초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The purpose of the present paper is to explore the relatively recent but highly participatory practice of subtitling by amateur translators on the Internet, or fansubbing and to propose the necessity for studying this new practice, with a particular focus placed on the subtitling of American TV dramas into Korean. To begin, we briefly reviewed previous studies on audio-visual translation in order to situate the current study. Next, we examined the possibility of using one standardized term for this new practice which has been known by different names: fansubbing, internet subtitling, amateur subtitling. According to our investigation, the term fansubbing is appropriate for use as an umbrella term encompassing the others. We also investigated characteristics of subtitles created by fans. Some of the features of fansubbing include: use of multiple colours, use of more than two lines, unconstrained location of subtitles on the screen, provision of extra-textual information, using question-form, simultaneous use of ST and TT lines on the same screen among others. Fansubs, according to our findings, are not subject to the norms of conventional subtitling. Fansubbing is free from temporal and spatial constraints imposed by conventional subtitling norms. Therefore, fansubbing should be approached to with a new perspective and different methodology. Touching briefly on the impact of fansubbing on appropriation of western culture and high popularity of American dramas on the Internet, we hope to shed light on the new breed of subtitling practice through this discussion.
