Danmu-assisted learning through back translation

Abstract

Abstract 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.