Reconceptualizing translation and translators in the digital age: YouTube comment translation on China’s Bilibili

Abstract

A new participatory ecology of translation facilitated by digital technologies has significant implications for understanding translation and translators. This article examines YouTube comment translation on Bilibili in China to reconceptualize translation and translators by taking the Will Smith-Chris Rock confrontation at the Oscars 2022 and the assassination of Shinzo Abe as two illustrative case studies. It demonstrates that Chinese netizens participate in civic engagement and translate verbal and written YouTube comments into a multimodal text with various technological tools. Based on the emergent properties of YouTube comment translation, we argue that translation can be reconceptualized as an assemblage of multimodal resources that reconstitute and extend the original meanings of the source text. We also propose to expand the concept of translators to encompass both human and non-human translators, challenging the anthropocentric bias in translator studies. Finally, a post-humanist approach is suggested to reconceptualize translation and translators in the digital age.