Fansub Dreaming on ViKi

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Fansub Dreaming on ViKiTessa Dwyera

a University of Melbourne, AustraliaPublished online: 21 Feb 2014.

To cite this article: Tessa Dwyer (2012) Fansub Dreaming on ViKi, The Translator, 18:2,217-243, DOI: 10.1080/13556509.2012.10799509

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Fansub Dreaming on ViKi“Don’t Just Watch But Help When You Are Free”�

TESSA DWYERUniversity of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract. Fan subtitling, or ‘fansubbing’, is a heterogeneous and rapidly growing field of amateur translation exhibiting a number of traits that have so far been overlooked by scholars of audio-visual translation. Current research on fansubbing is broadened by examining this phenomenon beyond the strictures of anime sub-culture alone, drawing on the counter example of Internet start-up company ViKi and exploring the gaps in mainstream subtitling that fansubbing both exposes and fills. The team of volunteer transla-tors working for ViKi re-animates notions of global diversity by capitalizing on the affordances of new technologies and collective intelligence to break down the national and linguistic hierarchies that dominate contemporary media and professional audiovisual translation. Despite a largely conservative ‘look and feel’ and signs of increasing commercialization, ViKi’s fansubbing model makes an important contribution to the internationalization of audiovisual translation practices, bringing programs from small-language communities to diverse audiences across the globe. The paper further considers the extent to which the legalization of ViKi’s fansubbing activity empowers fans to bring about real change in the media marketplace.

Keywords. Amateur translation, Audiovisual translation, Crowdsourcing, Fansubbing, Fan translation, K-Dramas, Playful Kiss, ViKi.

Purportedly representing “a group of students from different parts of the world, dreaming of a world without language barriers” (Moon 2008a), ViKi is a community-powered or ‘crowdsourced’2 Internet platform allowing “anyone

� This phrase was displayed on the ViKi website in 20�0 as part of an open call for slogans by users. It has been selected as a subheading for this paper as it evokes both the amateur and collaborative nature of ViKi’s fan-based approach to subtitling. I wish to thank colleagues Ramón Lobato and Sun Jung for introducing me to ViKi during the 2009 B for Bad Cinema conference at Monash University, Melbourne.2 For discussion of crowdsourcing in relation to translation, see �arc�a (20�0), Fern�nde��For discussion of crowdsourcing in relation to translation, see �arc�a (20�0), Fern�nde�� Costales (20��) and McDonough (this issue).

The Translator. Volume �8, Number 2 (20�2), 2�7-43 ISBN 978-�-�905763-35-�

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Fansub Dreaming on ViKi218

to discover and enjoy the best of world TV and movies in their own language” (ViKi 20�0). To date, it claims to have “contributed over �25 million subti-tles in �57 languages including Klingon” (ViKi Website3). This impressive output has been possible thanks to a huge volunteer labour pool consisting of non-professional ‘fan’ translators – numbering in their �00,000s – who enter subtitles as they watch shows “in a wiki format that enables successive viewers to improve on the previous ones’ work” (Healey 20�0).4 ViKi ‘fan-subbing’ approaches translation as an ongoing work-in-progress in which the online community as a whole is encouraged to participate: up to 500 people can be involved in producing fansubs for just one episode of a television series (Healey 20�0, Hovaghimian 20��). According to ViKi, its community of fansubbers is united by passion for specific programs, movies or genres, and the wish to share this content with as wide an audience as possible. As its homepage declares, they “translate to spread the love”.

Within translation studies, the phenomenon of fansubbing is attracting increasing attention, with scholars noting, for instance, its “daring” formal tendencies (D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� 2006:5�), “abusive” break with industry norms and conventions (Nornes �999), in-depth cultural and genre expertise (O’Hagan 2008:�76-77), and experimental approach to new tech-nologies and the multimodal configuration of these subtitled texts (Kayahara 2005, Pére�� on��le�� 2006, 2007). While much of this response has been positive in tone, negative concerns have also been raised, specifically in rela-tion to quality standards (D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� 2006, Fern�nde�� Costales 20��) and the potentially harmful effect of such amateur practices on the wider translation profession (Ferrer Simó, quoted in Pére�� on��le�� 2006:274, �arc�a 20�0). So far, whether negative or positive in tone, transla-tion studies research into this phenomenon has focused almost exclusively on the highly productive global subculture that surrounds the fansubbing of Japanese anime – that is, Japanese animation produced primarily for the domestic Japanese market.5

Often deploying a creative array of colours, fonts and styles, ‘foreigni��-

3 http://www.viki.com (last accessed �3 March 20�2).4 As ViKi’s Ra��mig Hovaghimian explains, the community’s name is intended as a contraction of ‘video’ and ‘wiki’ (Scoble 20�0). According to Cambridge Dictionaries Online, “[a] wiki is a website which allows users to add, delete (�� get rid of) and edit (�� change) the contents,a website which allows users to add, delete (�� get rid of) and edit (�� change) the contents, or the program that makes this possible. Wikipedia is thought to be the world’s largest wiki with more than 280,000 articles” (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/wiki?q��wiki, last accessed �3 March 20�2; emphasis in original).5 Sean Leonard (2005:284) suggests that the term anime is an “apocopation of ‘animeshon’, which is transliterated from the English”. In Japan, anime refers to all types of animation irrespective of national origin or language. Outside of Japan, the term is used to refer to Japanese-language animation intended for Japanese-speaking audiences. For an exception to the anime-centrism prevailing in translation studies research on fansubbing, see Fern�nde�� Costales (20��).

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Tessa Dwyer 219

ing’ textual strategies, and the unusual device of translator notes or glosses, anime fansubbing can certainly present a markedly different look and feel to professional, mainstream audiovisual translation (AVT). These distinctive char-acteristics have led many to conclude that fansubbing offers valuable lessons for professionals, not least in providing a vision of how to preserve creativity and authenticity in the face of technological change and the demands of a de-centrali��ed global mediasphere. Pére�� on��le�� (2006:274) points to the fuller sensory viewing experience enabled via anime fansubbing, while O’Hagan (2008:�65) and Caffrey (2009) characteri��e this form of amateur AVT as a “search for the ‘authentic text’” – a concept proposed by Cubbison (2005) a few years earlier. Even scholars like D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� (2006:5�), who exhibit a more cautionary approach to anime fansubbing by detailing its pitfalls as well as promise, allow for the possibility of such “fansub conven-tions” becoming “the seed of a new type of subtitling for the digital era”.6

As I demonstrate through the counter example of ViKi, this anime-centrism has tended to produce a somewhat lopsided view of the fansubbing landscape, emphasi��ing its formal and textual difference to mainstream, commercial AVT while downplaying its heterogeneity and geopolitical complexity. Referring to itself as a web ‘start-up’, ViKi significantly broadens the scope of current fansub research, refuting the common assumption that fan translation practices are necessarily non-commercial or non-conventional. In many respects, ViKi fansubbing mimics the formal and textual strategies of mainstream subtitling, using a uniform white font relegated to the bottom of the screen, while aiming, on the whole, for textual fluency. In particular, as I go on to demonstrate later in this paper, ViKi troubles the strong association often drawn between amateur subtitling, experimentation and a sense of authenticity achieved through both textual and cultural fidelity – all traits that appear central to AVT interest in this phenomenon as a whole.

Despite lacking the formal innovation and oppositional, subcultural trappings of much anime fansubbing, ViKi provides an equally fascinating alternative to professional AVT. Dominated by Korean-language television dramas (known as ‘K-Dramas’), ViKi incorporates media from a multitude of different countries and language communities, at times including such unlikely finds as Nepali underground band videos, celebrity interviews from Lebanon, Irish cooking shows, and US speeches on the environment. Testifying to an

6 Although translation scholars might not advocate a wholesale adoption of fansubbing practices, most have responded, on the whole, in a positive manner, identifying strategies of potential relevance and worth, while pointing out that the broader AVT industry can only benefit by acknowledging and seeking to understand the full significance of this amateur phenomenon. This argument is significantly reinforced by the fact that, as Caffrey (2009), D�a�� Cintas (2005-2007) and Ortabasi (2006) note, commercial AVT has already begun to adopt some of the unconventional strategies common to fansubbing (along with video gaming translation and subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), such as pop-up glosses, headnotes and varied font colours.

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expansive range and outreach, this diversity of content is accompanied by less niche, more conventional strategies of mediation – which would suggest that ViKi is contributing to the ‘mainstreaming’ of amateur practices. However, in providing a staggering assortment of multilingual subtitles for primarily non-English language media, ViKi is a rarity, intercepting the uni-directional “trade imbalance” (Venuti �995:�2-�5) of the commercial translation industry.7 Moreover, ViKi raises interesting socio-political issues in regards to technol-ogy and professional AVT, exposing veins of ‘reterritoriali��ation’ within the decentrali��ing networks of global culture.8

The ViKi model calls for a re-orientation of AVT discussions on fansubbing away from a close, textual focus towards a consideration of broader contex-tual issues. ViKi consciously seeks to participate in meaningful intercultural exchange, providing amateur translations of linguistically diverse programs otherwise unavailable within a mainstream, commercial and nationally regulated framework. The paper begins with a detailed overview of the ViKi project, examining the vision behind its foundation, technical and licensing matters and its web-interface. Section 2 examines how ViKi’s profile counters the typical anime exemplar that dominates AVT research on fansubbing and argues the need for a more expansive definition. This point leads to a con-sideration, in section 3, of the various ways in which anime fansubbing has been positively evaluated as a model for future AVT practice according to four overarching traits: formal innovation, collaborative methods, foreigni��ation and genre expertise. Falling notably short in many of these areas, the question remains: in what ways does ViKi fansubbing impact upon models of practice and what is its broader relevance to the translation industry? In the final sec-tion of this article, I address this question by highlighting the way in which ViKi underscores the importance of nationality and geopolitics within AVT practice, trading the experimentation (and attendant regulation) enabled by niche anime markets for broad accessibility and a more open if chaotic model of participation.

7 According to ViKi’s CEO Hovaghimian (20��), popular content on the website is routinely translated into 20 languages within 24 hours of its broadcast, and around 40 languages within 2 to 3 days.8 Since appearing in Deleu��e and �uattari (�972/�977), the terms ‘deterritoriali��ation’ and ‘reterritoriali��ation’ have been widely adopted within cultural studies and other scholarly fields. Within translation studies, Venuti (�992:��) understands linguistic deterritoriali��ation as an effect of foreigni��ing translations that take language on “a ‘line of escape’ from the cultural and social hierarchies which that language supports”. Pére�� on��le�� (20�0:8), on the other hand, uses the term in a negative sense to characteri��e the “digitally monolingual” nature of much global media. From a post-colonial perspective, Arjun Appadurai (�990:��) conceptuali��es deterritoriali��ation in relation to populations and peoples, using it to describe the displacement and dispersals of immigrant and diasporic communities in the global era and declaring it “one of the central forces of the modern world”. In the present discussion, I employ the term ‘reterritoriali��ation’ to suggest the enduring significance of geographic divisions in the global era.

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Tessa Dwyer 221

�. “A translator community like no other”9

Born out of the “excruciating loneliness” experienced by co-founder Moon (2008c) as a Korean graduate studying in the US, ViKi brings an awareness of race, pan-ethnic identity and the geographic specificity of technology into the fansubbing equation. On her blog The ViiKii Story, Moon (2008a, 2008b) explains how the idea for ViKi was prompted by her increasing awareness of English-language dominance of online communications and technologies, and the consequent disadvantage experienced by people from non-English speaking backgrounds. Through ViKi, Moon (2008c) sought to activate technology’s much overlooked potential to broaden linguistic hori��ons – to diversify rather than homogeni��e forms of language contact in the global era. Harnessing the untapped, collective effort of the ordinary people who bring languages to life, ViKi seeks to promote “genuine mutual understanding” between multiple cultures and communities (ibid.). Addressing the networked masses, Moon states that “ViKi can make this happen – not in itself, but with YOUR help” (ibid.).

Beginning as a joint class project between Moon at Harvard and Ho and Hovaghimian at the Stanford University �raduate School of Business,�0 ViKi was first launched in 2008 as “Project ViiKii”�� (Kim 20�0). By 20�0 it had acquired a new name, new format, offices in Palo Alto, California and Singapore, and the funds to match, having raised $4.3 million from US and Indian venture capital investors “to accelerate expansion in global markets andto accelerate expansion in global markets and partnerships with content providers” (ViKi 20�0). From 20�0 to 20��, ViKi grew from around one to four million users and crossed one billion streams (Upbin 20�0, Hovaghimian 20��). With the capacity to license content from ten countries, ViKi set up channels on Hulu and YouTube, mainly featuring popular Korean programs (Hovaghimian 20��).�2

9 This tagline appeared as the heading for the ViKi ‘Our Community’ webpage (http://www.viki.com/translator-community, last accessed 5 October 20��) that provided information about the joint nature of ViKi translation and a link to register as a ViKi user. By early 20�2, this webpage had been reformatted and the heading replaced with another: “Breaking Down Barriers, One Word at a Time”.�0 Information available at http://www.viki.com/about (last accessed 5 October 20��). This information is also gleaned from the LinkedIn profiles of the ViKi co-founders: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ra��migh; and http://www.linkedin.com/in/changseong (last accessed 5 October 20��).�� http://www.viikii.net (last accessed 5 October 20��).�2 See http://www.hulu.com/network/viki?sort��popularity (last accessed �8 March 20�2). At the time of writing, ViKi’s YouTube channel was no longer available. For information on other ViKi partnerships, see http://www.viki.com/partners (last accessed �8 March 20�2).

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ViKi’s “ground-breaking translation platform”translation platform” platform”�3 operates via dedicated software (the ViKi plug-in and subtitle editor) that enables multiple users spread all over the world to create subtitles at the same time (Lacy 20�0). Upbin (20�0) explains that “[t]hese entries are edited and re-edited on the fly, wiki-style, with those judged by the community to be most accurate getting prime display below the letterbox of the video player”. Aside from this unique ‘real-time’, collaborative environment, ViKi’s other major breakthrough is its adoption of a ‘streaming’ delivery format. ViKi’s translations are not available for download; rather, as with YouTube videos, viewers access subtitled content as video files that are watched live. In this way, ViKi is able to control access and comply with copyright law – two factors that are instrumental in its ability to secure licensing deals with broadcasters and/or producers.�4 ViKi’s innova-tive mix of crowdsourced fansubbing and streaming means that the site is able to circumvent the need for pirated media ‘ware��’ – i.e. copyrighted work whose distribution would require the payment of royalty fees – and instead provide a “legal playground” for pirate-style practices (Hovaghimian 20��).

To join the ViKi community, one registers as a user by creating a free ViKi account. After setting their language preferences, users are able to se-lect content to watch – which is automatically tailored to suit their language needs. ViKi then indicates what percentage of a program is available in the preferred languages, although “viewers on the site can see files even when they’re partially translated” (Li 2009). Once registered, users can choose to follow shows (each one with its own community referred to as a ‘channel’), introduce ViKi to new content by applying to start their own channel, and/or contribute to the community, either by becoming a ‘forumer’ (posting on a channel or commenting on posts by others), a ‘segmenter’ (dividing videos into the segments necessary for producing subtitles) or a ‘subber’.�5

For 36 hours after a video is added to the ViKi site, the subtitle editor function is only available to channel moderators and designated segmenters – with the former taking specific responsibility for “subtitling and posts in their own language”.�6 This allows for the necessary segmentation work to be completed in a smooth, orderly fashion before fansubbing ‘proper’ begins. Once this period has elapsed, the subtitle editor is “automatically unlocked and

�3 http://www.viki.com/translator_community (last accessed �8 March 20�2).�4 Unlike Viki fansubs, their anime counterparts have been traditionally available for download via peer-to-peer file sharing protocols that allow for rapid file transfer (BitTorrent), thus raising legal issues when the subtitled material is copyrighted.�5 On �6 September 20��, for instance, ViKi contributor Brainygirl was following 86 channels (often acting as the Thai, English or �erman-language moderator) and had contributed �2,863 subtitles, 24247 segments and 542 posts in total (http://www.viki.www.viki.com/users/brainygirl; last accessed �4 May 20�2).�6 See viki.��endesk.com/entries/20333688-what-do-channel-managers-moderators-do (lastSee viki.��endesk.com/entries/20333688-what-do-channel-managers-moderators-do (last(last accessed �8 March 20�2).

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Tessa Dwyer 223

open to everyone” (ViKi 20��b). As of February 20��, ViKi officially rec-ogni��es “passion” and “language skills” within its community by awarding “Qualified Contributor” status to fans who have produced over 500 subtitles or more than 3000 segments (Viki 20��a). Other ‘quality-control’ measures include the specific guidelines created by channel managers or moderators in order to facilitate subtitle consistency on matters such as grammar, capi-tali��ation and character names. ViKi staff directly assist in this complex, multi-layered collaborative process by guarding against vandalism (ViKi 20��c), responding to user queries and feedback, and by maintaining and improving technological features on the website, such as homepage loading and subtitle entering (ViKi 20��d).

2. Beyond anime

The above profile of the ViKi community points to a number of elements that question the way in which fansubbing tends to be framed within the transla-tion studies literature. Firstly, and most obviously, the very existence of ViKi challenges the idea that fansubbing is restricted to anime subculture alone – an assumption explicitly stated by Bogucki (2009:49) who argues, for instance, that the “amateur subtitling” of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson 2001) ��a�� os�a�� Ja��o�sk� �n 2001 ��o�s no�� a��a�� os�a�� Ja��o�sk� �n 2001 ��o�s no�� a��os�a�� Ja��o�sk� �n 2001 ��o�s no�� a�� as fansubbing because it is non-anime related. Refusing to engage with the increasingly active or participatory nature of media consumption in the digital, networked age (Jenkins 2006), this narrow definition of fansubbing is difficult to defend. On the one hand, Jaworski is a self-proclaimed fantasy/science-fiction fan;�7 on the other hand, as Bogucki (2009:49) concedes, the purpose and motivation behind this instance of amateur subtitling are essentially the same as that of much fansubbing: “to make a contribution in an area of par-ticular interest and to popularise it in other countries, making it accessible to a broader range of viewers/readers, who belong to different linguistic com-munities” (ibid.).�8

Implicit support for Bogucki’s position is indicated by the fact that little to no work has been conducted by AVT scholars to date on fansubbing that is not anime-specific. AVT research into non-anime, amateur AVT does ex-ist, but so far such studies have not tended to intersect with media fandom,

�7 See Jaworski’s LinkedIn profile (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/miroslaw-jaworski/2/49a/805, last accessed �8 March 20�2). It is worth noting that Jaworski might not approve of Bogucki’s umbrella term ‘amateur subtitling’. In personal communication (�4 September 20��), Jaworski states that he fails to qualify even as an ‘amateur’ translator as he has received no formal translation or English language training. The Internet site (http://www.pasimito.com) on which Jaworski posted these subtitles closed in 2002.�8 Pére�� on��le�� (2007:67) also uses this narrow definition of fansubbing in the abstract of his article, referring to it as “the subtitling of Japanese animated films by fans”.

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examining instead issues relating to media activism (Pére�� on��le�� 20�0), web content and social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn (�arc�a 20�0), and special-interest topics such as natural-birthing (Susam-Sarajeva 20�0). To date, research into non-anime, amateur AVT specifically identified as ‘fansubbing’ has tended to be conducted within the fields of media and cultural studies (Barra 2009, Hellekson 2009, Hu 20�0) rather than within translation studies – except for Fern�nde�� Costales’ (20��) investigation into web-related translation developments. Much research undertaken by transla-tion scholars thus fails to acknowledge the fact that, although fansubbing might have begun with anime in the mid-�980s, it has now “widely expanded “widely expanded … [and is currently] interweaving with other fandoms of single products, specific genres (such as science fiction or fantasy), or American TV series in general” (Barra 2009:5�7)..

The broader approach to fansubbing adopted by Barra (2009) andadopted by Barra (2009) and by Barra (2009) and Fern�nde�� Costales (20��) – acknowledged (though not adopted) by D�a��– acknowledged (though not adopted) by D�a�� acknowledged (though not adopted) by D�a�� Cintas (2005-07:�6) and O’Hagan (2008:�6�) – contends that any instance– contends that any instance contends that any instance of subtitling produced by fans or amateur enthusiasts rather than professional translators qualifies as fansubbing. Of course, professional translators can themselves be fans, and in such cases classification of their labour as either ‘fandom-driven’ or ‘professional’ would depend on other mitigating factors, such as whether or not they were paid, whether they stood to profit from their translations, were motivated by passion for media content, adhered to fansub textual conventions and formal stylistics, and whether or not they collaborated with other fans. For Barra (2009:5�7), fansubbers do not strictly need to be ‘fans’. Noting that they may be more motivated by their desire to be part of a they may be more motivated by their desire to be part of a group or to practise foreign language skills than by love for a certain film or TV show, Barra (ibid.) identifies the voluntary, not-for-profit nature of fan-subbing as the essential feature of this phenomenon.�9 Similarly, Fern�nde�� Costales (20��) alternates between the terms ‘fan’ and ‘amateur’, suggesting there is little distinction to be drawn between them.

The example of ViKi adds complexity to the fansubbing landscape, further defying any straightforward definition. While the ViKi model currently con-forms to Barra’s criteria, in that fansubbers receive no financial gain from their

�9 This somewhat controversial position, i.e., that fansubbing is not strictly fandom-driven, is supported by a statement from the fansubbing community itself. In an interview featured on his blog, anime fansubber The Fluff (Fluff 2009) confirms Barra’s views: “we aren’t really doing this because of idealism or anything, we’re doing it purely for fun (and these days the fun isn’t really in the anime anymore; several fansubbers I know (myself included) hardly watch anime, and the anime they do watch usually isn’t the one they sub)”. This interview is published in a blog entitled Walls of TL;DR (n.d.). The title of this blog appropriates a common abbreviation seen in blogging “tl;dr” which as Urban Dictionary explains, stands for “too long; didn’t read” (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term��tl%3Bdr, last accessed �8 March 20�2).

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translations, questions have already been raised about how well the voluntary nature of fansubbing fits with ViKi’s commercial, profit-driven objectives – with Kafka (20�0) asking “what happens if its free workforce starts asking for a check”. If ViKi fansubbers were to profit from their labour, would they still be classified as amateur simply on the grounds that most have received no formal translation training? Even if this possibility does not eventuate, and ViKi’s fansubbers remain strictly voluntary, the profit-based nature of the venture as a whole creates, at the very least, points of tension.

Having announced plans to introduce fee-paying services in 20�0 (Healey 20�0), Hovaghimian (20��) stated in March 20�� that ViKi had already be-gun to ‘monetori��e’ a large percentage of its Asian content. Additionally, he explained that one Korean broadcaster had begun to feature ViKi fansubs on its commercial DVDs. Such developments significantly compromise the not-for-profit spirit of fansubbing, trading the ideal of open-access and expanded availability for profit-driven restriction, control and potential exploitation. This commercial/not-for-profit tension has also permeated anime subculture since its beginnings (Leonard 2005:294-95), indicating that anime fansubbing itself is a far less homogenous field than is often acknowledged within AVT research.20 Although anime fansubs typically bear disclaimers such as “Not for Sale or Rent” and “Cease Distribution when Licensed”, Hatcher notes that “[n]ot all fansubs recipients adhere to the ethical code of not making any money … Individuals or groups may burn fansubs onto DVDs or acquire Asian counterfeits and auction them on eBay in any market” (2005:533-37).2�

Elsewhere, I consider fan translation in relation to other, non-fan forms of non-professional AVT that regularly accompany traditional media piracy, proposing that fansubbing constitutes one subset of such ‘do-it-yourself’ trans-lation practices (Dwyer 20�2). In doing so, I aim to acknowledge variances in AVT realities in different national and transnational contexts, highlighting certain areas of the non-Western world where media piracy is rife and AVT often assumes a “guerrilla-like dimension, becoming more a matter of every-day, ad hoc survival than choice” (Dwyer 20�2 :�96). In the following section, however, I peer more closely into the fansubbing community itself, aiming to diversify and complicate its definition, noting in particular how it is riven by issues of race, geography and access. Consequently, to equate fansubbing exclusively with anime subculture, media fandom or a not-for-profit mindset ultimately proves too rigid. In forging a path towards legali��ing, commercial-i��ing and capitali��ing on non-professional, fan translation, ViKi provides an

20 To complicate the picture further and underscore the diversity of the fan translation field, fan dubbing practices also exist (Hatcher 2005:528). For a discussion of variances within anime fansubbing, see Denison (20��).2� Again, in this scenario, it is not necessarily the fans themselves who profit. Hatcher’s point is echoed by D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� (2006:44), who report that “some people try to sell fansubs on the Internet and even during prominent anime events”.

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opportunity to consider fansubbing beyond anime and the strictly non-for-profit sector. From this little-analy��ed perspective, many of the claims regarding fansubbing advanced so far within AVT research require re-examination.

3. A Model for adoption?

Having established that fansubbing represents a far more diverse field than has been acknowledged so far within much AVT research, I now turn to the ques-tion of its wider relevance or use-value. The goal of this article is to consider how an example of non-anime fansubbing might challenge and change the way in which this phenomenon as a whole has been approached to date. Having surveyed the literature on this topic, I posit that fansubbing is predominantly characteri��ed and evaluated on the basis of four overarching traits: formal innovation, collaborative methods, foreigni��ation and genre expertise. Inter-relating on numerous levels and containing within themselves multiple facets, these traits all relate to the possibilities engendered via emerging technologies and/or the decentrali��ing tendencies of globali��ation. In order to understand how the example of ViKi diverges from this model, and consequently shifts the parameters of fansub research, it is necessary to briefly revisit and outline these traits.

3.1 Formal innovation

The formal experimentation of much anime fansubbing constitutes its most striking, immediately visible characteristic and has attracted much comment within AVT to date. As much has already been written on this creative ap-proach to fonts, colour, type si��e, positioning and movement (such as the karaoke-style running subtitle), I will refrain from describing it again here.22 Rather, for my purposes, the unorthodox phenomenon of translator notes appears to effectively summari��e the way in which fansubbing’s innovative approach and flouting of formal conventions can function to draw attention to itself. As D�a�� Cintas suggests (2005-07:�2), in “breaking old taboos” of professional practice where “interference and presence of the translator … has always been out of the question”, this particularly unusual feature epitomi��es fansubbing’s formal unconventionality. Usually displayed at the top of the screen and referred to as ‘headnotes’, or “written in a different colour in the same subtitle” and referred to as ‘glosses’ (D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� 2006:46), fansubber translator notes are used to explain untranslatable or culturally impenetrable terms and concepts and to provide overt instances of interpretation, thus directly contravening professional ‘objectivity’ codes

22 For discussions of the formal experimentation characteristic of fansubbing, see Nornes (�999, 2007), D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� (2006), Hatcher (2005:Appendix) and Pére�� on��le�� (2006, 2007).

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(Pére�� on��le�� 2006:27�, 2007:76). Moreover, they signal the “new space of interaction between the translator and the viewer” opened up by grassroots, DIY initiatives (Pére�� on��le�� 2007:76).

Pére�� on��le�� (2006:275, 2007:78) identifies fansubbing as part of a general move towards viewer empowerment and active modes of consump-tion resulting from the decentrali��ation of the media; fansubbers’ notably interventionist tactics are thus linked to the convergence of emerging tech-nologies and processes of globali��ation. “Fansubbers’ headnotes”, Pére�� on��le�� states, “introduce a non-diegetic dimension into the interlingual and intercultural mediation process” which “declares its artifice and allows fansubbers to maximi��e their own visibility as translators” (2007:76). For Ortabasi (2006:286-87), on the other hand, translator notes constitute an im-portant if flawed step towards reali��ing a type of ‘thick’ translation23 capable of adding depth to the viewing experience by providing background or con-textual cultural/historical information, while accounting for non-verbal levels of signification so prevalent within cinema and other audiovisual mediums. According to Hermans (2003:387), one of the advantages of thick translation is its “highly visible form” which “flaunts the translator’s subject position, counteracting the illusion of transparency or neutral description”. Ortabasi (2006), however, argues that fansubber headnotes and glosses do not go far enough, remaining too linear and thereby failing to make use of the interac-tive, multimodal possibilities of new media, such as hyperlink navigability. Nevertheless, Ortabasi applauds the fact that anime fan practices are already making waves in the commercial industry, pushing some distributors to take the next “technological step” of inserting hyperlinked ‘capsules’ and optional ‘popups’ into DVDs in order to “embed (pop-) cultural, linguistic, and/or historical information into the film track” (2006:288).24

3.2 Collaborative methods

For Tymoc��ko (2009:40�), the translation profession is currently experiencing a rapid period of transformation resulting from the “increased networking and interdependence of the world”. In her view, the decentred nature of multilingual media translation epitomi��es such changes, making dubbing and subtitling increasingly central to industry paradigms (2005:�089). Tymoc��ko cites the example of CNN to illustrate the way in which global media outfits are re-shaping translation into “a decentered process conducted by teams of people linked electronically through technological systems” (ibid.), thus allowing for

23 Introduced by Kwame Anthony Appiah, the notion of ‘thick translation’ draws on Clifford �eert��’s ethnographic concept of ‘thick description’, which he borrowed from philosopher �ilbert Ryle. For a thorough discussion of this conceptual lineage, see Hermans (2003).24 D�a�� Cintas (2005) also documents some instances of commercial AVT that borrow formal innovations seen in fansubbing and video game translation, while Caffrey (2009) provides an in-depth discussion of commercial DVD video pop-ups.

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the translation of news stories into more than forty languages in only a few minutes. Interestingly, fansubbing processes exhibit many of the traits that Tymoc��ko identifies as characteri��ing future modes of working. Fansubbing makes use of collective labour, online networking and web-assisted translation, for instance, while staking out a territory located well beyond the confines of Western or Eurocentric co-ordinates.25 Although Barra (2009) allows for the possibility of an individualistic form of fansubbing practice, the far more common scenario is for fans to produce translations within collaborative online communities that deploy particularly effective teamwork protocols, producing impressive subtitling feats within very short timeframes.26

The collective, technologically networked model of practice common to much fansubbing can involve testing out new software such as “web-based collective authoring platforms” (O’Hagan 2008:�79), while pushing ethical and copyright boundaries (Leonard 2005, Hatcher 2005). Fans use ‘segment-‘segment-segment-ing’ software to divvy up a program’s subtitles into manageable chunks, and’ software to divvy up a program’s subtitles into manageable chunks, and software to divvy up a program’s subtitles into manageable chunks, and then integrate the translation efforts of individual contributors with those of the group, communicating via email, wiki tools, blogs and Internet chat forums or discussion threads (Barra 2009). The distribution of labour amongst fansub groups is therefore “reaching a semi-professional level of speciali��ation and organi��ation” (ibid.:52�). Most importantly, along with shifting the agency of translation from the individual to the group (Tymoc��ko 2005), fansubbing communities also emphasi��e the ‘co-creational’ nature of their collaborative endeavours (Barra 2009), using online forums to access in-depth cultural knowledge and to problem-solve translation issues. According to O’Hagan (2008), the online collective nature of fansub groups provides an excellent environment for the acquisition of a wide range of translator ‘competences’, including genre knowledge (see section 3.4 below), technological expertise, immediate peer feedback and a healthy interactive translator community – leading her to conclude that “Translation Studies can no longer afford to overlook the fan translation phenomenon” (ibid.:�79).

3.3 Foreignization

A foreigni��ing textual strategy or approach is another trait found in much anime fansubbing – particularly of the ‘Japanophile’ (Levi 2006) or ‘purist’ variety. Foreigni��ation usually involves a literal or word-for-word style of translation

25 This point is noted and expanded upon by Pére�� on��le�� (2006:276).26 The Fluff states: “These days, with raws and streaming Japanese TV so easily available, you have to release within �-2 days from airing or people will start complaining about slow subs” (Fluff 2009). The term ‘raws’ refers to data files that have “not been altered, compressed or manipulated in any way by the computer” (www.techterms.com/definition/rawfile; last accessed �4 May 20�2). ‘Raw’ anime, for instance, tends to be untranslated. For further reference to speed subbing, see Denison (20��), Hatcher (2005:530) and D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� (2006:5�).

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that retains elements of foreign syntax and word order or, as is regularly seen in anime fansubs, foreign honorifics and modes of address. As D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� explain (2006), fansubbed anime often retains the Jap-anese custom of referring to people by their surname rather than first name. They also tend to preserve “special suffixes like -kun for boy teenagers and -sensei for teachers” (ibid.:46). This foreigni��ing textual approach has played a vital role in the development and spread of this form of amateur AVT. As Leonard (2005) explains, anime fansubbing emerged in response to two fac-tors: firstly, the lack of professionally translated material; and secondly, the fact that commercially released, professionally translated anime tended to involve extreme ‘flattening’ or domesticating textual strategies that performed a culturally ‘deodori��ing’ function, removing its distinctly Japanese flavour.27 Fans began to take translation into their own hands in order to provide a more accurate and ‘authentic’ experience of these Japanese products. As a result, the foreigni��ing style of much anime fansubbing goes hand in hand with the heightened authenticity it is seen to offer. Although the domesticating nature of commercial anime translation has lessened over the last few decades, fans and AVT scholars alike still claim that fansubbing is able to provide a higher level of otaku-style quality than that offered by professional translation (Cub-bison 2005, O’Hagan 2008, Barra 2009).28

Looking beyond the example of anime, Barra (2009) acknowledges that foreigni��ing textual strategies are not synonymous with all fansubbing activi-ties. The analysis of two Italian groups that mainly translate US TV series reveals differences between what he terms ‘puritan’ or ‘loyal’ approaches, on the one hand, and their freer, more playful if domesticating counterparts, on the other. Barra (2009:5�9) goes on to suggest that in committing themselves “strictly … to original interpretation”, fansubbing groups that subscribe to the foreigni��ing style must rely heavily on “explanations and notes that can weigh down the vision of the series”.29 In some respects, foreigni��ing translation

27 Leonard (2005:289) cites New World Pictures’ Warriors of the Wind (�986) as “the most notorious example of rewriting”. In this instance, character names were changed, footage deleted and the entire narrative ‘retrofitted’ from a “post-apocalyptic fantasy … into an action flick”. Leonard’s notion of ‘deodori��ed’ anime derives from Koichi Iwabuchi’s (2002:27) theory that Japan’s major audiovisual exports are “culturally odorless”. Leonard’s appropriation of this idea, however, skews it considerably. While Leonard attributes a deodori��ing function to the commercial AVT practices of the importing country, Iwabuchi identifies cultural ‘odorlessness’ as being built into the very fabric of anime, specifically through its signature non-Japanese looking characters, which relates to a broader cultural phenomenon termed mukokuseki (Iwabuchi 2002:27-8).28 Otaku is the Japanese term for ‘fan’ or, according to Cubbison (2005:45), “obsessive geek”. Anime fans have appropriated the term for themselves.29 In a blog, one anime fan objects to the practice of leaving words like honorifics untranslated in order to preserve a sense of “Japanese flavour”, stating: “I don’t want the dialogue itself to be riddled with Japanese” (PIR 2009).

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echoes the formal intrusion effected via headnotes in that it tends to disrupt the fluency of a translation, calling attention to its mode of production and to its interpretive, mediating role. As Nornes (�999:�8) notes, in making audiences more aware of translation, foreigni��ation tactics foreground (and “revel in”)“revel in”)revel in”)”)) the corruption in which all subtitling is necessarily implicated. For Nornes, the “abusive subtitling” epitomi��ed by anime fans “does not present a foreign divested of its otherness, but strives to translate from and within the place of the other by an inventive approach to language use and the steady refusal of rules” (ibid.:29). Despite some reservations about the redundancy of a literal approach, Barra (2009) concedes that in catering to a niche audience, the extremely loyal translations of some fansub groups are capable of producing a level of accuracy that exceeds professional standards.

3.4 Genre expertise

O’Hagan (2008) identifies genre knowledge as one further area in which fansubbing practices tend to outstrip those of professional subtitlers. In her opinion, anime fansubbers operate with a distinct advantage over many pro-fessionals less versed in popular culture iconography, ‘lingo’ and protocols. Fansub groups offer an ‘authentic’ translator community in which “amateur translators learn in a collaborative environment with the feedback from peers who are also genre-experts” (ibid.:�78). Developing expertise in certain au-diovisual genres often involves mediating the visual as well as the verbal, the contextual and intertextual as well as the simply textual (Ortabasi 2006:290). Referring to the English commercial version of anime feature Millennium Actress (Kon Satoshi 200�), Ortabasi (2006) describes how the professional subtitler’s text-based mediation failed to adequately transmit the intense schema of visual information and intertextual referencing found in this film. Like O’Hagan, Ortabasi concludes that professional practice must listen to anime fan demands for more in-depth viewing experiences that sufficiently reflect the multimodal dimensions of contemporary screen media. In short, fansub activities are teaching AVT scholars that professional practice needs to become more cross-disciplinary, familiari��ing itself, for instance, with cinema, television and gaming cultures.

4. ViKi and the geopolitical

Although ViKi diverges quite radically from the anime model in many re-spects, its approach to amateur subtitiling is equally instructive in its ability to raise challenges to professional AVT. More widely, ViKi subtitling repre-sents a disruption to the one-way dynamics of the global media marketplace and facilitates some of the industry changes predicted by Tymoc��ko (2009).

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ViKi purports to direct attention towards the geopolitics of the fansubbing phenomenon, proclaiming itself a “totally new platform, a hybrid of com-munity mongering and linguistic exchange” able to bring mere theories of cultural diversity to life (Moon 2008b). This broad and ambitious remit is felt in terms of both its content and audiences: in September 20��, the site’s TV and movie content was drawn from over 60 countries, only 4 of which were English-speaking. In view of the site’s fast expansion, ViKi surpasses the capacity of fansubbing to disrupt the Western focus of much translation discourse and practice, contributing demonstrably to their internationali��ation (Tymoc��ko 2005). While the linguistic diversity of anime fandom is steadily increasing (Hatcher 2005:5�7, footnote 26), its source language and culture (Japanese) remains singular. By contrast, ViKi brings to the world media content from small language-communities, developing countries and Asian superpowers alike – including, among others, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, Laos, Mongolia, Nigeria and Turkey.

The expansion of ViKi’s user-base, which far exceeds those of most other amateur subtitling groups, has led to the ‘mainstreaming’ of its formal char-acteristics and translation strategies. Unlike anime fansubs, ViKi’s do not normally experiment with different font typefaces, si��es or colours. Rather, they stick to the pale white palette that prevails within commercial subtitling (Karamitrouglou �998). Additionally, the textual mediation strategies favoured by ViKi’s subtitlers tend to mirror the domesticating approach evident within much professional AVT, with one exception: translator notes. ViKi fansub-bers do occasionally insert glosses in parentheses in the lower regions of the frame to explain cultural references (Figure �). Additionally, in its most for-mally innovative move to date, the ViKi interface now contains a dedicated space for the display of translator headnotes: a ‘discussion’ band available for viewers to activate by clicking on a button that appears when the mouse rolls over that part of the screen (Figure 2). When enabled, the headnotes take the form of a running commentary accompanying the entire fansub experi-ence. The information or comments relayed in this discussion band however contain none of the ‘thick’ cultural referencing of the glosses, so character-istic of Japanophile anime fansubbing. Instead, they appear overwhelmingly devoted to celebrity gossip, and emotional responses to onscreen characters, fashions and narratives. Discussions might revolve around an actor’s haircut, for instance, or whether he is deemed ‘hot’. On the whole, the formally and textually disruptive device of optional running translator headnotes is used more as an emotive community-building tactic than to increase awareness of the role and production of translation itself.

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Figure 1. A ViKi fansub gloss of a scene from Playful Kiss (2010), episode one

Figure 2. A ViKi fansub ‘discussion’ headnote accompanying a scene from Playful Kiss (2010), episode one

It is in relation to the decentrali��ing dynamics of globali��ation and the de-ployment of digital technologies and online networks that ViKi more closely mirrors the activities of other fansub groups. Regularly profiling start-up companies, web publication TechCrunch reports that ViKi’s “biggest edge may be its software, which allows easy real-time collaboration between hundreds of contributors, spread all over the world” (Lacy 20�0). ViKi also embraces numerous possibilities engendered via digiti��ation, virtual networks, creative

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commons, wiki-models of “revision history and user-generated edits” and YouTube-style streaming (ViKi 20�0). In this, ViKi is part of a massive soci-etal shift “associated with current developments in information technologies and the media” that is currently transforming translation practice (Tymoc��ko 2005:�088). It is the collective, electronically mediated organi��ation of labour that reportedly enabled ViKi to create a hit, for example, with the K-drama series Playful Kiss (MBC-TV Korea, 20�0).30 Despite its commercial lean-ings, however, ViKi fansubbers remain an entirely voluntary labour force who have actually turned down offers of payment and are “doing it for fun” (Hovaghimian, quoted in Kafka 20�0). Viki fansubbers therefore contribute to a collaborative translator community that provides lively discussion and feedback from other amateur translators on matters such as fansub policy, character name consistency, capitals and lower case usage. Like other fansub initiatives, this interactive translator community exhibits high-level genre expertise and is informed by “familiarity with the needs and preferences of their target audience” (Pére�� on��le�� 2006:265).

Exhibiting only a few of the traits commonly ascribed to fansubbing within AVT research, ViKi disturbs the image created by the anime exemplar, jeopard-i��ing its sense of creativity, innovation, oppositional attitude and oftentimes obsession with ‘authenticity’ defined as a puritanical (to the point of redun-dant) fidelity to the ‘original’ (Barra 2009:5�9). Despite these differences, however, I believe it short sighted to dismiss ViKi fansubbing as necessarily inauthentic due to its more commercial, mainstream appearance. While ViKi may not model innovative textual protocols or self-reflexive formal devices, it nevertheless provides an opportunity to interrogate professional AVT by other means. By focusing on the geopolitical specificity of the ViKi com-munity, translation studies may be able to extend and enrich its conception of the ‘cultural chaos’ (Pére�� on��le�� 2006, 20�0) engendered via global media production and reception, pondering the interrelation between language, emerging technologies and forms of geographic reterritoriali��ation.

4.1 Internationalization

Reproducing, to a large degree, the fluent strategies and domesticating norms and conventions of much professional AVT, ViKi’s style of fansubbing has significantly extended its impact, even beyond the “mass niche” concept proposed by Barra (2009:5�7). Rather than catering for a few thousand fans, ViKi attracts user numbers to rival television. Its accumulated views have reached over one billion, while its user base is currently around four million (Scoble 20�0, Hovaghimian 20��). With subtitles being produced in over

30 By September 20�� Playful Kiss had been translated into 49 languages, “20 of which in the first 24 hours” (Upbin 20�0).

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�50 languages, including Magyar, Persian and Tagalog (Kim 20�0), ViKi has forged significant inroads into many parts of the so-called ‘Majority World’ often left off the map altogether, particularly within the remit of professional AVT,3� and facilitated the internationali��ation of fansubbing activities.

While English remains prominent on the ViKi website, fansubbed English-language media is in the definite minority. On a related note, ViKi acknowledges that its fansubs often use English as pivot language, as can also occur in anime fansubbing (D�a�� Cintas and Muño�� S�nche�� 2006:49). A new policy statement posted on the ViKi website on �8 March 20��, however, seeks to encourage open participation in fansubbing, welcoming the input of people who can translate without reference to English (ViKi 20��b). By increasing exposure to translated media worldwide, ViKi goes some way towards countering the monolingual nature of much Anglophone culture and the ensuing one-way flow of translation traffic within the professional industry which has traditionally undermined the cultural capital of non-Anglophone values (Venuti �995).32

4.2 Access

ViKi fansubbers belong to the same tech-savvy, cyber-elite demographic typical of other fansub communities. Their interventionist involvement in the media marketplace is dictated by matters of geography, language, eco-nomics, market si��e and legality. As is also the case with other fansubbers, ViKi members are driven by the ambition to overcome industry and geopo-litical restrictions and facilitate access to multilingual media content for all. This subsection focuses on the ways that ViKi has found to overcome the limited availability of media in many parts of the globe and the problems of geographic displacement and dispersal of audiences. While most forms of fansubbing directly contravene or find loopholes within industry regulations and copyright discourses, ViKi has opted for a more commercially oriented business model.

3� Attributed to Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, the term ‘Majority World’ is intended as a replacement for ‘Third World’ or ‘Developing Nation’, seeking to describe countries and communities in terms of what they have, rather than what they lack. As the term implies, the Majority World contains the vast bulk of the global population. See the Majority World website (http://www.majorityworld.com, last accessed �8 March 20�2).32 ViKi is therefore causing a far greater ripple than anime fansubbing: its activities are not limited to the purview of one major language or a single place of production. While anime fansubbing facilitates the infiltration of non-English language media into Anglophone (and increasingly other language) markets (Hatcher 2005:5�7), it must be remembered that Japan constitutes a major global economic power – with Japanese anime amounting to around 65% of the world animation market (O’Hagan 2008:�60). As O’Hagan (ibid.), Leonard (2005) and Hatcher (2005) note, the global dominance of anime was aided in no small measure by fan translation networks.

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Tessa Dwyer 235

Taking as an example a number of amateur groups speciali��ed in the subti-tling of Korean-language media, Hu (20�0:36) argues that fansubbing is part of a broader landscape of “pirate communities in the Asian diaspora” that refuse to accept their place within the global consumer market. The global flows of commercial media products constitute a process of geopolitical control: media content is made available to differently located audiences according to strictly orchestrated timetables based on national interests and global power hierarchies.33 DVD region codings, for example, are used as a basis for the division of the global audiovisual market into six geographic ��ones, such that DVDs purchased in one region cannot be played in another.34 Ultimately, Hu argues, region coding reveals how legal and copyright discourses function to delimit technological possibilities and control users. In particular, non-Western nations and immigrant and diasporic communities are seriously disadvantaged by this “regional lockout”, as “mainstream films from home countries (par-ticularly comedies, which do not translate well to the bourgeois foreign film community)” are not distributed commercially within their host countries (Hu 2006:4). The system of region coding does not take into account the complexity of language-culture relations in the global marketplace, thus creating market gaps that piracy is only too ready to fill.

For Hu, the “affective translation communities” represented by fansub groups speciali��ed in Korean drama – e.g. Soompi, Asian Fanatics and D-Addicts35 – provide a valid and necessarily alternative to mainstream distribution (ibid.:37): they acknowledge and service the online Asian diaspora, engaging with issues of race and ethnicity while exposing ‘locali��ation’ strategies and censorship practices through the transnational comparison of versions.36 From Hu’s perspective, fansub groups are necessary despite or precisely due to their questionable legality, as prohibitive industry regulation effectively “enforces local censorship and makes it illegal – or at least difficult – to import unapproved versions”, thus encouraging piracy (ibid.:4).

33 As an example, Hu (2006:3) refers to the fact that “Miramax bought the US rights forMiramax bought the US rights for Zhang Yimou’s Hero but waited several years before releasing the film theatrically”.34 In a sense, region coding attempts to reterritoriali��e or at least rein in the deterritoriali��ing possibilities opened up by the advent of digital technologies, including the instant and endless reproducibility of digital content. For a discussion of region coding in relation to anime fansubbing, see Cubbison (2005:5�). On region coding, copyright and piracy, see Wang (2003).35 The URLs for these communities are http://www.soompi.com, http://asianfanatics.net/forum and http://www.d-addicts.com, respectively (last accessed �8 March 20�2).36 Conceding that there is “nothing necessarily progressive or transformative about the racial discourse on these forums”, Hu (20�0:44) celebrates the fact that race remains on the agenda at all, albeit often filtered through the “softer ‘affective’ pleasures” of celebrity gossip, fashion and narratives of desire. In this way the fansubber’s emotional highlighting of race directly contrasts with the ways in which professional AVT strategies tend to minimi��e cultural difference by promoting the discourse of ‘universal’ values.

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The circumvention of copyright processes is widely held to have enabled fansubbing to creatively explore the potential of digital reproduction, network-ing and social media (Hatcher 2005, Pére�� on��le�� 2006). Most fansubbing sites push legal boundaries by facilitating the downloading of subtitled files (through peer-to-peer, file-sharing networks) together with the necessary soft-ware for playing them with ‘ripped’ media files on personal computers. ViKi differs from this model in that its fansubs are embedded within video files that viewers access through streaming technologies and are unable to download. ViKi’s fansubs can thus be enjoyed within the site’s interface, but viewers cannot appropriate either the video content or the subtitles. This approach to the distribution of fansubs has allowed ViKi to marry the professional and non-professional (Rao 20��) and to demonstrate how pirate-style practices (in the form of amateur, fan-driven translation) can be co-opted back into the service of global capital (Hovaghimian 20��). ViKi’s model involves buying copyright licenses (often featuring exclusivity windows) from content providers with whom it shares advertising revenue, and establishing partnerships with online video services like Hulu and YouTube (Kim 20�0, Upbin 20�0).37 While it is possible to view the growing commercial nature of ViKi as disrespecting the not-for-profit spirit in which anime fansubbing emerged, this commercial-i��ation also demonstrates the power of fan activities to effect serious change within the media and translation industries. In other words, ViKi testifies to the empowering potential of online DIY intervention, forcing the wider com-munity to recogni��e otherwise invisible markets, practices, and needs.38 ViKi proves that, if approached creatively, non-professional fan translation has a major role to play within the broader media ‘locali��ation’ industry.

By seeking to harness the capacity of technology to break down linguistic barriers, ViKi implicitly signals how commercial, mainstream AVT is impli-cated in practices that cement territorial and linguistic difference, erecting new walls of regulation. In its aim to overcome the geopolitical realities that limit the availability of media in many parts of the globe, ViKi deploys a legal, business framework that shuns the national and linguistic biases of professional AVT for the ‘chaos’ of fan agency and fansub dreaming.39

37 It is difficult to know exactly how long this licensing model has been in operation. Discussion threads on the ViKi blog have expressed concerns over legality issues since 2008; in January 20��, one user (‘Concerned’) despaired of ViKi’s decision to start applying for licenses: “It used to be a great community. Shame they decided to conform”.38 According to Lessig (2004), copyright laws need to catch up with current advances in technology and their transformative implications for notions of authorship.39 In this, ViKi fansubbing can be compared to the amateur translations of media activists discussed by Pére�� on��le�� (20�0:��), where the “very selection of audiovisual simulacra represents an act of resistance against the dynamics of global audiovisual flows, in that the chosen messages would not have otherwise reached the activist’s target constituencies”.

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5. Concluding remarks

Translation scholars have often expressed concern over the poor quality of amateur output and the intrusion of unregulated outsiders into the precarious translation industry. In the field of AVT, Bogucki (2009), for example, argues that the ‘poor quality’ of much amateur translation necessarily discounts it from serious consideration within translation studies. By contrast, I contend that the lack of stable quality standards defining the non-professional translation environment accounts for the latter’s impetus and subversive potential. Seek-ing to engage with the creative unpredictability of current networked culture, the alternative approach to fansubbing developed by Pére�� on��le�� (2006, 20�0) identifies the need for a paradigm shift that emphasi��es the productivity of ‘chaos’ over fixed, prescriptive notions of ‘quality’.

An effective approach might be to examine how fansubbing exposes the chaos or amateurism that, if not at the heart of the translation industry, cer-tainly infiltrates (or haunts) its most professional enclaves. Venuti (�992:�) notes how the profession of translation can suffer from its necessarily prac-tice-based orientation, which bestows upon it an image of ‘craftsmanship’ that seems to preclude the possibility of conceptual depth. The very practicality of translation, Venuti argues (ibid.:�-2), stigmati��es it as “manual as opposed to intellectual labour”, with translators being regarded “as aesthetically sensi-tive amateurs or talented craftsmen, but not critically self-conscious writers who develop an acute awareness of the cultural and social conditions of their work”. One challenge for translation studies involves re-conceptuali��ing the uncontrollability of amateurism as conditional rather than anomalous to trans-lation operations in general. Fan-based or not, it is the very uncontrollability of amateur AVT that explains both its power and appeal. While fansub communi-ties have certainly proven themselves able to support highly developed codes of ethics, they also regularly produce members and spin off groups that refuse to play by the rules, thereby rehearsing the dynamic of resistance vital to the initial emergence and ongoing relevance of DIY translation subcultures.

ViKi fansubbing also demonstrates the productive possibilities of chaos for translation practice. In a 20�� policy statement, ViKi expressed its com-mitment to the “philosophy of open participation”, opposing moves to restrict and control the subbing process as a means of preventing vandalism, ensuring consistency and reducing errors resulting from non-serious or credit-seeking contributors (ViKi 20��a). Performing a comparative analysis of five randomly selected projects done before and after translator participation was limited todone before and after translator participation was limited to small groups of people, ViKi found that a less controlled environment enables a greater proliferation of translation options, resulting in “better and fasterbetter and faster subs” (ibid.). Translation mistakes and vandalisms still occur, yet so too doTranslation mistakes and vandalisms still occur, yet so too do the user-corrections vital to the success of Internet sites like Wikipedia. In contrast, where subbing is more controlled, interpretation becomes closed-off and translation errors fixed-in-place. ViKi states:

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when we found errors in a channel with open subbing (whether due to vandalism or genuine error), we could often find multiple versions of the same subtitle and could revert to the correct one, whereas with a limited group, when the registered translators were wrong because they misunderstood the original language, there was no easy way to correct the subtitles. (ViKi 20��b)

Mostly untainted by commercial pressures, the ‘hardcore’ (Levi 2006:44), Japanophile anime model of fansubbing has proven resilient to global hom-ogeni��ation processes and the indoctrination of “international Anglification” (�ottlieb 2004:2�9). However, it is important to remember that the fansub landscape is as diverse as that of the professional sphere. While much AVT research takes a resolutely positive approach to fansubbing, regarding certain aspects of its creative, collaborative operations as a model for the future, schol-ars like Barra (2009:22) prioriti��e “ties and mirroring between professional and amateur adaptations” over points of differentiation. Detailing the rigid and often hierarchical organi��ation of labour within some Italian fansub groups and their increasing commerciali��ation due to subscription costs, Barra notes that just as fans experience a “constant professionali��ation”, commercial AVT also borrows from the amateurs, on occasion even replicating their mistakes (ibid.). Rather than generali��ing about these two areas of practice, Barra seeks to acknowledge how definitions of quality in both spheres depend on such contingencies as censorship, automatisms, locali��ation, time pressures and cost effectiveness.

The example of ViKi further reconfigures notions of quality, questioning the common presumption that amateur, fan subtitling is necessarily more formally experimental or textually foreigni��ing than commercial AVT. For ViKi fansub-bers, the authenticity of their practice is not to be found in textual accuracy or word-to-word fidelity, but rather emerges through the concept of agency and the empowering potential of translation as both a community-building device and mode of personal expression. In this way, ViKi provides an equally inter-ventionist model of consumption as the anime fansubbing described by Pére�� on��le�� (2006), carving out a similar space of interactivity between highly visible translators (fansub contributors) and their audiences. The fansubbers’ subjective voice is aired in discussion threads debating matters of policy and protocol within the fan groups, discussing issues of translation with other contributors, and in comments featured in the optional headnotes. Within this environment, authenticity is associated with emotional responses rather than textual fidelity, while formal innovation is forsaken for broad accessibility.

TESSA DWYERSchool of Culture and Communication, the University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. [email protected]

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Filmography

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 200�).Jackson, 200�)., 200�).Lost (ABC Studios, 2004-20�0).Millenium Actress/Sennen joyû (Kon Satoshi, 200�).Playful Kiss/Jangnanseureon Kiss/Jangnanseureon Kiss (MBC Network Korea, 20�0).Warriors of the Wind (�986) (re-released as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)/

Kaze no tani no Naushika (Miya��aki Hayao, �984).

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