Survey: How do you feel about fansub subtitles?

Dear fellow community members, if I have mistakenly posted this in the wrong section, please feel free to guide me toward a more appropriate subforum.

At the link provided below, you will find a (relatively 😁) brief survey regarding the usage and perception of free online subtitles; I would be incredibly grateful if you could spare about ten minutes of your time to complete it.

As described in the research overview, the goal of this questionnaire is to examine the prevalence of using free, publicly available subtitles created by volunteer translators—often referred to as "fansubs"—and to gauge the attitudes of both potential and actual audiences toward these products compared to professionally produced subtitles. The survey is divided into two sections: the first covers basic demographic information, while the second focuses specifically on the core research topic. Participation is entirely voluntary, and any contribution depends solely upon your own generosity. It would mean a great deal to me if you chose to participate. 😁 This study is being conducted purely out of scientific curiosity. We are not interested in movie piracy or anything of that nature; our sole focus is on how you utilize and perceive volunteer-made subtitles. Should you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask here in this thread or send me a private message.

The second part of the questionnaire consists of several semantic differential questions, which may appear daunting at first glance, but they truly are not. They can be completed easily in just two or three minutes. If none of the provided adjectives feel accurate to you, simply select zero.

And that is everything!

Survey:

The survey was just too long; I gave up halfway through. 👎

It gets pretty confusing when you hit those word pairs, and honestly, it becomes a chore rather quickly.

First off, I want to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. 🙂

Secondly, while I realize the format might seem somewhat lengthy, those questions involving adjective pairs are actually part of a semantic differential scale. This method is designed to measure connotative meaning—essentially, the specific associations you personally link to each core concept. (As you may have already noticed, the adjectives remain consistent across all four terms.)

If any of these descriptions don't resonate with you or fail to trigger an association, please feel free to select zero. 😁

Honestly, I just don't get it either. :/

Peter Jackson3 said:First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey. 🙂

Secondly, I realize this part might feel a bit tedious, but those questions using pairs of adjectives are actually what's known as a semantic differential scale... they're designed to measure connotative meaning, or basically just the specific associations you have when you think about a certain subject. (You probably noticed the adjectives stay the same across all four categories.)

If none of these terms really resonate with you or if they don't trigger any specific mental image at all, just hit zero. 😁

Regarding those associations with fansubs... there are a few of them that don't quite make sense to me, though I think I get the general gist of what people are getting at.

Edit: goldenhound32, it’s not nearly as complicated as it looks; you’re essentially just applying the exact same set of associations to four different things.

Filled up too—somehow.

goldenhound32 said:The survey was a bit too long for me; I gave up halfway through. 👎

The word pairing section isn't explained very well, which makes it feel tedious pretty quickly.

Agreed.

Mark Cruz15 said:I find myself pondering these associations regarding fansubs. While I don't quite grasp every single one of them, I believe I have a general sense of what is being conveyed.

Edit: goldenhound32, it isn't quite that demanding; you simply have four instances of the same associations used for different purposes.

That is precisely the point; the associations remain identical across all four questions, essentially split into two distinct categories: the professional translators and their official work, versus the fan translators and their volunteer efforts.

Semantic differentials serve as the standard metric when conducting research into individual attitudes and perceptions.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks once again to everyone who took the time to complete the questionnaire. 🙂

To put it more simply, when selecting your associations, you should commit to just one single adjective.

For instance:

useful ___________________________________ useless

Now, looking at fan-subbed subtitles and the potential to use them, does that lean more toward being "useful" or "useless" in your mind? 😁

If neither of those options feels right, please select zero. 😁

(As a side note, some of these adjective pairs serve as control variables.)

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude once again to everyone who took a moment out of their busy schedules to complete the survey. 🙂

Well, it wasn't exactly a struggle 😁

Best regards from a certain fansub translator 😁