Iuliia Glushneva TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS, OR POSTSOCIALIST CONNECTIVITY: NETWORK LANGUAGE TRANSFER AND CYBERDUBBING ON THE RUNET - aprja
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Iuliia Glushneva
TRANSLATION
(DIS)JUNCTIONS, OR
POSTSOCIALIST CONNECTIVITY:
NETWORK LANGUAGE TRANSFER
AND CYBERDUBBING ON THE
RUNET
Abstract
This article focuses on language transfer as a fundamental factor in the con-
struction of postsocialist network technosociality. By looking at the early days
of the Internet in Russia and the current landscape of the Russian-language
cyberspace, it demonstrates that excessive translation activity becomes an
essential tool of postsocialist integration with global network economies and
cultures. At the center of this activity is voice-over, a form of “half dubbing” and
a dominant screen translation practice on the Runet. While this article explores
the histories and defining features of performance and labor of this practice, it
argues that the voice-over translation is a mode of connectivity that exposes
the centrality of asynchrony and distortion to postsocialist networking as well
as to the network as such.
APRJA Volume 9, Issue 1, 2020
ISSN 2245-7755
CC license: ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’.
Iuliia Glushneva: TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS ...
and transferable knowledge, and conceal-
Introduction
ment of translation. On the network, while
concealment of translation is manifested in
In the 1980s and 1990s, the network imagi- the utopian rhetoric around machine transla-
nary, as an essential resource for the post- tion that seemingly enables momentary and
Fordist information economy and knowledge painless communication, it also represents
production, produced a potent repertoire of obscuring the conditions of translation labor
narratives to guide our understanding and and lived experience of those who translate.
experience of global connections and ex- The network explicitly utilizes translation
change. By focusing on the global network as a for self-preserving, whether we talk, for
“communication system, increasingly speak- instance, about the accumulation of users’
ing a universal, digital language” (Castells linguistic data by memory networks or the
2), these early narratives foreground the volunteer labor for “massively open transla-
image of fluid connectivity without limits and tion” projects developed by media giants
technological monoglossia of the networking such as Facebook or Wikipedia (O’Hagan
world. Meanwhile, what is seemingly absent 930). Yet, the mundane translational activity
or, rather, bracketed off in this account is the remains treated as peripheral in the knowl-
immense cultural complexity and linguistic edge production and distribution, translators
diversity underlying the paths of network are subject to the imperative of self-erasure
adoption and usage, on the one hand, and in linguistic transfer, and translations have to
the network communication on a global scale, be unobtrusive and unnoticeable.
on the other. Although not always overtly But what happens to the network, this
expressed, this account continues to inform article asks, when these conditions are not
corporate and public discourses surrounding met? What senses of translation open up
the network technologies, policies, and cul- when the politics of concealment fails, and
tures. Today, it is precisely the search for the the awkwardness of linguistic transfer breaks
universal language code or “interlingua” that through to the network surface? What are
guides and dominates the development of the socio-economic lives of communities
communication tools and technologies such that consume knowledge and experience
as, for example, Google’s Natural Language the network through haunting translations
Processing or Neural Translation System on an everyday basis? In addressing these
(Johnson). questions, this article draws attention to the
The idea of the global networks as op- translation culture developed around and
erating through universally shareable proto- on the Russian internet or Runet. Since the
col and code stands in direct relation to what mid-1990s, ‘Runet’ has been coined as the
Michal Cronin calls the “neo-Babelianism” of term used by the general public, academia,
the current information age and defines as and official institutions in Russia in referring
“the desire for mutual, instantaneous intel- to both a “national domain” of the internet
ligibility between human beings speaking, and a “language domain, open to Russian-
writing and reading different languages” speaking people from all over the world”
(Translation and Globalization 59). The (Asmolov and Kolozaridi 56). Whereas the
expression and fulfillment of this desire are analogous “emotive labeling is not common
linked to a range of tactics such as linguistic in other national segments of global net-
segmentation of informational flows, politics works,” the introduction of the abbreviation
of translatability that favors easily adaptable ‘Runet’ after the dissolution of the Soviet
95APRJA Volume 9, Issue 1, 2020
Union in 1991 suggests the break of Russia diverse set of regimes of connectivity that
with the state socialist governance of net- emerge through the complex confluence of
work culture (Konradova and Schmidt 35). socialist legacies/contemporary politics and
Currently, the widespread adoption of the market liberalization in the post-Cold War era.
term by politicians and legal entities to refer As we shall see below, the Runet embodies a
to the websites registered on the territory of specific modality of postsocialist networking
Russia points to the growing investment in characterized by the persistence of Soviet
protecting, administering, and policing the cultural practices and by the enhanced need
domestic network infrastructure and market. for synchronization with advanced capitalist
At the same time, the Runet more commonly economies. In the context of the Runet, this
designates “a social and cultural phenom- need results in acceleration and amplification
enon of post-Soviet online communication in of translation activity that seems very difficult
Russian, with neither fixed geographical nor or impossible to conceal. The translations
technological parameters” (ibid.). Viewed as surrounding the Runet are those intended to
the Russophone “deterritorialized transna- guarantee junction and inclusion in the global
tional realm” (Strukov 28), the Runet marks knowledge culture. Yet, these are translations
not the break but continuity with the Soviet whose hasty and careless performance also
politics that promoted the Russian language points to the pressure of enduring disjunction
as a lingua franca of most of Eastern Europe and socio-cultural disparity in postsocialist
and Central Asia and a communicative tool networking.
for building the international socialist commu- As this article aims to demonstrate,
nity. In this way, the Runet also stands for the what reveals the deepest symbolic and
Russian-language web space(s) to network material implications of translation (dis)junc-
different parts of the ex-Soviet region as well tions mediating postsocialist connectivity is
as Russian-speaking users across the globe. the phenomenon of voice-over translation,
Nevertheless, the Runet is neither a dominant translation practice deployed to
nationally centralized nor linguistically her- distribute foreign-language video content
metic. It has been inextricably tied into the on the Runet. Called “half dubbing” or “non-
global network infrastructure and knowledge synchronized dubbing” (Franco et al. 31),
circulation, which is particularly evident in the voice-over represents a technique in which
centrality of interlinguistic translation to the the spoken translation is recorded over the
histories and experiences of the Runet. While original language, such that both language
this article employs the term ‘Runet’ to denote tracks can be heard. Asynchronous and
both a national and linguistic segments of the error-prone voice-over, a hallmark of media
internet, it discusses the pivotal role of the cultures of the former Eastern bloc, has
Russian-language translations in shaping the been seen as an eccentric by-product of the
extension of network technology in Russia in postsocialist socio-technological backward-
the 1990s and online distribution of media ness. A “farcical and surreal” phenomenon
content on the Russophone web in the 2000s (Chion 145), “a form of cultural barbarism”
to present. In using the Runet as a case study, (Chistruga and Svaneeng) or “translational
the article emphasizes intensive cultural and pornography” (Berdy et al. 58) are the ways
linguistic translation as an essential factor to describe postsocialist voice-overs.
and effect of networking under the impact Unlike the Web subbing scene that is
of the postsocialist condition. Postsocialist today considered “a new frontier for transcul-
networking, as I define it, represents a highly tural engagement” (Dwyer and Lobato 128),
96Iuliia Glushneva: TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS ...
online voice-over culture and other practices a profound effect on the audience’s experi-
of “cyberdubbing” (154), to borrow Rocío ences, leading users not just to tolerate the
Baños’ term, have received scarce scholarly asynchrony, noisiness, and errors typical
attention. This, in turn, does not correspond of voice-over but to find them aesthetically
to ordinary experiences on the Runet, where, pleasurable and essential for engagement
contrary to the majority of global networks, with foreign-language culture.
subtitling seems to play an accessory role. By looking at the histories, infrastruc-
On the Runet, it is the noise of numerous ture, and labor of voice-over translation, this
split voice-overs that circulates across tor- article argues that the Russian-language
rent websites, legal and semi-legal stream- voice-over culture represents a specific mode
ing services, and social media. Although the of connectivity that stands in conflict with the
voice-overs are carried out and distributed representation of the network as an agent
by multiple actors such as official translation of fluid and intelligible communication. As a
companies, pirates, fans, and random users, manifestation of the accelerated postsocialist
it is a particularly difficult task to distinguish integration with dominant knowledge econo-
between professional and amateur voice- mies, this culture exposes the mechanisms,
overs as well as between legal and pirate effects, and failures of network synchroniza-
translations. Due to the easy access to tion. It exposes the centrality of asynchrony
sound-editing software and advanced on- and disjunction for the network that operates
line translation tools, the quality of amateur and expands in the conditions of socioeco-
translations does not significantly deviate nomic imbalance, cultural asymmetries, and
from the norms of professional voice-overs. linguistic hierarchies.
Interestingly, the Runet audiences often
prefer amateur voice-overs to professional
translations ridiculed by users for ubiquitous
Postsocialist Networks:
distortions and comic localization deci-
sions. Moreover, it is a common practice for (Dis)connecting
translators to independently distribute their Translations
translations online and simultaneously work
for professional translation companies. Many
of these companies, that today regularly Since the early 1970s, the network techno-
hire popular amateur voice-over translators sociality has been considered a fundamental
and participate in both official and informal resource of restructuring of contemporary
media circulation on the Runet, emerged and capitalism and an organizing principle of
flourished as informal translation collectives neoliberal policies. As a decentralized and
and agents of pirate distribution. In terms of flexible structure, the network seems doomed
local copyright culture, it is particularly note- to failure in the stifling atmosphere of the
worthy that voice-over translation in itself hierarchical bureaucracy of the Cold War
seems to legitimize informal media sharing. socialist regimes. The emphasis in historical
Colloquially known as ‘authorial’/‘auteur’ accounts is often on socialist networks as
translation, voice-over is considered as a unsuccessful technological projects like the
particular mode of authorship and creative All-State Automated System (OGAS) in the
practice that removes the aura of piracy and Soviet Union, a prime example of “how not to
endows the ‘stolen’ content with originality. network” (Peters 2016). Or, on the contrary,
This perception of voice-over translation has socialist networks seem to be productive,
97APRJA Volume 9, Issue 1, 2020
but legally and morally dubious, capillary postsocialist game of catch-up. Participation
infrastructures of the shadow economy, black in the global network culture has turned out
markets, samizdat distribution, and piracy. to be identical to proper integration into the
Relkom, the first computer network in neoliberal regime. Meanwhile, the trajectories
Russia, was launched in 1990 and jokingly of this participation often reflect the founda-
stood for “real communism” (Konradova and tional paradox of digital networks – “the more
Schmidt 39). In the same year, Russia was we participate in them, the more inequality
connected to the Internet via the domain .su. and disparity they produce” (Mejias 3). By
Nevertheless, the dissolution of the Soviet promising instantaneous communication
Union in 1991 was taken as a starting point and thriving on “the breaking down of the
in the development of network culture in rhythms, either biological or social” (Castells
the country, and the early Russian netizens 476), the network does not cancel real-world
“perceived the fall of the Iron Curtain and the asynchrony and uneven patterns of partici-
discovery of cyberspace as being intimately pation. Instead, while the network enforces
linked” (ibid. 35). In Russia, the network not monoglossia and coevalness as conditions
only marked and facilitated the transition of productive connectivity, it produces intense
to capitalism but was also viewed as a key competitiveness and precarity.
achievement of the capitalist revolution and The continuing process of postsocialist
an imported gift from the West. The history synchronization within and outside the net-
of Soviet network experiments and computer work is an act of translation with its compro-
industry, in turn, fell victim to “Russian mises, errors, temporal lag, and reputation of
techno-cultural amnesia” (Strukov 28). being derivative or even parasitical. It is the
The political manipulation of the memo- translation, both as cultural localization and
ry of communism and the distrust of left-wing linguistic transfer, that underlies the build-
politics associated with the totalitarian past ing of “postsocialist global collectivity” and
have turned, according to Liviu Chelcea and serves as a fundamental postsocialist me-
Oana Druta, ex-socialist cultures into “a par- dium of “forging of common time” within the
ticularly strong version of neoliberalism” (17). digital present (Starosta 204, 205). Equally,
However, the hypertrophy of neoliberalism in translation becomes an essential driving
these cultures, and in Russia in particular, is force behind the development of the network
not simply an enthusiastic acceptance of the infrastructure and the Runet culture imag-
norms and values of late capitalism. Rather, ined as what “breached borders and brought
postsocialist capitalism is an agony of down political walls in the spirit of political
compulsive synchronization with the global transformation” (Asmolov and Kolozaridi 66).
neoliberal order under conditions of socio- Symbolically, translation as localiza-
economic and organizational asymmetry. tion engineering becomes the basis of the
The redundancy of postsocialist capitalism Russian electronic modernity. The massive
consists in the scale of human and material import of computer systems since the late
resources to compensate for this asymmetry 1980s spawned an army of engineers actively
and in the distinctive regulatory mechanisms involved in the technical redesign of imports
and forms of labor engendered by the dictate and Russification of software. Meanwhile,
of structural consensus. among the emblematic electronic devices
The network, as both a foundational of the early network culture in Russia were
model and major technology for synchroni- not only computers available for a limited
zation, has become the cornerstone of the number of citizens. In the 1990s and 2000s,
98Iuliia Glushneva: TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS ...
a pocket translator is a coveted device and supplemented by numerous comments in
indispensable assistant in the context of the spirit of Marxism-Leninism and were
drastically enhanced communication with the especially skeptical of mind-machine analo-
outside world and abundance of information gies, a cornerstone of the network imaginary,
flooding into all areas of life through foreign they lost their relevance in the post-1991 era.
goods, texts, and images. The relevance and quality of the post-1991
While computerized networks facili- Russian translation carried out in haste and
tated this acceleration of information flows, under the pressure of never-ending techno-
their architecture, representation, and public logical upgrade turned to be no less prob-
image developed through the offline distribu- lematic. This translation was often portrayed
tion of knowledge. The 1990s became the as a “spontaneous, uncontrolled process”
most flourishing period in the development and blamed for giving rise to “terminological
of Russian computer journalism heavily confusion, inaccurate formulations, and
influenced by the North American computer ugly barbarisms” (Shturts 66). In the 2000s,
press. By 1983, there were more than two the Russian-language translation was
hundred computer magazines in the United recognized as one of the factors that slowed
States (“Boom in Computer Magazines”), down the timely integration of Russia into
and later on, many of them, such as Byte, the environment of computer and network
Computerworld, or Network World, began innovations and contributed to the ongoing
to be published in large print runs in Russia. misunderstanding among the local special-
The published material was composed al- ists. Employed to connect, translation into
most exclusively of the articles translated into local language simultaneously resulted in
Russian (Kuzmin), and it was common to find disconnection (see fig. 1).
only four pages written by local authors in a
100-page magazine (Strelchenko). In both
popular and specialized press, the spread
of information about computer and network
technologies, in fact, lay on the shoulders of
anonymous translators.
The emergence of computer journal-
ism accompanied a boom in translations of
academic and technical literature along with
popular books such as Internet for Dummies.
Translators were faced with a hardly feasible
task to translate the amount of knowledge
and information in the field of cybernetics,
computer technology, and network studies
produced in the West during the Cold War
up to date. In the Soviet period, the All-
Union Translation Center and the Institute of
Scientific and Technical Information actively
translated and published Western computer
literature with slight delays (Gerovitch
Figure 1: A Russian magazine cover referring to article
144). However, since Soviet translations “IT-Terms: Lost in Translation.” Computerra, no. 15,
represented shorter and censored texts 2006.
99APRJA Volume 9, Issue 1, 2020
Meanwhile, emerged in reaction to the the chaos of translation performed by people
chaotic and linguistically incomprehensible and machines.
Web, the Runet developed online as the In this cacophony, the Runet represents
Russian-language “samizdat, archive, and only a semblance of language enclave. By
library” and “in complete accordance with accumulating the dizzy multilingual flows,
literature-centric traditions” (Kuznetsov 11, it exists as a gigantic translation engine
73). In the Runet vortex of classical literature, that adapts and circulates moving images
amateur poems, esoteric books, and other through quick and cheap cyberdubbing prac-
textual content, translations were ubiquitous. tices. Among them is voice-over that, in
Circulation of professionally translated texts, contrast to ventriloquism of regular dubbing,
anonymous adaptations, commentaries, and allows both the original speech and spoken
summaries of foreign-language content was translation remain audible, thereby highlight-
happening along with the formation of trans- ing the very presence and machinery of the
lation communities and the development of linguistic transfer. Despite its obtrusiveness,
local online translation services. The trans- voice-over is a primary translation technique
lation was present on the Runet, but it was on the Runet and an alternative to both sub-
not until the arrival of high-speed unlimited titling that plays a marginal role in the local
access in 2004 that it obtained actual vis- media history and time-consuming dubbing
ibility. The fast Internet speeds brought about that requires lip synchronization.
the unstoppable cross-border video streams. Originated in the Soviet Union (Franco
Paradoxically, not texts but images placed et al. 24, 47), voice-over is an integral part
language transfer at the heart of the network of (post)socialist aesthetics, cultural politics,
life. and institutional routines. Most conventional
narratives, both academic and popular, view it
as a practice emblematic of rampant Russian
video piracy in the 1980s and 1990s, a period
Cyberdubbing on the when videotapes with pre-recorded foreign
Runet: Voice-Over media poured into the country. In the VCR
era, voice-over translators (mostly males)
Translation played the role of simultaneous interpreters
who recorded their single-voice, improvised,
The rapid expansion of the Internet has barely synchronized translations directly to
coincided with the decline of the logocentric videotapes.
privileging of language, and it might seem that Portrayed as “a symbol of the capitalist
“meaning has evaporated as the main point transition’s contradictions” (Chistruga and
of reference” within the network driven by Svaneeng), this practice, however, had been
“the power of affection of images” (Terranova officially incorporated within the Cold War
13, 142). Nevertheless, the content, alpha- culture of information exchange and media
bet, and sound of human language remain entertainment. Simultaneous interpreting, a
essential factors in the regulation of trajec- source of Soviet pride and a revolutionary
tories and speed of image flows and shap- mechanism for building a global socialist
ing the sensory experiences of the network community, is believed to be first intro-
spectacle. The global image circulation is a duced at the 6th Congress of Communist
cacophony of languages that bypass each International in Moscow in 1928 (Gofman 20),
other, clash in rivalry, and swiftly merge in or later, as a wired system of headphones
100Iuliia Glushneva: TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS ...
and microphones, at the 15th International realm of informal media distribution. Indeed,
Congress of Physiology in Leningrad in 1935 one of the largest online collections of the
(Gaiba 31). After the Nuremberg Trials in VHS, televisual, and newly created amateur
1945-1946, the wired system of interpret- voice-overs is a torrent website RuTracker,
ing manufactured by IBM becomes widely whose vast community usually considers
adopted in the world. subtitles as an additional option and tolerates
Meanwhile, in the USSR, this technique only the dubs made for children’s animation
of translation migrated from the places of films. Using translation as a shield from in-
international gatherings and courtrooms to ternational copyright control, RuTracker pro-
movie theaters. Since the 1950s, the offhand hibits the exchange of non-translated visual
speech of a translator, emotionally detached media and the inclusion of any languages
in accordance with the interpreting stand- other than Russian in descriptions. While
ards, became “a key element of the foreign- the netizens share both sound files with their
film sound track throughout the Soviet Union” voice-overs, RuTracker has its translation
(Razlogova 162). Later on, this practice was studio that accepts orders and provides users
adapted for television screens as voice- with free or paid voice-overs of higher quality.
over to equally translate international news, Contemporary voice-overs usually represent
commentary programs, and popular genre pre-recorded and more precise translations,
of Latin American telenovelas. Even when although asynchrony, discord, errors, and
not performed simultaneously, voice-overs use of a limited number of voices (one or
stressed immediacy and unscriptedness, two) remain characteristic of this practice in
which was in great demand among the audi- the cyberspace.
ences bored by carefully staged and static Recently, although torrents have man-
Soviet television (Evans 114-128). Today, aged to retain their popularity with the online
voice-over, which implicitly blends the pro- users, public attention has moved to semi-
tocols of international communication and legal streaming platforms that mushroomed
media pleasure as well as points to liveness within the Runet. “The allure of streaming,”
and authenticity of entertainment, remains as Tessa Dwyer and Ramon Lobato point
a dominant method to officially distribute out, “is that everything is already built into the
foreign-language television content. platform” (139). A clear advantage of Russian
In this regard, as integrated into the informal streaming services compared to tor-
overlapping histories of institutionalized and rent sharing is not simply the integration of
informal media consumption, voice-over on translation into the platform apparatus. The
the Runet does not fully embrace the prevail- key feature of these services is the possibility
ing view on “cyberdubbing” as humoristic or to choose among the multiple voice-over ver-
subversive fan activity or an “effective tool sions simultaneously available via platforms
for the expression of discontent” (Baños (see fig. 2). Uploaded under the names of
163). Although some translators deploy it numerous translation studios or so-called
for parodic purposes, voice-over in Russia ‘release-groups,’ these translations differ
is a mundane cultural ritual that serves as in their style of performance and reputation
a particularly effective adaptive strategy in among the fragmented audience whose
the context of the asymmetrical information tastes and expectations not always coincide.
economy of the network. The immediate access to multiple transla-
At first sight, it might seem that on the tions allows informal streaming services to
network voice-over exists exclusively in the outpace not only the torrent websites but
101APRJA Volume 9, Issue 1, 2020
watch “something new,” and then put them
on the Internet. Suddenly, the sitcom which
the Russian audience had never been famil-
iar with topped online searches due to the
humorous and witty voice-over. Contrary to
LostFilm’s emotionally ascetic and precise
style, Kolesnikov is highly visible in his trans-
lations due to signature jokes and phrases
and masterly changes of timbre in revoicing
of different characters.
Figure 2: One of the Runet informal streaming services
Although the release-groups, such as
offers to choose among eleven translation versions to
watch HBO’s Game of Thrones. LostFilm and Kuraj Bambey, play a crucial
role in the circulation of unlicensed media,
also official distributors. As a rule, the latter they are also important players on the mar-
provide viewers only with subtitles and one ket of legal distributors, not always explicitly
voice-over or dubbed version produced at though. Official TV channels and online video
their corporate studios. services often collaborate with the amateur
It is common for independent transla- studios or their independent translators and
tion companies to launch their own free voice artists, while they tend to avoid giving
streaming websites, which helps them build publicity to the fact of partnership. So, in
a strong fan base and interact with users. Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, officially
Among them is LostFilm, one of the oldest distributed by the largest local streaming
providers of voice-over on the Runet since service Amedia, one can easily recognize
2004. The studio began with translation of some familiar voices circulating across
the second season of an American TV series informal translations made by LostFilm.
Lost (hence the studio’s name). Carried Meanwhile, Kolesnikov from Kuraj Bambey
out by the founder Andrei Kravets, that first has become a star voice on a few popular
amateur single-voice translation was aimed TV channels. In January 2020, he signed a
at the Russian public eagerly waiting for a contract with the leading network and IPTV
return of the show. While the local TV chan- provider Rostelekom – Kolesnikov will trans-
nels remained paralyzed by negotiations late twenty films and three TV series for the
with the ABC distributors and strict copyright company (Istomina).
requirements to officially release Lost, the Whereas this complex interplay
sequel was quickly leaked all over the Runet between formal and informal distribution
in Kravets’ translation. Today, LostFilm rep- networks unfolds on the battlefield for the
resents one of the most successful informal U.S. ‘quality television’ products, there is a
studios known for its big collection of trans- curious segment of numerous voice-over
lated TV series and cherished by fans for communities that seemingly stand away
high-quality performance and ‘soft’ approach from it. These are outwardly inconspicuous
in translating offensive language. small translation groups based on the local
Another noteworthy example is a re- social media, such as VKontakte, which
lease-group Kuraj Bambey created by Denis hosts multiple genres of entertainment con-
Kolesnikov in Tolyatti in 2009. Kolesnikov tent. Among these communities are SezdiZi,
first translated a few episodes of The Big a highly influential voice-over group special-
Bang Theory for his mother, who wanted to ized in translation of Turkish films and TV
102Iuliia Glushneva: TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS ...
dramas, or om_ocean_of_wisdom, transla- exclusive authority, it continues to repro-
tors of Hindi language mythological serials duce the inequalities and precariousness
and religious videos, or Sexy Channel, a of translation labor. It exposes but does not
studio of voice-over translation in the genre alleviate “what is devalued or ignored in the
of erotica. Unlike the more fluent voice-overs cyberhype of global communities,” namely
of mainstream release-groups mimicking the “the effort, the difficulty and, above all else,
television norms, the translations performed the time required to establish and maintain
by these communities remain blatantly out linguistic (and by definition, cultural) connec-
of synch, sloppy and inaccurate. However, tions” (Cronin, Translation and Globalization
the aesthetic ‘flaws’ do not invalidate these 49).
voice-overs that redress the distribution gaps In Russia, the term ‘voice-over’ is of-
and provide access to content unavailable ten used interchangeably with the concept
through other channels because of such in- ‘authorial translation,’ which refers to a
terconnected factors as linguistic obstacles, tendency to perceive a voice-over translator
unprofitability, and lowly status within the as a genuinely creative and artistic figure.
taste hierarchies. This attitude stretches back to the practice of
simultaneous film interpreting and the days
of VCRs when many translators achieved
the celebrity status comparable to that one
Voice-Over Labor: of popular actors or musicians (Gorchakov).
Cultural Elites or Network The effects of the tireless work of translators,
who could have translated up to as many as
Precariat? seven videotapes per day (Dolsky), were on
the surface of video spectacle and manifest-
Within the network universe, language di- ed in numerous mistakes, trembling voice,
versity and demand of translation represent hoarseness, and gasping. The endeavors of
an unsettling truth that destabilizes the myth translators were portrayed as “work on the
of borderless, instantaneous, and intelligible inspiration,” and the translators’ “enormous
communication. In attempting to preserve expenditures of nervous energy” in condi-
the comforting illusion of seamless and tions of fast production and omnivorous
sustained contact, the network reinforces media consumption seemed romantic (Berdy
what Lawrence Venuti calls the “translator’s et al. 53).
invisibility”: an ideology that underwrites the Although not to such an extent, the
norm of translator’s self-erasure in linguistic domain of cyberdubbing on the Runet is en-
transfer and ambivalent status of translators compassed with the same heroic aura. The
as second-class citizens alienated from the amount of media content in all languages
product of their labor (8-10). grew 67 times from 2001 to 2012, while the
In this regard, given the specificity of number of professional Russian-language
voice-over performance and tremendously translators grew by only 30% (Kozulyaev).
tangible presence of voice-over translators In the digital loop, technology simultaneously
on the Runet, the Russian-language cyber- allows compensating for this disproportion
dubbing culture offers a radical challenge to by providing an opportunity to use machine
the politics of invisibility. At the same time, translation and rerecord and easily edit
while this culture places translators at the sound, which, in fact, creates what Cronin
forefront of public life and endows them with calls “translational cyborgs” (Translation and
103APRJA Volume 9, Issue 1, 2020
Globalization 112). However, working within translator and voice artist remain the same
the atmosphere of enduring information over- person, and translators gain a significant part
saturation and socio-cultural asymmetries, of their cultural capital from the voices the
the translational cyborgs cannot get rid of the viewers get intimately attached to. Equally,
sense “of never doing enough fast enough” the original star persona whose body and,
(Cronin, Translation in the Digital Age 94). more importantly, voice are present becomes
In this context, voice-over translators retain the incarnation of the translator, and vice
their missionary reputation and the role of versa. In this phantasmagoric symbiosis,
cultural mediators, and their raw error-prone the audience’s love, anger, interest, or indif-
and half-synchronous translations become ference towards both characters and texts
a mark of their efforts. Viewers tolerate, get depend not only on the screen action but
used to, and appreciate them as valuable also emerge from translation.
aesthetic and cultural forms integral to their Due to their status of missionaries car-
everyday experience. rying the world culture to hungry audiences
On the Runet, the VHS translators and affective power of their performance, the
remain iconic authors, and their labor is paid voice-over translators seem to belong to the
by users who usually order their voice-overs digital elite of the Runet. Yet, while they oc-
through RuTracker and donate money. The casionally receive voluntary donations from
translations made in previous years circulate grateful fans or support themselves through
freely across the torrent websites. In turn, the integration of ads of online casinos, the
the average cost of a newly translated film translation communities do not reap direct
from one of the stars is about 7,000 rubles monetary rewards for their translations.
(US$130), which includes the linguistic Even big popular release-groups, such as
translation, vocal delivery, and post-syn- LostFilm or Kuraj Bambey mentioned above,
chronization. It is the highest price on the describe their activity as “work for pleasure”
network, and it is also the cost of voice-over or “hobby” and consider online voice-overs
produced by professional companies. Most as promotion for their offline studios carry-
of the cyberdubbing labor, however, remains ing out translations on a by-order basis. In
free and hidden behind the collective ‘brand’ the offline world, the voices of cyberdybbers
names of release-groups. sound behind Saint Petersburg’s subway
It is noteworthy that, although the figures announcements, in TV commercials for
of translators and voice-over artists still tend Sprite, or at corporate parties where dubbers
to coincide, many big translation collectives perform the role of showmen and amuse
invite additional performers not involved in the public. These are alternative sources of
the process of translation per se. This divi- income translators get access to due to their
sion of labor, typical of industrial production, strategy to use the online activity as advertis-
results from the fact that the overwhelming ing for their voices and public image.
amount of linguistic work that translators per- “Free labour,” as Terranova points out,
form not always leaves them time for voice “is not necessarily exploited labor” (91).
acting. Besides, this deals with the intention Indeed, online voice-over culture might look
of some collectives to diversify the acoustics on the surface like space to simply share
of their translations with the help of the artists knowledge, exchange information, and com-
whose gender, age, and vocal characteristics municate in bypassing market regulations,
(e.g., pitch) match speakers on the screen. predatory pricing, and cultural asymmetries.
Meanwhile, in the public imagination, the Nevertheless, enmeshed into affective
104Iuliia Glushneva: TRANSLATION (DIS)JUNCTIONS ...
economies and intensified by postsocialist
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