Getting started in subtitling
Thread poster: Petr Štádler
Petr Štádler
Petr Štádler
Local time: 09:21
English to Czech
+ ...
Jul 22, 2009

Hello everybody,

After several years in the “classical” translation business, I’d like to venture into subtitling, a field I am completely unfamiliar with, which is why I am fishing for some experience anyone might be willing to share.

From what I understood from my internet research carried out so far (as well as from some posts in this forum), for one type of companies the “subtitling” consists of mere translation of the prepared subtitles file from the sour
... See more
Hello everybody,

After several years in the “classical” translation business, I’d like to venture into subtitling, a field I am completely unfamiliar with, which is why I am fishing for some experience anyone might be willing to share.

From what I understood from my internet research carried out so far (as well as from some posts in this forum), for one type of companies the “subtitling” consists of mere translation of the prepared subtitles file from the source language into the target language (for which a simple text editor suffices), and the entire technical part of the subtitling process is performed by the company itself; whereas for the other type the requirement is that the translator provide rather complete packages, including e.g. capturing & editing cues, i.e. they need to work in a specialized subtitle software like Spot or Subtitle Workshop, and in the end deliver a finalized subtitle file rather than the “mere” translation.

No need to explain anything about the first type of work, but having searched the internet for the potential companies where I could apply as a freelance subtitler, I came to a conclusion that the second type of companies prevails considerably, and as aptly pointed out by one of the colleagues in the recent “How did you venture into Subtitling“ post, such companies usually require substantial subtitling experience and knowledge of the translation subtitling process and software. Consequently, before applying I’d like to get a good picture of what I can expect and what can be expected of me. To get at last to my points, I am wondering:

1) I can imagine that a 100% generalization might not be possible, but anyway: For a big subtitling company of the second type, i.e. one that requires its subtitlers to be equipped with the professional subtitling software and to process their assignments in it, what does a standard subtitling job consist of? Could someone briefly summarize the process, please?

2) Are there any input/output file formats (files received from the client/deliverables to the client, as required by them) which are much more standard than others and, in connection with that, can that make a difference for the client or for me which subtitling software I have at my disposal, or are all the well-known subtitling programs able to handle most of the standard file types?

I might have more questions along the way, but this is at least something for the take-off. There is a chance that my questions might have been answered within some previous posts but given their extensive number I haven't managed to locate them, so I will appreciate greatly any answers or referrals to the relevant threads.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Petr
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Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:21
Member (2008)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Me too Jul 23, 2009

Hi Petr,
Thank you for raising the subject. There are quite a few of us who are interested, and this is just the information we need.
Good luck!
Bea


 
chica nueva
chica nueva
Local time: 21:21
Chinese to English
Further study (?) Aug 1, 2009

How about doing further study, in 'Multimedia' or 'Audio-Visual Translation'?

[Edited at 2009-08-01 04:07 GMT]


 
Ulf Samuelsson
Ulf Samuelsson  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 02:21
Member (2007)
English to Swedish
+ ...
You have to start as an apprentice Aug 2, 2009

Hi, Petr,

If you want to start to translate subtitles, you'll have to train with someone who knows what to do. Normally, the companies that do subtitling have apprenticing posts available for this purpose as there is no way that you'll be able to teach yourself at home.

First of all, to begin you'll need to have experience. There is no way around it in subtitling if you're going to do everything from the timing to the final translation. There are standard rules (or at l
... See more
Hi, Petr,

If you want to start to translate subtitles, you'll have to train with someone who knows what to do. Normally, the companies that do subtitling have apprenticing posts available for this purpose as there is no way that you'll be able to teach yourself at home.

First of all, to begin you'll need to have experience. There is no way around it in subtitling if you're going to do everything from the timing to the final translation. There are standard rules (or at least more or less standard) for each country on how the subtitles should be presented, and you need to know when a text should appear and how long it should stay on the screen (for instance, it should not stay on from one shot to the next, it looks sloppy).

Another thing you should know is that you'll have to make your translation as short as possible for two reasons:
1) You can only use two lines of text with about 38 characters each (depending on the system that is used).
2) You should't use more than 15 characters per second in your subtitle (if it stays on for three seconds you can use 45 characters, including spaces). This is so that most people should be able to read the text before it disappears.

Which program you'll use depends on the client you'll be working for. There are various formats in use, and they are not compatible. Some programs can handle other file formats, but it doesn't always work flawlessly.

In other words, you need to learn which program to use, how to use it, when a subtitle should appear, when it should disappear and which special subtitling conventions are in use for your language (whether a dash is used on both lines in a dialogue or only on the second line, whether you use a dash or an ellipsis at the end and the beginning of a sentence that is split on several subtitles or no indication at all).

To learn this, you'll need to work as an apprentice under someone who knows what to do, either another freelancer or at a subtitling company.

To "only" translate a timed script, you need to at least know the standard conventions for your language and know the lenght limit for each line (and also calculate that your text can be read before it disappears).

Ulf
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Petr Štádler
Petr Štádler
Local time: 09:21
English to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
RE: You have to start as an apprentice Aug 2, 2009

Hello Ulf,

Many thanks for your response, I really appreciate that you took the trouble to go into such details, and I've been hoping for something like this. From what you're writing, I can really see that "apprenticing" is what I'll need if I want to be able to cover the whole subtitling process. Thank you also for the hints regarding the "mere" translation phase (conventions, maximum length), I find them helpful and something to build upon - I think the translation of the timed s
... See more
Hello Ulf,

Many thanks for your response, I really appreciate that you took the trouble to go into such details, and I've been hoping for something like this. From what you're writing, I can really see that "apprenticing" is what I'll need if I want to be able to cover the whole subtitling process. Thank you also for the hints regarding the "mere" translation phase (conventions, maximum length), I find them helpful and something to build upon - I think the translation of the timed scripts is what I had primarily in mind and what I'd like to begin with.

Petr
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Petr Štádler
Petr Štádler
Local time: 09:21
English to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
RE: Me too Aug 2, 2009

Beatriz Ramírez de Haro wrote:

Hi Petr,
Thank you for raising the subject. There are quite a few of us who are interested, and this is just the information we need.
Good luck!
Bea



Hi Bea,

Thanks for your supporting words!

Petr


 
chica nueva
chica nueva
Local time: 21:21
Chinese to English
Random thoughts (I once helped to make a film ... ) Aug 2, 2009

lai an wrote:

How about doing further study, in 'Multimedia' or 'Audio-Visual Translation'?

[Edited at 2009-08-01 04:07 GMT]


Hello people. Is this enquiry about subtitling/dubbing training etc? (just curious):
http://www.proz.com/forum/professional_development/138142-advice_on_translation_course_choice.html#1183817

[ I once helped to make a film. I don't know - perhaps they also do subtitles (surtitles?) for live performances, like concerts, for instance. And what about the subtitling you see on Youtube etc - would some of those 'communities' offer a way to train. ]


 
kmtext
kmtext
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:21
English
+ ...
Subtitling training Aug 5, 2009

A number of universities and colleges in the UK and around Europe offer subtitling courses either as part of a language or media studies course. It's worth checking to see if anywhere near you offers such a course. As far as I know some even offer an on-line course. However, these courses can be quite expensive and don't guarantee work at the end.

Another option would be to apply to local subtitling companies. Most of them offer only very basic training - usually a set of guidelines
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A number of universities and colleges in the UK and around Europe offer subtitling courses either as part of a language or media studies course. It's worth checking to see if anywhere near you offers such a course. As far as I know some even offer an on-line course. However, these courses can be quite expensive and don't guarantee work at the end.

Another option would be to apply to local subtitling companies. Most of them offer only very basic training - usually a set of guidelines which they expect you to pick up VERY quickly - and can be very critical of your work if it doesn't quite meet their standards.

Timing is critical in subtitling, so your translations will have to be short and to the point. A good exercise is to summarise, say, a newspaper article down to 60% and then translate that, using the same number of characters and still retain the sense and information contained in the original while producing natural, fluent text in translation. If you can do that, it's a start.
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jbjb
jbjb  Identity Verified
Estonia
Local time: 10:21
Estonian to English
+ ...
Work Aug 6, 2009

Basically subtitling is very different for every languages and different rules apply. The rules are also different in different companies, so one thing you have to learn is that you have to learn the specific requirements first. I have worked for dozens of clients and the rules/requiements have not been compatible once - there is something different each time, even for companies within the same country.

Now, when you want to enter subtitling, you have to bear in mind that it is a ve
... See more
Basically subtitling is very different for every languages and different rules apply. The rules are also different in different companies, so one thing you have to learn is that you have to learn the specific requirements first. I have worked for dozens of clients and the rules/requiements have not been compatible once - there is something different each time, even for companies within the same country.

Now, when you want to enter subtitling, you have to bear in mind that it is a very specific area with a very limited number of job opportunities.
When you specifically want to subtitle into Czech (not dubbing/voice-over that prevails in the country), there is a limited number of TV channels plus DVD and cinema jobs available locally.
There are most probably just a few companies that offer subtitling services to these clients. You cannot freelance directly to the clients but only to these subtitling companies - they will also handle your training for subtitling, probably on-site with their software and then provide their software for you to work at home. Some of those may have their own subtitlers in the office and translators would not be required to timecode at all and can provide their translation in ordinary Word - subtitling professionals will do the rest.

Czech cinemas also get their translations from a specific company and local DVD producers, if they are professional, will also order translations from a subtitling company. Unprofessional cheap DVD producers may accept translations directly from freelancers but this usually means low rates - as subtitling rates are already 2-3 times lower than ordinary translation rates, you might not be interested in working for them for even less money than that.

Internationally job opportunities are also limited - probably just a few companies that provide Czech subtitles to international DVD releases. Foreign TV stations offering multilingual subtitles, including Czech, most probably buy the service from one of the local Czech subtitling companies. It is unlikely that a big international company would have a pool of independent Czech freelancers for regular TV translations - this would not be competitive price-wise with local subtitling companies.

In any case - working for international clients, you would basically always do second translation without the need to learn timecoding. Even if you work with a subtitling software (although usually working in Word is possible), you would probably not have the right to change any timecodes and you would use the software just like a word processor.

In short - in order to enter regular subtitling into Czech, you have to look for the few subtitling companies that operate in the local market, and for the few big internationals. You can contact local companies directly to see if they need new translators.

Contacting major internationals is usually pointless - they offer subtitles into 40+ languages and are too busy to register independent freelance offers. It is also hard to find out whether the Czech language is administered from an office in India, L.A., Canada or UK. When they need someone in Czech, they will advertise (in most cases also in Proz), they will get dozens (hundreds?) of applicants who will be tested and a few of them will be picked. There is usually no training involved with them, as they have many applicants and will simply pick the best of them.

I would advise registering with the local subtitling companies. When they get new clients and more work, they will train more translators and you might be one of them. It is essential to register in as many as you can find - when a new TV channel enters the market or an international channel will start to carry Czech subtitles, one of these companies will win the contract and that's when they usually hire new people.
The experience you get locally will also help you to get international jobs or at least make you more competitive for those.
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Maroš Karaba
Maroš Karaba  Identity Verified
Slovakia
Local time: 09:21
English to Slovak
+ ...
Some links Sep 12, 2009

Hi Petre

I once applied for a subtitler position with one agency (unsuccessfully). I was to provide a test translation of few lines of subtitles (in Word) from a comedy, a documentary and a historical film. I had to do it on time i.e. send my translted file back before the set deadline, which was pretty tight btw. They had the translation chcecked and replied in about two weeks.

My point is that if they r
... See more
Hi Petre

I once applied for a subtitler position with one agency (unsuccessfully). I was to provide a test translation of few lines of subtitles (in Word) from a comedy, a documentary and a historical film. I had to do it on time i.e. send my translted file back before the set deadline, which was pretty tight btw. They had the translation chcecked and replied in about two weeks.

My point is that if they require some specialized tool to be used, they would probably provide some training before you actually start translating. If, during the course of your working for a company, some other client requires a different subtitles format, requiring a different tool they'd probably give you training on that too. This is what I've been through, although it was all about software localization.

They'd first test you to find out if you are capable of linguistic compression - ever so important in subtitling and, at the same time, preserve as much meaning of the source text as possible, stuff which Ulf was writing about. I suggest you start with getting some English .str or .sub file from the Internet, open it in Notepad a try to translate the subtitles to test yourself.

Or start with these


http://www.transedit.se/

http://www.transedit.se/Bibliography.htm list of reference materials on subtitling - books, articles, many of them available online and for free

http://www.jostrans.org/print_results.php?query=subtitles&search=1 articles on subtitling

http://www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2006_Proceedings/2006_Prieto_Velasco_Juan_Antonio_et_al.pdf
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Petr Štádler
Petr Štádler
Local time: 09:21
English to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
RE: Some links Oct 8, 2009

Maroš Karaba wrote:

Hi Petre

I once applied for a subtitler position with one agency (unsuccessfully). I was to provide a test translation of few lines of subtitles (in Word) from a comedy, a documentary and a historical film. I had to do it on time i.e. send my translted file back before the set deadline, which was pretty tight btw. They had the translation chcecked and replied in about two weeks.

My point is that if they require some specialized tool to be used, they would probably provide some training before you actually start translating. If, during the course of your working for a company, some other client requires a different subtitles format, requiring a different tool they'd probably give you training on that too. This is what I've been through, although it was all about software localization.

They'd first test you to find out if you are capable of linguistic compression - ever so important in subtitling and, at the same time, preserve as much meaning of the source text as possible, stuff which Ulf was writing about. I suggest you start with getting some English .str or .sub file from the Internet, open it in Notepad a try to translate the subtitles to test yourself.

Or start with these


http://www.transedit.se/

http://www.transedit.se/Bibliography.htm list of reference materials on subtitling - books, articles, many of them available online and for free

http://www.jostrans.org/print_results.php?query=subtitles&search=1 articles on subtitling

http://www.euroconferences.info/proceedings/2006_Proceedings/2006_Prieto_Velasco_Juan_Antonio_et_al.pdf


Hi Maroš,

Sorry for my late answer - I've been away for a while. Thanks a lot for your input, too, I appreciate it. You're right about the subtitling companies' "technical" requirements - since my first post, I've taken a couple of subtitling tests myself and my experience pretty much matches yours, i.e. no special tools required, the focus being rather on compression and translation skills. Recently, I successfully passed one of the tests, so I am hoping to plunge into the business now.

Many thanks for the links, too, I'll make sure to check them out.

Good luck to you,

Petr


 
Jennifer Moulard
Jennifer Moulard  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:21
French to English
+ ...
ASS / SSA Oct 9, 2009

I made some subtitle when I was younger with ASS or SSA, timing, editing and effects included, it was for the movie club of my town, and I made it with the same tools that Fansubbers uses nowadays, is subtitling in the "pro" world the same as this experience or does it require to be in other subtitbling formats?

Regards,

Ukyuu.


 


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