Subtitles vs. Piracy

By+Yuan+Yuan

For Chinas foreign film lovers， nothing is more vital than quality subtitles. Thankfully， with legions of fans doing the translation themselves， often completing it within just a few days and offering the fruits of their labor for free， enjoying overseas Tv and movies used to be an easy thing—until December 20， 2014.

On that fateful day， yyeTs.com， a major website that provided Chinese subtitles for English-language movies and Tv dramas， announced its closure. “We are sorry to announce that the website is now officially closed. We would like to extend our gratitude to all the members of the community that helped along the way. Farewell.”

However， it was actually a month earlier， on November 22， that yyeTs.com suspended operations. “The website is undergoing maintenance. Thank you for your love， support and accompanying all the way since we—a group of students studying in Canada—set up the website in 2004，” its statement read.

Also on that day， shooter.cn， a non-profit website that provides free Chinese subtitles， also announced that it was stopping operations.

“I have run shooter.cn for 15 years. The website hoped to bridge the gap between countries and promote understanding between cultures. If it helped anyone， I can feel satisfied. However， the time of shooter.cn has passed，” wrote Shen Sheng， the websites owner.

The dilemma

Many connect the sudden， simultaneous fall of the two sites with the recent rules from the State Administration of Press， Publication， Radio， Film and Television， which asked companies that have obtained the broadcasting rights to foreign Tv dramas to submit the whole season， and all accompanying subtitles， for approval before they can be broadcast in China.

These measures were a huge blow to subtitle websites. “The establishment of shooter.cn was to help satisfy the appetites of TV lovers，” said Shen with Shooter.cn. “In the eyes of many movie and Tv fans， the subtitle groups are the perfect embodiment of the sharing spirit of the Internet.”

Translators of the subtitles available on sites like shooter.cn and yyeTs.com were created for fun. “We dont earn a penny out of this，” said yueya， a woman working with shooter for four years. “Most of us have full-time jobs. We do this purely out of passion.”

The passion for sharing overseas dramas with Chinese audiences started more than a decade ago. The American Tv sitcom Friends is believed to be the earliest to attract a community of amateur translators. The translators and fans of the show created a forum online that is said to be the cradle of many subtitle translation groups in China.

These groups started to turn their translation skills to many other dramas. In 2006， Prison Break， an American series， became a hit in China and put translation groups in the spotlight once more. In its heyday， members of yyets.com translated more than 130 Tv series at the same time and had millions of followers.

There were different job assignments among the team， including downloading the source videos， translation， adding special effects to the subtitles， proofreading and adding the subtitles to the original source video.

“I appreciate the help of the translators very much，” said Yu Xiaohua， a fan of English movies and dramas. “Some translating teams even offer bilingual subtitles and it is very helpful for learning English. Comparing translations of different teams is also fun.”In late 2010， the server of yyeTs. com was down， but was revived a month later. Since then， yyeTs.com is said to be shut down due to copyright issues， which hangs over such websites like the Sword of Damocles.

“Providing subtitles without the copyright owners approval and providing download links is infringement，” said Chang Yachun， an attorney from the Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm.

In 2013， yyeTs.com was blacklisted by the Motion Picture Association of America over copyright issues.

Where to go

Since the establishment of these websites， they had long been operating in a grey area. According to Chinas Labor Contract Law， subtitles were in a grey area of a contracts “waiting effect” before the original creator and copyright owners final approval.

The translation groups and websites were operating in this grey area and are at risk if the original owners disapprove of them. But when responding to the copyright issues， most groups and websites claim they are non-profit.

This is also why even though the translation from such websites is sometimes better than the official translation and it shows the market potential of such service， no venture investment has ever put money into this industry.

“While subtitle websites have branded themselves as non-profit， the money they make presents them with a dilemma： if the investment money comes in， they have to work out copyright issues and develop commercial operation patterns that will be resisted by their target clients who want free downloads，” said a partner from Sequoia Capital.

Another concern is that even though the translators are doing it for fun， the server space is not free. Some big subtitle or download websites have online ads， add links to commercial businesses， or charge money for downloads.

Facing such an awkward situation， some groups have sought cooperation with video websites that own the legal copyright to foreign dramas as a “safe haven.”

In late 2013， the video site iQIyI.com acquired the broadcasting rights to the popular South Korean Tv drama My Love From the Star， later hiring Internet subtitle providers to participate in the translation. Industry watchers said this was a mutually beneficial opportunity for them under the current laws and regulations.

However， translators revealed that the payment for the translation was surprisingly low—less than 80 yuan （$13） for an episode. Normally there are five people working together to translate an episode， which means each person earns less than 20 yuan （$3.3）. Considering the intensity of the work flow—the translation of one episode needed to be completed within three hours—this payment seems like a slap in the face.

Compared with that， the cooperation between yyeTs.com and some major video websites， including sohu.com in China， seems to be more optimistic. It is said most of the subtitles of the foreign dramas displayed on sohu.com are purchased from yyeTs.com.“Even though the website got shut down， the translators can continue the same job in this new way and now we can watch all the foreign dramas on these major websites for free，” said yu xiao， a 25-year-old woman working in an advertisement company. As a big fan of foreign dramas， yu said the closure of shooter.cn and yyeTs.com doesnt make a big difference for her.

Shen， the owner of shooter.cn， after announcing the closure of his website， started to pursue a career in the mobile phone game industry and declined to be interviewed.

In the aftermath of both Shens site and yyeTs.com being shut down in November， some followers even listed the grassroots subtitle providers as one of the four significant translation waves that changed Chinese history， which include the monk xuanzang and Kumarajiva translating Buddhist scriptures， the enlightenment thinker， educator and translator yan Fu and the writer Lin Shu translating elements of Western culture in the early 20th century， and the Sanlian Joint Publishing Company and Shanghai Translation Publishing House translating modern Western social science texts after the “cultural revolution” （1966-76） .

“It seems like an overstatement， but who knows，” said Zhou Qiang， a sophomore from Beijing-based Renmin University. “Even though the websites have been closed， I believe there are still many translators or fans that will share subtitles online， just in another form.”

“It is illegal to put this content on a public website， so maybe now these groups will return to the situation of a decade ago，” said Lu Zijing， Zhous classmate. “But it delivered urgent information for us： We should learn English as well as possible and try not to rely on subtitle translations.”