Content is available in China, with Chinese subtitles within 8 hours of being broadcast almost anywhere in the world.

This is how it works.

1. S T U D I O D R A D I O D U R A N S
8 HOURS

2. Content is available in China, with Chinese
subtitles within 8 hours of being broadcast almost
anywhere in the world.
This is how it works.
8 HOURS

3. An informal network of ~90 English-Chinese translators
motivated by a desire to enjoy TV shows and movies in their own
language, improve their translation skills, and beat competing
teams to deliver their favourite content to a mass Chinese
audience.
!
It is crowd sourced translation, with Chinese characteristics.
HOW IT WORKS
8 HOURS

4. HOW IT WORKS
8 HOURS

5. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
8 HOURS

6. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
8 HOURS

7. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
8 HOURS

8. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
8 HOURS

9. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
Translation lead + 4
translators start
Chinese translation,
splitting workload
between them
8 HOURS

10. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
Translation lead + 4
translators start
Chinese translation,
splitting workload
between them
Draft translation
ready. Lead
translator starts
quality review,
checking for tone,
idioms and slang
8 HOURS

11. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
Translation lead + 4
translators start
Chinese translation,
splitting workload
between them
Draft translation
ready. Lead
translator starts
quality review,
checking for tone,
idioms and slang
QA review completed.
Chinese translation file
uploaded to translation
sharing site - shooter.cn
8 HOURS

12. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
Translation lead + 4
translators start
Chinese translation,
splitting workload
between them
Draft translation
ready. Lead
translator starts
quality review,
checking for tone,
idioms and slang
QA review completed.
Chinese translation file
uploaded to translation
sharing site - shooter.cn
Tech savvy fans
download translation
file and insert into
the US video file
8 HOURS

13. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
Translation lead + 4
translators start
Chinese translation,
splitting workload
between them
Draft translation
ready. Lead
translator starts
quality review,
checking for tone,
idioms and slang
QA review completed.
Chinese translation file
uploaded to translation
sharing site - shooter.cn
Tech savvy fans
download translation
file and insert into
the US video file
Integrated into video
and released as
“official” torrents in
various formats
8 HOURS

14. 22:00 23:00 24:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00
Broadcast ends
Video file uploaded by
US team and
downloaded in China
English subtitles
completed by US team,
subtitle file sent to
China team
English subtitles
synchronised to video
by Chinese team
Translation lead + 4
translators start
Chinese translation,
splitting workload
between them
Draft translation
ready. Lead
translator starts
quality review,
checking for tone,
idioms and slang
QA review completed.
Chinese translation file
uploaded to translation
sharing site - shooter.cn
Tech savvy fans
download translation
file and insert into
the US video file
Integrated into video
and released as
“official” torrents in
various formats
Unofficial versions
appear – using the same
source file, but hacked to
include advertising – by
the subtitle thief team 盗
幕组 sold to DVD vendors
8 HOURS

15. 8 HOURS
QUESTION EVERYTHING

16. The extent to which content is ‘popular’ is framed by both the
availability of that content, the potential audience’s awareness of
its availability, and its desirability. Around 70% of shows that are
translated are still currently being broadcast, the remaining have
ended their run.
!
DEFINE “POPULAR”
8 HOURS

17. As with the torrent scene it is possible to obtain more obscure
content, but takes longer to track down, download the original
source and pull together a crew to that is sufficiently motivated to
translate.
!
The most popular shows attract the strongest pool of translation
talent – less popular shows and those with longer recording times
and more dialog will naturally take longer. 8 hours is the
benchmark.
!
DEFINE “OBSCURE”
8 HOURS

18. Most Chinese shows are broadcast with subtitles in standard
“Chinese characters to support the hundreds of dialects
spoken across China. Translating shows is one way to enjoy,
spread their passion, come together as a community and learn
English.
DEMAND
8 HOURS
中文”. 汉语

19. Some shows such as Prison Break are broadcast on state run CCTV
years after they’ve been available for download. The official
broadcast includes a locally sensitive translation – replacing
words e.g. ‘horny’, ‘homo’, ‘sex’, .etc with subtler alternatives.
AUTHENTICITY
8 HOURS

20. Self-censorship comes into affect for politically sensitive material
that would draw the attention of the authorities, although with a
few exceptions it is anyway debatable whether this content would
meet the criteria of being ‘popular’, certainly compared to local
alternatives.
WHAT ISN’T TRANSLATED
8 HOURS

21. Many people’s motivation to jump the Great Firewall (GFW)
through proxies or subscribing to a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
is driven by the consumption of porn.
!
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter also lie behind the GFW but are
niche compared to their local, vibrant Chinese equivalents.
THE GREAT FIREWALL
8 HOURS

22. In our informal survey of 150 students from 8 Shanghai
universities ~19% used proxies, and only ~3% used VPN’s. Not
everyone who crosses the GFW to access banned social networks,
don’t actively participate, to do so would leave personal trace.
GWF? WTF!
8 HOURS

23. HOW MUCH TRANSLATION IS REQUIRED
8 HOURS
900 – 1000 lines
a movie
!
500 – 600 lines
a single TV episode contains
!
200 – 300 lines
translated by a single team member

24. 8 HOURS
MOTIVATIONS

25. “At first, it’s all because my enthusiasm in US TV
dramas and also American culture. Then with the
growth of my team and other teams, I started to
feel the sense of responsibility and had the aim to
beat other teams.”
MOTIVATIONS
8 HOURS

26. “If four major subtitle sites are working on the
same show, we need to be the fastest and win the
most viewers - that’s how we hold our
reputation”
!
MOTIVATIONS
8 HOURS

27. 8 HOURS
ON THE STREETS

28. Once a TV series final episode is broadcast – a third
party copies the whole translated series and copies
onto 3 or 4 DVDs for sale at ~5 RMB (60 Euro cents/
80 US cents) per DVD.
!
Subtitles are further hacked to insert advertising.
!
DIGITAL TO TANGIBLE
8 HOURS

29. 8 HOURS
S T U D I O D R A D I O D U R A N S