By Ashley Cruz
BigHit Entertainment, Inc. is being barraged with requests from ARMYs, the global BTS fandom, for translations and subtitles in all BTS official content.
The petition came after the announcement of the BTS “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” in São Paulo, Brazil DVD on Weply (BigHit’s new online selling platform) without Portuguese translations.
With the hashtags #BigHitAddSubs and #BigHitAddTranslations, fans of BTS took to social media the demand to start work on translated content considering the huge global reach of the band.
Just recently, fans were also upset when they found out that some content in the ARMY Membership Kit didn’t have translations even in English.
This has been an on-going issue since BTS became widely popular around the world. Even with free content such as Bangtan Bombs and Bangtan Episodes (short BTS vlogs about BTS) on YouTube, ARMYs feel alienated because of the lack of video subtitles.
With this, the majority of international fans depend on volunteer fan translators who work tirelessly translating tweets, news articles and announcements, even adding subtitles to videos in order to as a service to fellow fans.
Content, aside from the music, matters to the BTS fandom as it bridges communication between them and the band members. This strong bond was acknowledged by the BigHit CEO, Bang Si-hyuk, in a TIME Magazine exclusive. “K-pop idol fans want to feel close with their idols,” he said. “BTS is the only team that has sizable selling power all over the world, in almost every country. As a result, working with BTS’ fandom is one of the biggest services BigHit provides.”
With a fan community as huge as the BTS ARMY, this demand is not new. In fact, a response is overdue; and for a company as large and successful as BigHit with a band whose popularity spans across oceans, it’s time to prioritize the need for translations and subtitles in all content.
Here are some of the tweets of ARMYs petitioning for translated content:
In an effort to summarize requests coherently in a way that is not open to misinterpretation: #BigHitAddTranslations #BigHitAddSubs @BigHitEnt pic.twitter.com/ppXM06t3Kl
— Kookie Crumbles ???? (@Crumbles4Kookie) November 27, 2019
Dear @BigHitEnt, You said, “They are paying the same amount of money & should receive the same level of service.” Yes, that means translations for all official notices & paid content. I am more than happy to provide translations but it’s not my job. #BighitAddSubs pic.twitter.com/qvE7A6ojN0 — bora (@modooborahae) November 27, 2019
Yes @BigHitEnt please see the reality! #BighitAddSubs
— Soo Choi ???? (@choi_bts2) November 27, 2019
#BigHitAddSubs It’s bad enough that there are no English subs, but how are you going to sell a DVD of a Brazilian concert and not even have Portuguese subs? At a point, somebody needs to be accountable. We’re heading into 2020 and there are no more excuses to be had. — ODIE || ☕️☂️ (@sweetbtstea) November 27, 2019
.@bts_bighit Love the growth of you posting to Instagram. Now please add subtitles to all content on YouTube and upload translations for the Army Kit to the Army tab on Weverse. @BigHitEnt #BighitAddSubs #BigHitAddTranslations
— Rafranz ???????????? (@RafranzDavis) November 27, 2019
BigHit Entertainment has not released a statement regarding the online petition as of writing.