Material, competence and meaning in the fansub community

Abstract

Previous investigations into fansub groups have focused on their internal coherence as communities of practice and external links to technological affordances, but research on how fansubbers interact with their social and material surroundings is limited. This article reports on a netnographic study that showcases a novice fansubber’s construction of translating experience. It employs practice theory to describe the composition of the fansub activity through the eyes of the netnographer as a newcomer. This study illustrates the undertaking of translation tasks in this fansub group as co-mediated by the availability and reproduction of materials, interaction between previously acquired and newly gained knowledge, and emergence of meanings through membership construction. It addresses an integration of practice theory and ethnography as a promising approach to tapping the situatedness of translation.