Fan Translation

Fan Translation is a broad term that refers to the fanac of the unofficial translation of source media or fanworks into other languages. 
Fans have translated everything from video games, books, short stories, films, comics, television shows, manga, anime, doujinshi, and fanfiction so they can share their enjoyment of the source with other fans who don't know the source language. 
With commercial works, these translations are often seen to be violating the copyright on the source and are sometimes hard to distinguish from pirate or bootleg translations made with the intent of commercial profit. For example there are many cases of translations of Harry Potter books appearing for sale before official translations were available or in languages where no official translation is ever produced. Harry Potter and the boy wizard translator accessed October 28, 2010Harry Potter and the German pirates accessed October 28, 2010 However, in some instances, such as with some video games, the translation is just part of the existing modding community that is supported and encouraged by the game creators. 
The translation may also go hand in hand with editing of the original source. For example, an English subtitled versions of the German soap operas Verbotene Liebe and Alles Was Zählt are available on YouTube, edited to include only the scenes focusing on the relationship of Christian/Olli and Deniz/Roman and a few related characters.Eskimo Kiss Project on YouTube, accessed October 28, 2010 A French subtitled version of the Luke/Noah story from As the World Turns is also available online.Raphaël Jag on Daily Motion, accessed October 28, 2010
Fan translations may have a different focus than professional ones.
==Views on Translation as a Fannish Activity==
fineillsignup, who translates Chinese Naruto doujinshi, said:
Fan translations of Japanese animation and manga are often joked about in the animanga community because some fan translators refuse to translate words that professionals would normally translate in order to explain the word in detail."official subs vs fansubs" by ProzD, Youtube, Created 1/3/17 The biggest meme about this is "All according to keikaku" from a Death Note fansub."Just According to Keikaku," Know Your Meme, Created 2010
==Views on Having Your Fanfiction Translated==
==Types of Fan Translation==
Common types of translations done by fans include:
* scanlation
* fansubs
* translations of fanfic
* song translations (and covers of the translated songs / videos of the lyrics, such as colour coded lyric videos in Kpop fandom)
* game mods
* translations of primary canon texts, like novels
* translations of secondary canon texts, like artbooks or character guides
* translations of radio plays or dramas
==Well Known Fan Translations==
* The Touhou Patch Center project translates the Touhou Project game series from Japanese into a many different languages, including a number of joke languages such as "4Kids English", "Google Translate English", "Troll translations", and "Pirate English". When Touhou was first brought over to Steam, ZUN said in an interview that the official Steam release would only be provided in Japanese. He said that he was aware of the fan translation patches, and he basically said that he'd "leave that matter to the fans."Touhou Project Archival. An interview regarding the Steam release of Touhou have been published the other day on Gamespark and Japan IGN, asking ZUN about the seemingly sudden decision of the Steam port. Facebook. 14 November 2017.Steam版「東方天空璋」を発表した上海アリス幻樂団のZUN氏インタビュー：今後の東方Projectや二次創作の展開について. IGN Japan. 14 November 2017.
* The Danganronpa franchise is one of the most fan-translated ones. (More details in the linked article.)
* Heaven Official's Blessing#Fan translation
==Endorsed Fan Translations==
Sometimes the creator of a work will clearly allow and endorse fan translations of their work. They may even take actions to help the translation process, for example in the case of scanlations, where they may provide the textless raws of their art to the scanlator.
Some examples:
* I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility, a short story. Translated from English into Polish, French, and Portuguese."I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility". qntm.org. May 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2019. (The author says that he's happy to receive translations by email and host them on his site.)
* Better Then, a Life Is Strange fanfic. Translated from English into German and Korean.IsraelBlargh. Better Then. AO3. 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2019. 
* Isekai Transporter, a comic. Translated from Thai into English.Isekai Transporter (Read from left to right). /r/manga. 9 May 2018. unauthorizedintruder [S]: "After a week, it is done! It was quite a ride. Shout out to the author for giving me textless version, that helped me tremendously."
* "A Story About A Boy Scouted To Be A Model", a short manga oneshot posted on Twitter. Translated from Japanese into English."⚡️New oneshot! It's a story about a boy scouted to be a model... but not the kind of model he expects 😉 Thanks to @konpuudo for their permission and to @majoccoid for providing textless files! Make sure to follow them!. Twitter. 1 April 2019.
==References==
Category:Translation