Is the Korean language a communication barrier between K-Pop group BTS and their fans? A RESEARCH BY: CRISTINA FREITAS DE JESUS 01. RHIZOME CONNECT - AUGUST, 2020 Introduction:
The music scenario in the world have become more diverse during these B I S E
T W 02. past ten years, from artists from all over the world providing impressive T H E E E
albums with different languages. One of the biggest music phenomenons N K
K O
responsible for these results is the K-Pop (Korean-Pop) group BTS, from - R P E O A South Korea, that has been gaining big spotlights in the western P N
G
R
countries. Their songs have enchanted a big number of fans, that are also L O A U N P
called “ARMY”. In order to maintain a relationship with their fans, BTS is G
B U T A S
always delivering content to their fans, such as photos, messages and G
E A
videos. These kind of contents are usually delivered through their social N D A
T H networks, which includes “Twitter” and “Weverse” (both of them allow the C O E I M users to publish short messages, images and videos), among other R M
F U A N websites and mobile applications. However, most of their content are N I S C ? delivered in Korean, which is a language not many fans outside South A T I O
Korea are fluent in. Therefore, does the Korean language becomes a N
communication barrier between BTS and ARMY? B A R R I E R Analysis: 03. B I S E
T W T H E E E
N K
TWITTER: K O - R P E O A P N
G
Twitter is a social network created in 2006, that had over 145 million R
1 L O A daily active users in 2019 . Anyone who is 13 years old or older can U N P G
B create an account on Twitter, sending messages through the world U T A S G with their posts, that are called “tweets”. The users can upload E A
N D content on this platform, sending up until 280 characters per tweet, A
2 T H C
adding photos and/or videos, and running polls . Twitter users can O E I M R M also provide the following interactions: 1. "Like": represented by a F U A N small heart and are used to show appreciation for a Tweet. 2. N I S C ? A
"Retweet": sharing a tweet from another user on your own account, T I O
with an option to add your own comments and/or media to the tweet N
as well; 3. "Reply": it’s a response to another user’s tweets; 4. B A
3 R
"Follow": subscribe to another user’s tweets . R I E R Analysis: 04. Figure 1: BTS tweet on July 26th, 2020. R E I R R A
B TWITTER:
N O I T
A BTS has officially three Twitter accounts, identified as: @bts_bighit, ? C S I N
N which delivers official notes about BTS latest news, A U F
M @BTS_jp_official, focused on delivering official information related R M I E O C H to Japanese songs and their audience in Japan, and @BTS_twt, the T
A D account where the members usually post their personal N
A E
G information. Analysing this last account, it’s possible to see the S A T U B
content is mostly photos of themselves and/or messages directly to G P N U
A ARMY. At the example on Figure 1, Park Jimin, one of the seven O L R
G
N members of BTS, posted two photos and a message to all of his P A O E
P fans around the world in Korean. R - O K
K 4 N Source: BTS Twitter account . E E E H T W T
E S I B Analysis: 05.
Figure 3: BTS’s fan club in Brazil translating Park Jimin’s tweet on July Figure 2: BTS’s fan club in Indonesia translating Park Jimin’s 26th, 2020. tweet on July 26th, 2020 TWITTER:
In order to help other ARMY understand what they’re saying, fan clubs from each country started to translate their messages right away, and helped keeping the connection between BTS and ARMY on. It’s possible to see on Figures 2 and 3, Indonesian and Brazilian fan clubs, respectively, tweeting on their own language what is written on Park Jimin’s tweet.
Source: ARMYTEAMIID twitter account 5 .
6 Source: Bangtan News Brazil twitter account . IS THE KOREAN LANGUAGE A COMMUNICATION BARRIER BETWEEN K-POP GROUP BTS AND THEIR FANS? Analysis:
Figure 4: BTS’s tweet translated via Google Translate. 06. B I
TWITTER: S E
T W T H E E E
In case the user doesn’t understand what’s N K
K O written on any language at this platform, - R P E O A Twitter offers an option to translate the tweets P N
G
R
contents via Google Translate. However, the L O A U N results are not always assertive. At this tweet P G
B U T in discussion (Figure 1), Park Jimin wrote “It A S G
E A was JiJinJung. Good night. I love you.”. When N D A
asked for the translation on Twitter with T H C O E I Google Translate, it is written “It was an M R M
F U earthquake well. Good night. Love it.”, as it A N N I S C
shown on Figure 4, having a different ? A T meaning. I O N
B A R R I E R
Source: BTS twitter account 4. 07. Analysis:
R Figure 5: BTS post on Weverse, on July 23rd, 2020. E I R R
A WEVERSE: B
N O I Weverse is a social network created by Big Hit T A ? C
S Entertainment, the record label that represents BTS, I N N A U TXT and Lee Hyun. This website and mobile F
M R M I application allows users to connect with other fans E O C H T
around the world and the members of the group, A D N allowing them to enjoy exclusive content through A E
G 7 S A
T photos and texts contents . This way, BTS members U B
G P
N are active on this network, delivering content to U A O L
R ARMY, as an example on Figure 5, where Kim
G
N P A Seokjin, one of the BTS members, posted the O E P R 8 -
O following message: Source: BTS weverse page . K
K N
E E E H T W T
E S I B Analysis: Figure 6: BTS fan club posting a translation in Spanish of Jin post, on July 23rd, 2020. B I S E
T W T H E E E
N K
K O - R P E WEVERSE: O A P N
G
R L O A U
As the same way it happened on Twitter N P G
B posts, foreign ARMY may struggle to U T A S G
E understand what Weverse posts mean. A
N D A
Therefore, ARMY accounts also post their
T H C O translated versions of BTS contents in E I M R M
their local language; however, it’s F U A N N I
important to notice that they usually S C ? A
choose to post the translation on Twitter, T I O
and not on Weverse itself, as it’s possible N
B
to see on the Figure 6: A R R I E R 08. Source: "BTS Weverse en Español" twitter account9 . Analysis: 09. B I S E
WEVERSE: T W T H
Figure 7: BTS’s tweet translated via Google Translate. E E E
N K
In case ARMY don't understand what’s written on K O - R P E Korean, Weverse also offers an option to translate O A P N
G
BTS contents via Google Translate. Again, the R L O A U
results are not always assertive. At this post in N P G
B discussion (Figure 5), Kim Seokjin wrote “I was U T A S G
E wondering why my knees are aching so bad (turns A
N D A
out) it's raining so hard..ah my youth”. When asked
T H C O for the translation on Weverse with Google E I M R M
Translate, it is written “Why did your knees tingle F U A N N I
like this, and it's raining...Ah my youth.”, as it shown S C ? 8 A on Figure 7, having a different meaning. Source: BTS weverse page . T I O N
B A R R I E R Conclusion: B I S E
T W T
Although this research was focused on Twitter and Weverse, BTS H E E E
delivers contents everyday through different social networks and N K
K O - R streaming platforms, such as Fancafe, VLive, Youtube and P E O A P N
Instagram. By seeing all of these interactions from BTS, it’s G
R L interesting to see how the automatic translation option at these O A U N P G
platforms is not trustworthy, so the ARMY themselves became the B U T A S
main source of translated content, in order to deliver the complete G
E A
information for other fans in their own country and language. N D A
T H Therefore, it’s possible to conclude that Korean is, in fact, a C O E I M
language barrier between BTS and ARMY, but the passion and R M
F U A
commitment from their fans makes it possible to overcome this N N I S C ?
barrier, and turns their messages as accessible as possible for A T I
ARMY around the world. O N
B A R R I E 10. R References 11.
1 Twitter. Q3 2019 Letter to Shareholders. October, 2019. Available at: 2019-Shareholder-Letter.pdf>. B I S E 2 Twitter. What to Tweet. Tips and tricks to help you Tweet better. Available at: < https://business.twitter.com/en/basics/what-to-tweet.html>. T W T H E E E N K 3 Twitter. Using Twitter. Available at: 방탄소년단 4 Twitter. “ ” Account. July, 2020. Available at: R L O A U N P G 5 Twitter. “BTS — ARMYTEAMID” Account. July, 2020. Available at: E A 6 Twitter. “Bangtan News Brasil” Account. July, 2020. Available at: T H C O 7 Elite Daily. What Is Weverse? BTS & TXT's New Official Fan Community App Is A Game-Changer. April, 2020. Available at: E I M R M F U A N B A 9 Twitter. “BTS Weverse en Español” Account. Available at: T W T H E E E questions at all N K K O - R P E O A P N G R L O A Don't hesitate to ask! U N P G B U T A S G E A N D A [email protected] @CrisFreitasJ @MimdaMeme T H C O E I M R M F U A N N I S C ? A T I cristina-freitas-a3484198 cristina.freitas.1656854 O N B A R R I E R