Cover not available
Article published In:
Babel
Vol. 67:6 (2021) ► pp.819–844

Revisiting translation in the age of digital globalization

The “going global” of Chinese web fiction through overseas volunteer translation websites

| Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Globalization has gone digital and presents a new type of connectivity virtually today. Digital globalization has transformed the landscape of translation theory and practice, exerting considerable influence on translation studies and the profession of translators. The translation practice evolves with the change of literary expectations driven by the digital revolution. New translation modes have been cultivated by incorporating two essential features of the age, known as technology and participation. Against this backdrop, Chinese web fiction is going global with establishing and developing overseas volunteer translation websites. With this in mind, this paper analyzes the translation model of Chinese web fiction with respect to digital globalization and argues that the fan-based volunteer translation has emerged as a new paradigm that features the “user participation turn” in translation studies.
Keywords: digital globalization, Chinese web fiction, volunteer translation websites, fan translation, user participation turn, China
Article outline
  • Translation and digital globalization: A participatory perspective
  • Chinese web fiction going global: The development of overseas volunteer translation websites
  • Participation-driven and oriented: The translation model of Chinese web fiction
    • Interactivity in translation
    • Visibility of the translator
    • Collaboration in translation
  • The Use of machine translation (MT)
  • Concluding remarks: Chinese culture going global digitally through translation
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00248.wu
References (27)
References
Castells, Manuel. 2010. The Rise of the Network Society, 2nd edition. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Dingjia. 2011. “Preservation and Innovation in Online Literature: A Brief Discussion.” Social Sciences in China 32 (1): 129–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coldiron, A. E. B. 2012. “Visibility Now: Historicizing Foreign Presences in Translation.” Translation Studies 5 (2): 189–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cronin, Michael. 2010. “The Translation Crowd.” Revista Tradumàtica (8). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013a. Translation in the Digital Age. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013b. “Translation and Globalization.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Carmen Millán and Francesca Bartrina, 491–502. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dolmaya, Julie Mcdonough. 2011. “A Window into the Profession.” The Translator 17 (1): 77–104. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Genette, Gérard. 1987. Seuils. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
iResearch. 2020. “Zhongguo wangluo wenxue chuhai yanjiu baogao” 中国网络文学出海研究报告 [Report on the going-global of Chinese online literature]. [URL]
James, Eli. 2012. “Web Literature: Publishing on the Social Web.” In Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto: Essays from the Bleeding Edge of Publishing, edited by Hugh McGuire and Brian Francis O’Leary, 119–132. Boston: O’Reilly Media.Google Scholar
Ji, Yunfei 吉云飞. 2016. “‘Zhengfu Bei Mei, zouxiang shijie’: Laowai weishenme ai kang Zhongguo wangluo xiaoshuo” “征服北美，走向世界”：老外为什么爱看中国网络小说？ [“Conquering North American, going global”: Why foreign readers are fond of Chinese web fiction]. Wenyi lilun yu piping 文艺理论与批评 [Theory and criticism of literature and art] (6): 112–120.Google Scholar
Jiménez-Crespo, Miguel A. 2017. “Translation Crowdsourcing: Research Trends and Perspectives,” In Collaborative Translation From the Renaissance to the Digital Age, edited by Anthony Cordingley and Céline Frigau Manning, 192–211. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Malmkjær, Kirsten. 2013. “Where Are We? (From Holmes’s Map until Now).” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Carmen Millán and Francesca Bartrina, 31–44. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Manyika, James, Susan Lund, and Jacques Bughin. 2016. “These Charts Show How Globalization Has Gone Digital.” Huffpost, first posted on 3 November 2016 and updated on 6 December 2017. [URL]
McKinsey Global Institute. 2016. Digital Globalization: The New Era of Global Flows, 24 February. [URL]
O’Hagan, Minako. 2011. “Community Translation: Translation as a Social Activity and Its Possible Consequences in the Advent of Web 2.0 and Beyond.” Linguistica Antverpiensia 10 (October): 11–23.Google Scholar
. 2013. “The Impact of New Technologies on Translation Studies: A Technological Turn?.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Carmen Millán and Francesca Bartrina, 503–518. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ouyang, Youquan. 2011. “Chinese Literature’s Transformation and Digital Existence in the New Century.” Social Sciences in China 32 (1): 146–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 2011. “Translation Research Terms: A Tentative Glossary for Moments of Perplexity and Dispute.” In Translation Research Projects 3 1, edited by Anthony Pym, 75–110. Tarragona: Intercultural Studies Group.Google Scholar
Shao, Yanjun 邵燕君, Ji Yunfei 吉云飞, and RWX. 2016. “Meiguo wangluo xiaoshuo ‘fanyi zu’ yu Zhongguo wangluo wenxue ‘zou chuqu’ – Zhuanfang Wuxiaworld chuangshiren RWX” 美国网络小说“翻译组”与中国网络文学“走出去” –– 专访 Wuxiaworld 创始人 RWX [American Translation Networks and the going-global of Chinese web fiction – An interview of RWX, the Founder of Wuxiaworld]. Wenyi lilun yu piping 文艺理论与批评 [Theory and criticism of literature and art] (6): 105–111.Google Scholar
Snell-Hornby, Mary. 2006. The Turns of Translation Studies: New Paradigms or Shifting Viewpoints? Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tse, Michael S. C., and Maleen Z. Gong. 2012. “Online Communities and Commercialization of Chinese Internet Literature.” Journal of Internet Commerce 11 (2): 100–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yuxi. 2017. “Globalization of Chinese Online Literature: Understanding Transnational Reading of Chinese Xuanhuan Novels Among English Readers.” Inquiries Journal 9 (12). [URL]
Wu, You. 2017. “Globalization, Translation and Soft Power: A Chinese Perspective.” Babel 63 (4): 63–485. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Xin 張芯 and Wang, Xin 王鑫. 2017. “Wangwen Xi xing fei ouran, Xifang chuban xu zhuanxing – ‘Gravity Tales’ wangzhan chuangshiren Kong Xuesong zuoke Beida wangwen luntan” 网文西行非偶然 西方出版需转型 – – “Gravity Tales” 网站创始人孔雪松做客北大网文论坛 [The Westward dissemination of Chinese web fiction is not accidental, Western publishing industry needs transformation – An interview of Richard Kong, founder of “Gravity Tales” at Peking University web forum]. Sohu 搜狐, 7 June. [URL]
Zhang, Yiwu 张颐武. 2018. “Wangluo wenxue shi Zhongguo xin ‘faming’” 网络文学是中国新 “发明” [Internet literature is a new Chinese “invention”]. Renmin zhengxie bao 人民政协报 [Journal of the Chinese people’s political consultative conference], 26 March, 007.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Bo, Li
2023. Ethical issues for literary translation in the Era of artificial intelligence. Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation DOI logo
Wu, You
2023. Digital Globalization, Fan Culture and Transmedia Storytelling: The Rise of Web Fiction as a Burgeoning Literary Genre in China. Critical Arts 37:4 ► pp. 25 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.