What the Hell are Fansubs ?

Have you ever wondered how it’s possible that the newest Game of Thrones has bilingual subtitles online just 2 hours after it’s released? Where did the subtitles come from? Who translated them? Welcome to the mysterious Chinese Fansub culture.

What is Fansub?

Fansubs (字幕组in Chinese) are the not-for-profit online community groups that translate subtitles into Chinese for foreign TV shows and movies. They do mostly English, but there are also Funsubs in that focus specifically on translating Spanish, French and German shows and movies. 

How does it work?

Just to be clear: Fansubs isn’t a website, it refers to the countless groups that comprise the online subtitling community (each one has their own website and social media accounts). Groups usually have about 10 people, who work together to create a perfectly subtitled episode of the latest shows and movies. 

First, a copy of the raw episode and an English subtitle file is obtained. Then, the someone in the group will divide the subtitling responsibilities to several translators who are translate their parts at the same time. For a popular show, normally they need to finish the translation within 2 hours or even in 1 hour sometimes. 

After that, they will hand their parts to the proofreader; this person will read over the subtitle to ensure that Chinese is natural and coherent while still retaining the original meaning, and catch any errors. At last, the proofreader will hand the subtitle to the final team for insertion and publishing. People can choose to download either the subtitle file (.srt) or the mixed video file with ‘Hard Subtitle’.

Who are the people behind it?

A Funsub group usually starts with a small number of skilled, experienced translators who are passionate about TV shows and movies. After they decide the name of their community, they will start to recruit more members to make their group bigger and get it going. Most of the members are college students and people who are studying abroad. Anyone who wants to join a Fansub must take a test. 1 or 2 proofreaders of the community will score it. 

The structure of a Fansub group is very clear. They have an owner, some experienced proofreaders, and a buncht of translators (some groups have as many as 300+). And of course, there are people who specialize in the digital side; video timeline, compressing the video and subtitles together, uploading, and operate social media accounts.

Do they get paid?

In most cases, they do not. Since they are all not-for-profit, people mostly do it as a hobby and/or to sharpen their translation skills. But of course, Fansub groups do need money to operate their website and social media accounts. And that money comes from commercials.

The competition among groups is fierce. When the latest episode of a popular show comes out, everyone wants to be the first to put the translated bilingual subtitle on their website. Why? It means they can get more followers and website visits, so they can have bigger commercial income to support the costs of the website server. But for the members, they don’t get anything but experience and the sense of achievement.

Are they legal? 

This whole industry is very much in a grey area. Fansubs groups are adamants that that they have no intention to make profits and only want to spread the enthusiasm for great foreign shows and movies around China.

Some Fansubs groups have received legal letters. But none of them have gotten into any major legal trouble (yet).

Some major video websites like Youku and Aiqiyi have already started to purchase the copyrights to broadcast TV series and movies on their website. And some Fansubs groups are providing paid services to these websites. So next time you see a Chinese subtitled episode release a couple hours after its broadcast, you’ll know how that happened… sort of. 

WE ARE HIRING

We are looking for people who love life, food and travel to join our team! Currently, we are recruiting for the following positions:

Nightlife Editor

Food & Wine Editor

Wellness & Fitness Editor

Proofreader

Marketing

Sales

Interns

Ideal candidates are talented, energetic and creative people who can work in a fast paced environment, and Chinese skills are a plus. 

Want to take on a challenge?

Please send your cover letter and CV to: 

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