Danmu-assisted learning through back translation
Reception of the English-dubbed
Journey to the West (Season II)
Based on a new type of online data, danmu comments, this article examines the reception of the
English-dubbed Chinese drama Journey to the West (Season II). This drama was adapted from a classic Chinese novel
of the same title. Studies on dubbing reception have focused on how audiences understand and appreciate dubbing products. However,
this article approaches dubbing reception from the perspective of usability, conceiving reception as using translations for
certain purposes. I first collected danmu comments on the dubbed version from Bilibili, the most popular
danmu video-sharing website in China. A multimodal discourse analysis of these comments shows that the dubbed
Journey has been used for Chinese viewers to learn English. Danmu interface functions like a
“blackboard” to provide back translations for viewers, helping them better understand the English lines. By proposing the concept
“danmu-assisted learning through back translation,” this study argues that dubbed material could be useful in
language learning. Such informal language learning may inspire the industry to develop a danmu-based learning
software for foreign languages, which could be applied in a pedagogical setting. This article reveals new temporal features of
danmu subtitling, including antecedent, concurrent, and delayed danmu translations,
potentially facilitating learning in various ways. It also contributes methodologically to AVT reception studies by using
danmu comments to study viewers in a naturalistic setting without researcher intervention.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Reception and usability of AVT
-
Danmu communication and relevant studies
- Data collection
- Results: Danmu-assisted learning through back translation
- Partial back translation
- Full back translation
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References