Archiving as the Foundation of Fansubbing: A Case Study on Fan-made Translation of Virtual YouTubers in China

Abstract

Although fansubbing has been increasingly recognised as a rich research spot for several disciplines like translation and media studies, the significance of fan archiving during fansubbing remains relatively less discussed despite its vitalness in 1) obtaining and managing both source and finalised products; 2) enabling fansubbing to evolve into systematic and efficient massive online practices. Based on the literature review of fansubbing’s historical development and the author’s observational fieldwork within an active Chinese fansubbing group, the paper explains why archiving can be the premise of fansubbing and demonstrates its latest application on Bilibili, arguably the most influential user-generated content sharing platform in China. From ordering overseas VHS tapes to downloading BT torrents within clicks, retrieving source texts from their original contexts has been the initial point of fansubbing before circulating the finalised fansubs. The Internet’s impact was beyond the fansubbed products themselves but shaped new patterns in how fansubbers assembled and cooperated as fansubbing machines, even throughout the globe. The combination of online labour-division worksheets and procedure-organised net disks has created specific job titles for archiving and file management, which eventually adds semi-professional features to amateur translation works. While Chinese fansubbers continue to maximise archiving’s potential in overcoming language barriers for fandom consumption, the phenomena can be better studied with variable samples and theories in the future.