Exploring new forms of audiovisual translation in the age of digital media: cybersubtitling and cyberdubbing

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26512/belasinfieis.v14.n2.2025.57477

Keywords:

Cybersubtitling. Cyberdubbing. Audiovisual Translation. Collaborative Translation. Fakesubs. Parodic Dubbing.

Abstract

The prevalence and popularity of audiovisual content in the current times has resulted in a wide range of practices which have been categorised within audiovisual translation (AVT) research as examples of fan translation, amateur translation, crowdsourcing or collaborative translation, among others. While some practices can be included under these categories, other forms of AVT that have recently emerged are not as clear-cut. Against this backdrop, this article explores the conceptual uncertainties surrounding these new AVT practices, with a focus on dubbing and subtitling, by revisiting the work carried out by the authors, who have previously suggested the use of the umbrella terms ‘cybersubtitling’ and ‘cyberdubbing’. In addition to providing a revised classification, the paper emphasises the need to explore the wider social and ethical consequences of these innovative translational activities. As regards ethical implications, altruist and fan practices are the ones most exposed to malpractice, often because some organisations emulate corporate behaviour but rely on free labour, without any financial retribution or credit towards those involved in these activities. The article also concludes that more critical research should be conducted to unravel the impact of these practices on the role of translation as a socio-professional activity.

Author Biographies

  • Rocío Baños, University College London

    Rocío Baños é Professora Associada em Tradução no Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) da University College London, onde leciona Tradução Audiovisual e Tecnologia da Tradução. Seus principais interesses de pesquisa incluem TAV (especialmente dublagem), tecnologia da tradução, formação de tradutores/as e os benefícios do uso da TAV na aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras. Publicou amplamente nessas áreas, e suas pesquisas mais recentes têm se concentrado em formas menos exploradas de dublagem, como o fandubbing, a dublagem paródica e a dublagem automática.

  • Jorge Díaz-Cintas, University College London

    Jorge Díaz Cintas é Professor de Tradução e diretor-fundador (2013-2016) do Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) da University College London. Autor de inúmeros artigos, edições especiais e livros sobre Tradução Audiovisual, incluindo Subtitling: Concepts and Practices (com Aline Remael, 2021). Uma das primeiras pessoas a pesquisar na área da TAV, Jorge já treinou futuros/as tradutores/as em seis continentes, é um palestrante frequente em conferências e eventos internacionais e prestou serviços de consultoria para o Parlamento Europeu, a Comissão Europeia, a OOONA, a Deluxe e a Netflix, entre outros. Ele é editor-chefe da série New Trends in Translation Studies, publicada pela Peter Lang, e recebeu o Prêmio Jan Ivarsson (ESIST, 2014) e o Prêmio Xènia Martínez (ATRAE, 2015) por suas contribuições inestimáveis ao campo da Tradução Audiovisual.

  • Fernanda da Silva Góis Costa, Universidade Federal da Bahia

    Doutoranda e mestra em Língua e Cultura pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Língua e Cultura (PPGLinC) da Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), na linha de pesquisa em Aquisição de Línguas, Tradução e Acessibilidade. Licenciada e Bacharela em Letras/Inglês também pela UFBA. Integrante dos grupos de pesquisa Tradução e Acessibilidade (TrAce) e Textos Fundamentais em Tradução - Key Texts in Translation (KiT). Tradutora freelancer.

  • Amanda Hora da Silva, Universidade Federal da Bahia

    Licenciada e Bacharela em Letras/Inglês pela Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). Graduanda em Letras/Espanhol também pela UFBA. Integrante dos grupos de pesquisa Tradução e Acessibilidade (TrAce), Textos Fundamentais em Tradução - Key Texts in Translation (KiT) e do grupo Pro.Som (Tradução, Processo de Criação e Mídias Sonoras). Tradutora freelancer.

  • Paulo Henrique Santos Nunes, Universidade Federal da Bahia

    Mestre em Língua e Cultura pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Língua e Cultura, do Instituto de Letras da Universidade Federal da Bahia (PPGLinC/UFBA). Especialista em Docência do Ensino Básico e Superior (ESTRATEGO); Educação à Distância 4.0 (FAEL); Mídias e Educação (IFSULDEMINAS); Teatro e Educação (IFNMG). Graduado em Licenciatura plena em Letras - Língua Inglesa e Suas Respectivas Literaturas (UNEB). Integrante do Grupo de Pesquisa Mapeamentos em Tradução (MAPTraD) e do Grupo de Pesquisa em Língua Inglesa e Literatura Anglófona (ANGLOLIT). Tradutor freelancer.

References

ANTONINI, R., & Bucaria, C. eds. (2016). Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation in the Media. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

ÁVILA-CABRERA, J. J. (2022). “Improving Oral Production Skills in the Business English Class Through Creative Dubbing.” ESP Today 10 (1): 99–122. https://doi.org/10.18485/esptoday.2022.10.1.5

AVTE. (2017). “Communique on ARTE's Fansubbing Project | AVTEUROPE.” AVTE Website. http://avteurope.eu/en_GB/2017/01/19/communique-on-artes-fansubbing-project

BAÑOS, R. (2019). “Fandubbing Across Time and Space: From Dubbing “For Fans by Fans” to Cyberdubbing.” In Reassessing Dubbing: Historical Approaches and Current Trends, edited by I. Ranzato and S. Zanotti, 145–167. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

BAÑOS, R. (2020). “Fandubbing.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, edited by Ł. Bogucki and M. Deckert, 209–226. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42105-2

BAÑOS, R. (2023). “Key Challenges in Using Automatic Dubbing to Translate Educational YouTube Videos.” Linguistica Antverpiensia 22.

BASALAMAH, S. (2021). “Ethics of Volunteering in Translation and Interpreting.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics, edited by K. Koskinen and N. K. Pokorn, 227–244. Abingdon: Routledge.

BOGUCKI, Ł. (2009). “Amateur Subtitling on the Internet.” In Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen, edited by J. Díaz-Cintas and G. Anderman, 49–57. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

BOURDIEU, P. (1973/2018). “Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction.” In Knowledge, Education, and Cultural Change: Papers in the Sociology of Education, edited by R. Brown, 71–112. London: Routledge.

BUSSELL, J. (2013). “Cyberspace”. Britannica. www.britannica.com/topic/cyberspace .

DÍAZ-CINTAS, J. (2018). “Subtitling’s a Carnival”: New Practices in Cyberspace.” Journal of Specialised Translation 30: 127–149. www.jostrans.org/issue30/art_diaz-cintas.pdf .

DÍAZ-CINTAS, J., & Muñoz Sánchez, P. (2006). “Fansubs: Audiovisual Translation in an Amateur Environment.” Journal of Specialised Translation 6: 37–52. www.jostrans.org/issue06/art_diaz_munoz.pdf .

DORE, M., & Vagnoli, L. (2021). “Amateur Dubbing and Humour to Promote Well-Being Among Hospitalised Children and Adolescents.” In Humour Translation in the Age of Multimedia, edited by M. Dore, 158–176. Abingdon: Routledge.

DWYER, T. (2017). Speaking in Subtitles: Revaluing Screen Translation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

DWYER, T. (2018). “Audiovisual Translation and Fandom.” In The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation, edited by L. Pérez-González, 436–452. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315717166-27 .

FAN, L. (2020). “Collaborative Translation and AVT.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, edited by Ł. Bogucki and M. Deckert, 339–356. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42105-2_17 .

GROSKOP, V. (2021). “Lost in Translation? The One-Inch Truth About Netflix’s Subtitle Problem.” The Guardian, October 14. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/14/squid-game-netflix-translations-subtitle-problem .

JENKINS, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.

JENKINS, H. (2009). “Cultura da convergência: A colisão entre os velhos e novos meios de comunicação”. (S. Alexandria, Trad.; 2ª ed.). Aleph.

JIANG, M. (2020). “Retranslation in Popular Culture: A Multimodal Extension of Taboo Love.” The Translator 26 (1): 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2019.1707385 .

JIMÉNEZ-CRESPO, M. A. (2017). Crowdsourcing and Online Collaborative Translations. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

JUSTO, D. (2017). “Declaran ilegales los subtítulos de películas y series realizados por los seguidores. Los conocidos fansubbers holandeses no podrán subtitular series.” Ser. April 24 https://cadenaser.com/ser/2017/04/24/ciencia/1493017513_614281.html .

LEADBEATER, C., & Miller, P. (2004). The Pro-Am Revolution: How Enthusiasts are Changing Our Economy and Society. London: Demos.

LEE, H.-K. (2011). “Cultural Consumer and Copyright: A Case Study of Anime Fansubbing.” Creative Industries Journal 3 (3): 237–252. https://doi.org/10.1386/cij.3.3.237_1.

MASSIDDA, S. (2015). Audiovisual Translation in the Digital Age – The Italian Fansubbing Phenomenon. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

MASSIDDA, S. (2020). “Fansubbing: Latest Trends and Future Prospects.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, edited by Ł. Bogucki and M. Deckert, 189–208. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42105-2_10 .

MCCLARTY, R. (2014). “In Support of Creative Subtitling: Contemporary Context and Theoretical Framework.” Perspectives 22 (4): 592–606. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2013.842258 .

MOORKENS, J. (2020). ““A Tiny Cog in a Large Machine.” Digital Taylorism in the Translation Industry.” Translation Spaces 9 (1): 12–34. https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.00019.moo .

NORD, C., Khoshsaligheh, M. & Ameri, S. (2015). “Socio-Cultural and Technical Issues in Non-Expert Dubbing: A Case Study.” International Journal of Society, Culture and Language 3 (2): 1–16. http://www.ijscl.net/article_11734_b9fac3605ffb0c68da832760430a527b.pdf .

O’DONNELL, S. (2019). “The Psychology and Ethics of International Volunteering.” Grassroots Volunteering. June 14. http://blog.grassrootsvolunteering.org/ethics-of-international-volunteering .

O’HAGAN, M. (2009). “Evolution of User-Generated Translation: Fansubs, Translation Hacking and Crowdsourcing.” Journal of Internationalization and Localization 1: 94–121. https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.1.04hag .

O’HAGAN, M. (2012). “From Fan Translation to Crowdsourcing: Consequences of Web 2.0 User Empowerment in Audiovisual Translation.” In Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility at the Crossroads, edited by A. Remael, P. Orero, and M. Carroll, 25–41. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

OLIVEIRA, R. C. de. (2021). “Gamificação e trabalho uberizado nas empresas-aplicativo.” Revista de Administração de Empresas, 61(4), e20200762. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-759020210407

PEDERSEN, J. (2019). “Fansubbing in Subtitling Land.” Target International Journal of Translation Studies 31 (1): 50–76. https://doi.org/10.1075/TARGET.18017.PED .

PHILLIPS, G. (2003). “Legality of Fansubs”. Anime News Network. June 8. www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2003-06-08/3 .

PIRÓTH, A., & Baker, M. (2021). “The Ethics of Volunteerism in Translation: Translators without Borders and the Platform Economy.” In Routledge Handbook of Translation and Globalization, edited by E. Bielsa and D. Kapsaskis, 406–424. London: Routledge.

POPOVIC, S., & McClennen, S. A. (2020). “Laughtivism: The Secret Ingredient.” In Pranksters Vs. Autocrats: Why Dilemma Actions Advance Nonviolent Activism, edited by S. Popovic and S. A. McClennen, 36–45. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501756078-004 .

ROMERO-FRESCO, P. (2021). “Creativity in Media Accessibility: A Political Issue.” Cultus 14: 162–197.

ROMERO-FRESCO, P., & Chaume, F. (2022). “Creativity in Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility.” Journal of Specialised Translation 38: 75–101.

SCHOLZ, T. (2013). “Why Does Digital Labor Matter Now?” In Digital Labor. The Internet as Playground and Factory, edited by T. Scholz, 1–9. London: Routledge.

SPINA Alì, G. (2015). “A Bay of Pigs Crisis in Southern Europe? Fan-Dubbing and Parody in the Italian Peninsula.” European Intellectual Property Review 2015 37 (12): 756–764.

TALAVÁN, N. (2019). “Creative Audiovisual Translation Applied to Foreign Language Education.” Journal of Audiovisual Translation 2 (1): 53–74. https://doi.org/10.47476/JAT.V2I1.57 .

TAPSCOTT, D., & Williams, A. D. (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York: Portfolio.

VAZQUEZ-CALVO, B. (2022). “A Sociocultural Account of Fan Translation Practices that Center the Peripheries.” In Theory and Practice of Translation as a Vehicle for Knowledge Transfer, edited by C. E. Castro, M. del Mar Ogea Pozo, and F. R. Rodríguez, 225–249. Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla.

WANG, R. (2022). “Community-Building on Bilibili: The Social Impact of Danmu Comments.” Media and Communication 10 (2): 54–65. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i2.4996 .

WANG, D., & Zhang, X. (2016). “The Cult of Dubbing and Beyond: Fandubbing in China.” In Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation in the Media, edited by R. Antonini and C. Bucaria, 173–192. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

WERTHEIMER, A. (1999). Exploitation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

WRIGHT, E. O. (1997). Class Counts: Comparative Studies in Class Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

WYRWOLL, C. (2014). Social Media: Fundamentals, Models, and Ranking of User-Generated Content. Wiesbaden: Springer.

YOUTUBE. n.d. “How to Earn Money on YouTube.” https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72857?hl=en-GB .

ZHANG, L.-T., & Vazquez-Calvo, B. (2022). ““¿Triste Estás? I Don’t Know Nan Molla”: Multilingual Pop Song Fandubs by @miree_music.” ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 173 (2): 197–227. https://doi.org/10.1075/ITL.21007.ZHA .

ZWISCHENBERGER, C. (2022). “Online Collaborative Translation: Its Ethical, Social, and Conceptual Conditions and Consequences.” Perspectives 30 (1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2021.1872662 .

ZWISCHENBERGER, C. (2023). “Online Collaborative Translation: Probing Its Suitability as a Meta-Concept and Its Exploitative Potential Linked to Labour/Work.” In Translaboration in Analogue and Digital Practice, edited by C. Zwischenberger and A. Alfer, 213–241. Berlin: Frank & Timme.

Downloads

Published

2025-09-15

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2025): Translating Translation Theory

Section

Artigos Traduzidos

License

Copyright (c) 2025 CC BY

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Given the public access to this journal, the texts are free to use but requires the recognition of the original authorship and initial publication in this journal to be properly stated.

 The journal allows the use of works published for non-commercial purposes, including the right to submit the work to publicly accessible databases. Published contributions are the sole and exclusive responsibility of the author(s). 

How to Cite

Exploring new forms of audiovisual translation in the age of digital media: cybersubtitling and cyberdubbing. Belas Infiéis, Brasília, Brasil, v. 14, n. 2, p. 01–26, 2025. DOI: 10.26512/belasinfieis.v14.n2.2025.57477. Disponível em: https://periodicostestes.bce.unb.br/index.php/belasinfieis/article/view/57477. Acesso em: 23 jan. 2026.

Similar Articles

1-10 of 520

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)