When her friend approached her about interpreting “KPop Demon Hunters” into ASL for Netflix, Jenni Yang had some serious hesitation.
The film was a global sensation. Yang, who is deaf, had a long background in teaching ASL and being an educational interpreter, but she had never done work with TV shows or movies. “KPop Demon Hunters” would be an extreme jump — one that would take her entirely out of her comfort zone.
But her friend, Jojo Savea, wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Savea, a deaf Pacific Islander who lives in Layton, Utah, had previously interpreted Disney’s “Moana” — a feat that placed her on the red carpet with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at the live-action premiere in early July.
Now it was Yang’s turn to be in the spotlight, Savea said, reminding her friend that it wasn’t just about being fluent in ASL. There was a lived experience Yang could speak to — her parents had immigrated to the United States from Korea more than 40 years ago, and Yang herself had last been in Korea in 2006.
Yang thought about how that kind of representation was important for kids to see onscreen. While growing up, she had struggled and strived to find the balance between learning both English and Korean while navigating her deafness.
“The importance of accessibility with all three different cultures was something that pushed me and influenced me to do this movie, and the reason why I got into the interpreting field,” Yang recently told the Deseret News on a Zoom call.
So she watched “KPop Demon Hunters.” She immediately felt comfortable with the Korean culture and the characters, but had to work hard at keeping up with the film’s fast and energetic pace. She watched it over and over again until she felt confident she could pull it off.
People she hadn’t talked to in years excitedly reached out to tell her they watched her interpret the film via SignUp Media, a free Google Chrome extension that provides ASL interpretation for streaming platforms like Disney+ and Netflix.
To date, “KPop Demon Hunters” is one of SignUp Media’s top-viewed interpretations.
Now, Yang and Savea are part of a new and massive undertaking from SignUp Media to translate 200 hours of kids and family content on Netflix — a partnership between the two platforms that has led to “the largest ASL translation effort in entertainment history,” according to a news release from SignUp.
For this project, which includes franchises like “Pokemon” and “The Magic School Bus,” the Utah-based duo specifically worked together to interpret 32 hours of the popular nursery rhyme show “CoComelon.”
This is a kind of accessibility both Yang and Savea wish they’d had when they were kids. But as they worked to bring the songs to life through ASL, they both found their inner child ready and waiting.
Revisiting — and relearning — nursery rhymes
As a kid, Yang struggled to understand nursery rhymes. “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” hand motions didn’t make sense to her. The story of Jack and Jill was confusing. She couldn’t figure out what the Farmer in the Dell was doing.
Now, as the mom of an almost 2-year-old, taking on the “CoComelon” project appealed to her because she wanted to learn the songs she’d missed out on — and enjoy them with her own son.
She’d read on online mom forums that she should be wary of the show because it could be overstimulating. As she watched “CoComelon” to see what it was all about, she understood those concerns. But at the same time, she also found herself finally understanding some of those nursery rhymes that had been so confusing to her as a child.
“Thinking back to when I was younger, I didn’t have the accessibility to understand what was being sung, the storytelling or anything like that,” Yang said. “And so watching it now with captions, I was like, ‘Oh, that makes sense now!’ … It allowed me to be able to watch it and actually understand how to sing that to my baby.”
For Savea, who has worked as a deaf mentor for children ages 0 through 3, joining the “CoComelon” project excited her because she wanted to help provide more access for deaf kids who are at such a formative age.
“It was just something I absolutely had to do,” Savea said with the aid of an interpreter. “Often people say things like, ‘Oh, why can’t kids just watch the captions?’ And I’m like, ‘You do realize that babies and little kids can’t read yet, right?’ That’s why it’s so important to give them that ASL access first. ASL is also its own language; it is completely separate from English.”
Together, from Yang’s basement studio in South Jordan, the pair interpreted 32 hours of “CoComelon.” But even more hours went into the behind-the-scenes prep work — learning the rhythms, making it visually engaging for kids and, in some cases, trying to find or create signs for made-up words like “Skidamarink.”
“Often people say things like, ‘Oh, why can’t kids just watch the captions?’ And I’m like, ‘You do realize that babies and little kids can’t read yet, right?’ That’s why it’s so important to give them that ASL access first.”
— Jojo Savea
They worked hard to keep their energy levels up. The last thing they wanted was for kids to be bored while watching them.
Savea’s inner child would especially come out while signing “Wheels on the Bus.” Yang, meanwhile, liked signing for the dinosaur-obsessed character Cody, who reminded her of her own son.
Throughout the intensive process, Yang reminded herself not to get too bogged down by nerves or the magnitude of the project. Above everything else, it was most important to have fun — to convey happiness. It was a kids show, after all.
But their work doesn’t end after 32 hours of “CoComelon.” For Yang and Savea, this is only scratching the surface of possibility.
‘It doesn’t end with “CoComelon”’
When Yang was a kid, her parents initially enrolled her in an oral program that focused on spoken language rather than sign language. During recess, she would watch with fascination as some of the kids signed to each other.
By the time Yang got to the fourth or fifth grade, her parents enrolled her in a class that mixed sign language with regular school activities.
“I completely understood things on a different level,” she said.
Both Yang and Savea know firsthand the added knowledge that can come with ASL access, which is why they don’t want their work to stop with “KPop Demon Hunters” or “Moana” or “CoComelon.”
“It doesn’t end with ‘CoComelon,’” Savea said. “Jenni and I didn’t have anything like this back then, so it’s amazing now that kids have this. But there’s a lot left to do.
“They should have full access to all of it,” she continued. “They should be able to go right through and pick what they want to watch and have that same accessibility. They shouldn’t have to pick and choose depending on whether or not there’s ASL available.”
Last fall, Yang faced a personal setback when she developed Bell’s palsy, which led to some temporary facial paralysis.
Although the condition gradually improved over the next few months, it did make her somewhat uncertain about tackling the “CoComelon” project — until Savea reminded her that it didn’t matter as long as her enthusiastic personality shone through.
“You’re not just only signing for yourself — you’re signing for everyone else."
— Jenni Yang
So, just as she had worked through her initial hesitation with “KPop Demon Hunters,” Yang got on board for “CoComelon” and found her inner child.
And now she’s ready to keep going.
“It’s just about being comfortable with putting yourself out there,” she said. “Because you’re not just only signing for yourself — you’re signing for everyone else.”