 Kim Ga-ram, co-written with Tyrone Perreault (Cowessess First Nation), and Composed by 김준호 Kim Jun-ho. It premiered in Seoul at the CKL Stage (July 26-27, 2025) and in North Vancouver at The BlueShore at CapU (August 15-16, 2025).  Inspired by true-life hockey games played by Canadian soldiers on the frozen Imjin River and the events of the Battle of Kapyong [1] during the Korean War, emerging artists from both countries embarked on a transformative three-month journey.

The play’s characters reflected the diverse regional, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds of the participating Korean and Canadian artists. The Canadian characters used English, French Canadian [2], and nehiyawak (Cree) [3] languages, representing cultures from across the country.

Serving as the ‘Global Connector’ and initial point of contact, I introduced the Canadian and Korean partners. My subsequent project role involved supporting multi-institutional organization, facilitating cross-cultural creative processes, collaborating on English translation and multi-lingual surtitle development, and even a small part as a CBC radio hockey announcer.

Creating Multi-Lingual Surtitles

Live theatre surtitles differ from film subtitles. Like all translation, a surtitle translator aims to maintains cultural integrity and the writer’s intent. Because they are live, surtitles must also reflect performers’ rhythms and provide key information to support the narrative, all while minimizing audience distraction. It is an art form where less is more and succeeds best when least noticed.

Each production does this differently depending on the show’s requirements, the production’s aesthetics, and the company’s available resources such as technology.  This is often done by condensing the translated material to communicate greater information on a single slide – in our case 4 to 5 lines deep and 25 characters across, creating symbol recognition for repeated information, syntactically segmented line breaks and phrasing, and by teaching the audience the surtitles “coding” as subtly as possible.  The goal was to create quickly and easily readable content that supports the action stage rather than drawing attention from it.

On 뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical, we found ourselves doing something new – something none of us had done before. While single-language translation surtitles are common, ours feature three languages.

We initially planned for continuous surtitle translation in Korean and English on separate monitors for each language on either side of the stage to facilitate audience understanding. However, the aesthetic and rhythmic differences between the written languages proved distracting. We ultimately decided to combine the surtitles to accommodate both languages simultaneously.

For this to work, in addition to matching up the previously mentioned elements in a way that worked in both languages simultaneously, Media Designer 장지원 Jang Ji-won and I would develop a series of surtitles symbols to indicate speakers, languages spoken, and other essential information that worked in both written languages.

For consistency, multilingual song surtitle slides would have Korean on top and English below whenever possible.

“자유는 너와 나의 약속 위에”
–
“Freedom is built
On the promises
Between you and me”

We attempted to allow the action on stage to tell the story by condensed surtitle content in both languages, omitting translation during small establishing moments and repeated choruses, allowing the stage action to tell the story whenever possible.

A multilingual dialogue between two characters – one speaking in English then one speaking in Korean – was as follows:

데이빗:
두렵긴 뭐가 두려워!

*

Seokgu:
Why do you keep yourself
so alone?

*

데이빗:
난 너희랑
상종하고 싶지 않을뿐이야.

*

Seokgu:
I don’t believe you!
No one wants to be alone.

Or if in a single surtitle slides (Korean then English):

Seokgu:
Myeongho!

데이빗:
너 미쳤어?

And when one character spoke in two languages (Korean, English, Korean):

석구 – Seokgu:
It’s alright.
너 혼자 두지 않을거야.
I won’t let go.

Introducing nehiyawak (Cree) and a Third Language

The coming together of multiple cultures in this production was perhaps best highlighted in a profoundly moving moment for many of us in both the process and the production. Devised through a collaborative musical creation exchange, the artists and creative teams of both countries wove together the traditional Korean song “Arirang” [4] and a nehiyawak (Cree) song shared with us by nehiyaw Knowledge Keeper and Cultural Consultant Joseph Naytowhow “Mother Earth Song (okâwîmâw askiy)” [5].

As a Canadian artist, including nehiyawak (or Cree) text in the surtitles – from both national and international cross-cultural perspectives –  was also an opportunity to share the written language of a Canadian culture with both Korean and Canadian audiences unfamiliar with it.

As nehiyawak can be written in both roman characters and nehiyawak / Cree Syllabics [6], to best clearly differentiate between nehiyawak, Korean and English in the surtitles, we chose the Syllabics.

With “Mother Earth Song” having a three-line verse of “Mother Earth Song” before being combined it with “Arirang” (previously introduced in the play and the scene), we were able to use the first verse of “Mother Earth Song” to introduce the nehiyawak Syllabics and the translation in Korean and English.

Slide 1 / Line 1:

[크리어로 – In Cree]
“ᐊᐢᑭᕀ ᐆᒪ ᐅᐦᒋ ᑭᔮᓇᐤ”
“이 땅은 우리의 시작”
“Earth is where we are from”

Slide 2 / Line 2:

“ᐊᐢᑭᕀ ᐊᐊᐧ ᑭᑲᐏᓇᐤ”
“이 땅은 우리의 어머니”
“Earth is our mother”

Slide 3 / Line 3:

“ᐊᐢᑭᕀ ᐆᒪ ᐅᐦᒋ ᑭᔮᓇᐤ”
“이 땅은 우리의 시작”
“Earth is where we are from”

As the verse was repeated three times, we were then able to surtitle the entire verse in one slide for each language:

Firstly in nehiyawak:
Slide 4

“ᐊᐢᑭᕀ ᐆᒪ ᐅᐦᒋ ᑭᔮᓇᐤ
ᐊᐢᑭᕀ ᐊᐊᐧ ᑭᑲᐏᓇᐤ
ᐊᐢᑭᕀ ᐆᒪ ᐅᐦᒋ ᑭᔮᓇᐤ”

Then Korean:
Slide 5

“이 땅은 우리의 시작
이 땅은 우리의 어머니
이 땅은 우리의 시작”

And finally, English:
Slide 6

“Earth is where we come from
Earth is our mother
Earth is where we come from”

Next, we reintroduced the English surtitle translation of the Korean song “Arirang”:

Seokgu:
“Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo
As you cross
the mountain path”

*

“The western sun still sets
Though it aches
To stay above us”

*

“My love, you turn away
Then look back
But still you go”

With the key information needed to understand provided, surtitles were removed as the songs combined, letting the cross-cultural artistic collaboration express the story of both the play and the production.

The rewards of creating cross-cultural and multilingual work are profound. The collaboration forged on and off the stage was a powerful, universal lesson: that art transcends linguistic, cultural, and geographic boundaries. By embracing the complexity of multiple narratives and languages, a new generation of artists discovered that every step closer to another culture is indeed a step closer to understanding our own.

Footnotes:

[1] The Battle of Kapyong was a decisive battle during the Korean War (1950-1953).

[2] French Canadian culture traces its origins to the French colonization of North America, evolving through centuries to form a distinct cultural identity within Canada.

[3] nehiyawak (ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐊᐧᐠ) or Cree, one of North America’s largest Indigenous groups, spans a vast historical territory across Canada. The rich and diverse nehiyawak cultures consist of distinct practices and a profound connection to the land and community.

[4] “Arirang” is a 600-year-old Korean folk song with about 60 regional versions. It is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, submitted by both South Korea (2012) and North Korea (2014).

[5] Mother Earth Song (‘okâwîmâw askiy’) lyrics and composition by Joseph Naytowhow (originally from pakitahwâkan-sâkahikan – Sturgeon Lake – First Nation, now residing in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada).

[6] nehiyawak or Cree Syllabics is a writing system for the nehiyawak (Cree) language.

–

뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical is an international emerging artist co-creation hosted by  Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, organized by the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange and produced by Hanyang University (Theatre Major, Dept. of Theatre & Film) in association with Capilano University, First Nations University of Canada, and The University of Saskatchewan. The production was Written and Directed by 김가람 Kim Ga-ram, Co-written with Tyrone Perreault (Cowessess First Nation), and Composed by 김준호 Kim Jun-ho, celebrating the “2024-2025 Korea-Canada Year of Mutual Cultural Exchange”.

뮤지컬 <R;LINK> The Musical premiered in Korea at the CKL Stage in Seoul on July 26-27, 2025, and in Canada at The BlueShore at CapU in North Vancouver on August 15-16, 2025.

We gratefully acknowledge Composer, Lyricist, nehiyaw Knowledge Keeper, & Cultural Advisor Joseph Naytowhow (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) for sharing his song “Mother Earth Song (okâwîmâw askiy)” for use in our production.