User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili
This article is inspired by the considerable popularity of subtitled translations of YouTube videos in Mandarin on Bilibili, one of the largest online video streaming sites in China. Drawing on Bourdieu’s field theory reframed for digital media, this article uses Youzimu, a YouTube-focused fan subti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-02-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241300550 |
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| author | Sijing Lu |
| author_facet | Sijing Lu |
| author_sort | Sijing Lu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article is inspired by the considerable popularity of subtitled translations of YouTube videos in Mandarin on Bilibili, one of the largest online video streaming sites in China. Drawing on Bourdieu’s field theory reframed for digital media, this article uses Youzimu, a YouTube-focused fan subtitling channel on Bilibili, as a case study to explore how Youzimu fosters a self-mediating network for translating YouTube videos into Mandarin, and the extent to which fan translators reproduce the original YouTube videos through their autonomous endeavors. The results indicate that Youzimu’s self-mediated network is predicated upon the ongoing exchange of diverse forms of capital, affording fan translators within the platform a degree of productive autonomy in their translation efforts. Nevertheless, the channel’s adherence to regulatory frameworks governing online streaming and the unofficially sanctioned status of YouTube within China imply a heteronomous principle of hierarchy within the fan subtitling ecosystem. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5f6f7d8f353f48ed933e0baef1378942 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-5f6f7d8f353f48ed933e0baef13789422025-02-07T07:04:07ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402025-02-011510.1177/21582440241300550User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on BilibiliSijing Lu0University of Warwick, Coventry, UKThis article is inspired by the considerable popularity of subtitled translations of YouTube videos in Mandarin on Bilibili, one of the largest online video streaming sites in China. Drawing on Bourdieu’s field theory reframed for digital media, this article uses Youzimu, a YouTube-focused fan subtitling channel on Bilibili, as a case study to explore how Youzimu fosters a self-mediating network for translating YouTube videos into Mandarin, and the extent to which fan translators reproduce the original YouTube videos through their autonomous endeavors. The results indicate that Youzimu’s self-mediated network is predicated upon the ongoing exchange of diverse forms of capital, affording fan translators within the platform a degree of productive autonomy in their translation efforts. Nevertheless, the channel’s adherence to regulatory frameworks governing online streaming and the unofficially sanctioned status of YouTube within China imply a heteronomous principle of hierarchy within the fan subtitling ecosystem.https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241300550 |
| spellingShingle | Sijing Lu User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili SAGE Open |
| title | User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili |
| title_full | User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili |
| title_fullStr | User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili |
| title_full_unstemmed | User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili |
| title_short | User-Generated Translation Community in Online Video Streaming: The Social-Digital Dynamics of YouTube-Focused Fansubbing Channels on Bilibili |
| title_sort | user generated translation community in online video streaming the social digital dynamics of youtube focused fansubbing channels on bilibili |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241300550 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sijinglu usergeneratedtranslationcommunityinonlinevideostreamingthesocialdigitaldynamicsofyoutubefocusedfansubbingchannelsonbilibili |