Vem bryr sig om fansubs? : En explorativ studie över forskningsläget kring fanundertextning
Author
Summary, in English
Who Cares about Fansubs?: An Exploratory Study on the State of Fansub Studies
This thesis examines fansubs and consists of two sub studies: a literature review examining the extant academic knowledge of fansub studies, and a bibliometric study examining the historical development of the publishing activity for fansub studies. The literature review is based upon articles providing exhaustive overviews of the history, workflow and features of fansubs. The bibliometric study is based upon a total of 563 scholarly papers referencing fansubs to measure the academic awareness of fansubs, and the 171 scholarly papers thereof that examine fansubs to measure the geographic distribution of the publishing activity of fansubs, types of studies performed on fansubs, and topics treated in descriptive articles on fansubs. The results of the literature review reveal a large academic knowledge base about fansubs: Today we know that fansubbing emerged to provide access to untranslated foreign films and series as well as alternatives to domesticating or censored translations, that fansubbers work in groups along clearly defined production lines and are motivated by their love towards and a desire to share foreign media, and that fansubs differ markedly from professional subtitles in terms of aesthetics and translation strategies used. The results of the bibliometric study show that the publishing activity of fansub studies has grown substantially during 2005-2020, during which it has diversified geographically to involve 44 different countries by 2020. The bibliometric study also shows that the majority of fansub research has focused on contrastive, descriptive and sociological studies of fansubbing, and that the most studied topics are translator's notes and foreignization. However, there exists a lack of reception studies, making it difficult to evaluate fansubs from a target audience perspective.
This thesis examines fansubs and consists of two sub studies: a literature review examining the extant academic knowledge of fansub studies, and a bibliometric study examining the historical development of the publishing activity for fansub studies. The literature review is based upon articles providing exhaustive overviews of the history, workflow and features of fansubs. The bibliometric study is based upon a total of 563 scholarly papers referencing fansubs to measure the academic awareness of fansubs, and the 171 scholarly papers thereof that examine fansubs to measure the geographic distribution of the publishing activity of fansubs, types of studies performed on fansubs, and topics treated in descriptive articles on fansubs. The results of the literature review reveal a large academic knowledge base about fansubs: Today we know that fansubbing emerged to provide access to untranslated foreign films and series as well as alternatives to domesticating or censored translations, that fansubbers work in groups along clearly defined production lines and are motivated by their love towards and a desire to share foreign media, and that fansubs differ markedly from professional subtitles in terms of aesthetics and translation strategies used. The results of the bibliometric study show that the publishing activity of fansub studies has grown substantially during 2005-2020, during which it has diversified geographically to involve 44 different countries by 2020. The bibliometric study also shows that the majority of fansub research has focused on contrastive, descriptive and sociological studies of fansubbing, and that the most studied topics are translator's notes and foreignization. However, there exists a lack of reception studies, making it difficult to evaluate fansubs from a target audience perspective.
Department/s
- Translation Program
Publishing year
2022
Language
Swedish
Full text
Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (two years)
Topic
- Languages and Literatures
Keywords
- fansubs
- fanundertextning
- översättning
- undertextning
- anime
- bibliometri
- litteraturstudie
- explorativ
- översättningsstrategi
- publiceringsverksamhet
- kollaborativ översättning
- fandom
- fansubbing
- fan subtitling
- translation
- subtitling
- bibliometric
- literature review
- exploratory
- translation strategies
- publishing activity
- collaborative translation
Supervisor
- Lisa Holm (Professor)