彈幕到底為何物？

Sitting in a dark movie theater, leaning forward with your eyes fixed on the screen and hands clenching the edge of the seat, you hear the couple behind you “whisper”: “Is that Matt Damon?”

坐在漆黑的電影院里，雙眼緊緊盯著前方的屏幕，雙手緊握座椅的把手，你聽到你身后的一對“竊竊私語”：“那是馬特·達蒙嗎?”

“Who is Matt Damon?”

“馬特·達蒙是哪只?”

“The guy who played in the Bourne series!”

“《諜影重重》里的那只啊!!”

Most of the time you roll your eyes, hating them for ruining your experience. But somewhat bizarrely, these interruptions have themselves become a form of entertainment – though at least, the creators of these “interruptions” have the good grace to do them in text form.

大多數你會白他們幾眼，好討厭他們毀了你的觀影過程。但是有點奇特的是，這些打斷觀影成為了一種娛樂形式——雖然至少，這些個“打斷的字眼”的創(chuàng)始人以文字的形式玩的樂此不疲。

Video streaming websites in China have proven to be fertile ground for a giant community of “subtitles shooters” who revel in the creation and spread of memes, slang terms, and pop culture references, which find their way onto screens during movies, in subtitle form.

中國的視頻網站對于廣大“發(fā)彈幕狂人”來說可是片廣闊的沃土，他們著迷于在電影屏幕上以字幕的形式創(chuàng)造和擴散“么么噠”這種文化詞啦，俚語啦，和流行文化。

The “Bullet Subtitle” feature has been adopted by the biggest video websites in China such as Tudou and iQiyi, and even appeared during a theater screening of the paean to feminine materialism Tiny Times 3. It even made its way into classes when a professor at a university in Wuhan allowed students to create live subtitles during class presentations. This function also became possible during a live concert by Chinese pop duet Yu Quan.

“彈幕”已被中國最大的視頻網站，比如土豆和愛奇藝采用，甚至《小時代3》線下上映時也有出現女性唯物主義贊歌(小編OS：你逗我?!)它甚至在武漢大學里，被一位教授運用到課堂上，他允許學生在做課堂展示時可以實時發(fā)彈幕。中國流行音樂二人組羽泉的演唱會上也用上了這種功能。

The service, or phenomenon, is called 彈幕dàn mù, which literally translates to “bullet subtitles”. The word refers to the commentaries shooting across the screen, in the style of an arcade shooting game. Originally from Japan, “bullet subtitles” are said to have come to China thanks to anime lovers and followers of what would commonly be considered otaku culture.

這種服務，或是說現象，被稱為“彈幕(dàn mù!筒子們再不要讀錯啦)，翻譯成“bullet subtitles”。這個名詞指的是在屏幕上彈出的評論，以一種街機射擊游戲的趕腳。最先起源日本，據說“彈幕”傳到中國都是動漫愛好者的功勞，通常被看作是御宅族文化的一種。

Although initially “bullet subtitles”were offered for forms of animation that are often referred to as two-dimensional works (二次元, 2-D), three dimensional works (三次元) –those that involve real people such as films and TV shows –began following the trend.

雖然一開始“彈幕”只是動漫的一種吐槽形式(通常指的是二次元)，如今三次元——那些有真人出演的電影和電視劇——也趕上了這股潮流。

Websites such as AcFun and Bilibili themselves became the subjects of affection and admiration.

A站和B站成為了彈幕者們喜愛和崇拜的圣地。

To cinephiles, “bullet subtitles” sound like a blasphemous intrusion. But for “bullet subtitle” aficionados, they makes viewing more enjoyable, fulfilling, and worth repeating.

對于影迷來說，“彈幕”聽上去就是種不知好歹的打斷觀影的行為。但是對于“彈幕”狂熱愛好者來說，彈幕讓觀影更有意思，更開心，并值得一遍遍重溫。

There are several main types of bullet commentaries:

以下是幾種主要的彈幕評論：

Snarky remarks (吐嘈tucao) –directed towards the Chinese subtitles, actors, characters in the video, or plot progression.

吐槽——針對中文字幕，演員，劇中角色，或是情節(jié)進展。

General comments: such as “the lighting is excellent”, “her acting in this scene is mindblowing”, and “hahahas.”

普通評論：比如“燈光美翻了”，“她這個場景的表演好讓人亢奮嗷嗷”，以及“哈哈哈”

Helpful explanations for understanding the video. These are the most useful comments because they usually help explain the plot, the background story, the significance of lines lost in translation, references, and visual elements easily overlooked.

幫助理解視頻的注解。這些是最有用的評論了，因為它們通常幫助觀眾解釋情節(jié)，故事背景，翻譯中遺漏了的臺詞，參考資料，還有容易忽視的視覺要素。

Interactions among users: there are often discussions among viewers, such as if cheating is justified. Sometimes there can be a Q&A regarding other viewers’ comments, e.g. why Benedict Cumberbatch is called “Curly Fu”, why Watson is “peanut”, and why Kristen Stewart is “facial paralysis girl”.

用戶間的互動：觀眾通常都會討論，比如作弊是否正當。有時候也可以是關于其他觀眾評論的問答，比如：為什么本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇叫‘卷福’，為什么華生叫“花生”，還有為什么克里斯汀·斯圖爾特是“面癱臉”。

Inside jokes or memes. For instance, the opening sequence of every Person of Interest episode begins with viewers filling the screen with “You/We are being made into a watch”. The joke first began when the opening line “we are being watched” was translated into a literal “we are made into a watch” early in the series, and viewers turned the mistranslation into a tradition.

圈內笑話或媒母。舉個例子，每集《疑犯追蹤》的開場，觀眾都在屏幕上打滿了“你們/我們正在被做成表。”這個笑話起先源于開場白“我們正被監(jiān)視著”直譯就變成了“我們正被做成表”，觀眾把這種錯誤的翻譯當成了傳統(tǒng)。