[BTS] Bangtan and Japanese Subtitles [Translation]

[Update: 2024/08/22] Added an update because a notification about additional languages arrived from Weverse

A lifelong companion: "Japanese subtitles"

Our bias, Bangtan (BTS), are Korean.
Although they sometimes comment in English or Japanese, they primarily speak Korean, so when watching their content, I am incredibly indebted to subtitles and translators.

Today, I looked back on "Japanese subtitles," which are essential for ARMY life!

Subtitles and Fansubs

Among the many Bangtan video streaming platforms, I like Weverse the best.
This is because there is a "fansub" (subtitles added by fans) option in the subtitle settings, which helps us even when there are no official Japanese subtitles, or when there are, but the meaning is a bit hard to grasp.

The quality of subtitles provided by professionals is, of course, wonderful.
However, subtitles added by fans have two points: "they understand the characters" and "they know which lines cannot be dropped," so even if there is some clumsiness, the quality more than makes up for it!

This fansub system is frankly god-tier, but I can't figure out how they are added even after looking it up ( ;∀;)
Could it be that it's only enabled for languages that don't have a dedicated translation team?
Next to the fansubs, there is something that looks like the account name of the person who created them, but since there are sometimes multiple, it might have been possible to edit subtitles added by others.

When watching past videos, you can see the steps: starting from the early days where there were sometimes subtitles and sometimes not, the middle period where support for four languages (Japanese, Chinese, English, and Korean) became standard, and the later period where other languages were added and multilingualization progressed...
I often see fansubs in the early videos, so it might be a lost technology as the translation teams began operating in full force. I love this feature, so I wish it would come back...!

By the way, I think recent Media videos (Weverse) have "Spanish" included by default.
Following Japanese, English, and Chinese, I wonder if a Spanish team has been established.*Update: A notification arrived on Weverse.

For LIVE videos, in addition to that, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Thai seem to be included by default. You can see that there is high demand from the Asian region.
It is a mystery why there is a difference between Media and Live.

The problem of Bangtan talking all at once

Subtitles basically follow one person's lines, and in most cases, they only support up to two people, but because Bangtan keeps talking over each other even when their friends are speaking, information is constantly leaking from the subtitles.

The problem of "my bias is saying something on the side but there are no subtitles" or "there are subtitles but I don't know who is saying what" is a path every ARMY walks. It is a given that you will go looking for multilingual ARMYs on YouTube or X who provide translations in search of information.

Subtitles have character and line count limits, so it's difficult to include everything, isn't it?
That's where emoticons, especially in fan videos, do a fantastic job.
Their universal design, which lets you know who is speaking at a glance, is wonderful. I really wish official subtitles would adopt this too!
Sometimes, I just can't tell whose line it is...

Translations that really bother me

I don't know Korean, so I'm not in a position to complain, but there is one thing that bothers me: how they address each other. I can at least understand that much lol.
When Namjoon says 'Hoba!', it feels wrong for the subtitle to say 'J-HOPE-san!'. It feels like the intimacy we perceive from the 'Hoba' nickname is lost, so I end up mentally converting it back to Hoba.

Oh, and then there's the first-person pronoun.
For Japanese people, the first-person pronoun is a persona. The one used changes depending on the situation and relationship, but for Koreans, it's a bit different as they distinguish based on whether the person is a superior or not.

I feel like Japanese subtitles are generally unified to 'boku' (I) to match Japanese sensibilities. Sometimes when 'ore' (I) appears, I think, 'Oh ( ﾟДﾟ)'. That has its own charm, though lol.
Since automatic translations almost always use 'watashi', I end up changing them all to 'boku' when introducing interview articles. Everyone is a 'boku' character.

Global expansion led by subtitles

Bangtan is captivating ARMY all over the world. I think that is partly due to the hard work put into the massive amount of translated text provided by the official team and fans.
I am truly grateful to the translation teams and the subtitle-crafting ARMY. Thank you always. I look forward to your continued work!

If possible, I would like HYBE to complete the translation of all videos on BANGTAN TV and Weverse. Especially the early videos, which are still largely untapped.
I think there are many ARMY who want to distract themselves from the loneliness during the military service hiatus by watching videos!
There are also newcomers like me who fall into the fandom in their spare time, so please, by all means, address this and catch everyone without letting them slip away. Please!

Related links

I'm not an ARMY, but this is a record of a comrade's battle struggling with Korean on the same Weverse. It was very educational!

That was the story about subtitles on X.