ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the processes of online collaborative translation, focusing on the various roles the participants play through their mutual engagement. Supported by Yeeyan’s participatory mechanisms, the participants engaging in the collaborative translation actively perform specific roles. Drawing on ethnographic data collected from fieldwork in Yeeyan, a set of materials are analysed in a holistic manner: online materials documenting Yeeyan’s community structure, five Yeeyaners’ profiles, parts of the translation manuscripts and two excerpts of the interactions between the participants. The analysis, premised on the theory of communities of practice, reveals that both parallel and hierarchical participations are performed by the community members consciously and unconsciously due to Yeeyan’s layered community structure. In this chapter, I argue that collaborative translation in online translation communities like Yeeyan is an experience of meaning negotiation through which the participants play a variety of roles at different stages as they engage in the shared practice.
