This article argues that fan translation serves as a contemporary, alternative mechanism for the circulation of global media texts. By focusing on the fan subtitling practice in the case of Thai fansubbing of a Korean TV programme, we observe unique ways in which fans exploit semiotic resources to produce fansubs in relation to professional subtitling norms. For example, novel features of fansubs include the treatment of “impact captions” prevalent on Korean TV which are typically untranslated in official Thai translations as these captions are not common in Thailand. Using Actor Network Theory (ANT) as a framework, we analyse survey and interview data collected from Thai fansubbing communities of the Korean TV show Running Man (Wongseree, 2018). The data indicate the close interrelationship which seems to develop between fansubbers and “non-translating” members of fan communities. The previously less recognised importance of such an inter-dependency points to the building of trust, especially epistemic trust, which underlies fansubbing practices. We thus argue that this modern alternative circulation mechanism for global media texts can be characterised by the particular way fans exploit semiotic resources and the way in which it is supported by epistemic trust within the fan community.

本文认为，粉丝翻译是全球媒体文本传播的一种当代替代机制。通过关注韩国电视节目的泰国粉丝字幕的粉丝字幕练习，我们观察到粉丝利用符号资源来产生与专业字幕规范相关的粉丝字幕的独特方式。例如，粉丝字幕的新颖功能包括对韩语电视上普遍存在的“影响字幕”的处理，由于在泰国并不常见，这些字幕在泰国官方翻译中通常未翻译。以演员网络理论（ANT）为框架，我们分析了从韩国电视节目《奔跑的人》的泰国粉丝订阅社区收集的调查和访谈数据（Wongseree，2018）。数据表明，粉丝subber和粉丝社区的“非翻译”成员之间似乎存在着密切的相互关系。这种相互依存的重要性先前未被人们所认识到，这表明建立信任，尤其是认知信任，这是迷信行为的基础。因此，我们认为，这种针对全球媒体文本的现代替代发行机制可以通过粉丝利用符号资源的特殊方式以及粉丝社区内部的认知信任来支持它。