New to subtitling and due to do a test Thread poster: Debora Villa
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Debora Villa
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
English to Italian
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Hi everybody,
Having tried to get into subtitling for quite sometime I was thrilled when I was approached from a company sking me to do a test for them. I should receive the test material in the next couple of days but as I have never done anything similar I was wondering if anyone had a couple of spare minutes to give me some advice.
TIA
| | | | Juan Jacob 
Mexico
Local time: 01:53
French to Spanish
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| Some points. | Sep 29, 2006 |
I must insist, as always: you won't do subtitling, you'll do translation FOR subtitling, very different.
I don't know what kind of test, though.
I guess they will send you a "spotted list" file, that is:
Time In Time Out and the transcription, in English, I assume, with probably maximum caracters aloud.
You'll have to translate the text, of course, and be shure NOT to exceed caracter number.
It would be perfect for you to have imag... See more I must insist, as always: you won't do subtitling, you'll do translation FOR subtitling, very different.
I don't know what kind of test, though.
I guess they will send you a "spotted list" file, that is:
Time In Time Out and the transcription, in English, I assume, with probably maximum caracters aloud.
You'll have to translate the text, of course, and be shure NOT to exceed caracter number.
It would be perfect for you to have image support: translate audiovisual material without seeing it is ALWAYS a very bad idea. You need the context, and the context are the images, of course.
Best of luck. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | is it a French company? | Sep 29, 2006 |
I was contacted by a French company nearly two weeks ago.
They asked me if I wanted to do a test for them. Maybe it is the same...
| | | | Debora Villa
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Hi, no this is a UK company. DId you do the test? How did it go? Was it difficult?
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Debora Villa
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Dear Juan,
Thank you so much for your reply and for clarifying that I'll be doing translation for subtitling rather than subtitling......I am aready feeling better!!!! Being new to it I was slightly worried.
They will send me an audio visual file so that should be a bit easier. Do you think it will be easy for a translator to adapt to translating subtitles?
Thanks for your time
| | | | Juan Jacob
Mexico
Local time: 01:53
French to Spanish
+ ...
They'll send to you a audiovisual file, that's fine.
Nothing else?
If nothing else, forget it. You'll never manage to "edit" the translation according to time restrictions or... if they only want you to translate in a Word document all the dialogues, that's not translation for subtitling. Anybody could do it.
Luck.
| | | | Katerina Nikopoulou (X)
Greece
Local time: 10:53
English to Greek
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| Condense without losing sight of the original meaning. | Sep 29, 2006 |
Hi Debora,
As long as you focus on condensing the meaning and observing the time and space constraints of subtitling, you should be fine.
Translation for subtitling is all about condensing the original dialogue list (or transcript) and "fitting" it in subtitles with a limited number of characters per line.
You also have to conform to specific time limitations.
The company that has contacted you should be able to provide you with a basic set of guidelines. ... See more Hi Debora,
As long as you focus on condensing the meaning and observing the time and space constraints of subtitling, you should be fine.
Translation for subtitling is all about condensing the original dialogue list (or transcript) and "fitting" it in subtitles with a limited number of characters per line.
You also have to conform to specific time limitations.
The company that has contacted you should be able to provide you with a basic set of guidelines.
Don't hesitate to ask them, since spaciotemporal constraints often differ from country to country, and sometimes from client to client.
Other than that, you might want to check out the official site of the movie/tv series/documentary you will be translating, or any other related sites, for any extra contextual information you might need.
Here's a link about the very basics of subtitling, which you might find helpful as a beginner:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtitling
That's it from me. I don't want to send your head spinning.
Focus on your guidelines, and everything should be fine.
Best of luck with your test,
Katerina
[Edited at 2006-09-29 23:32]
[Edited at 2006-09-29 23:33] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Juan Jacob
Mexico
Local time: 01:53
French to Spanish
+ ...
| To Katerina. | Sep 29, 2006 |
Nothing else to add.
That's it.
Good luck.
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Debora Villa
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Dear Katerina,
Thank you for your good advice! I shall have a look at wikipedia too.
Thanks you so much for your time
Debora
| | | | Khaled Elmancy
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
Member (2012)
English to Arabic
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You may also check IMDB to know more about the movie or the show and most important Idiomconnection, idiomsite, etc...
Slang and idioms are very important especially in the test.
I guess you'll be limited to 37/42 characters per line
If you wish I can send a sample test.
Good Luck
| | | | Katerina Nikopoulou (X)
Greece
Local time: 10:53
English to Greek
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| Glad to be of help | Sep 30, 2006 |
Glad to be of some help, Debora!
And thank you, Juan!
Best regards from Greece!
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 10:53
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| If you get only the video, you first have to write down the dialogue | Sep 30, 2006 |
But usually someone has already compressed the dialogue to a textfile.
I slightly disagree with Juan.
In some cases subtitling has nothing to do with translation. If you get e.g. a DVD-movie by Ingmar Bergman for distribution in the Northern countries, you'll find also Swedish subtitles. These are intended for deaf people but also very useful for students of the Swedish language. The subtitles mention also extradialogical noises, like coughing, music, traffic noise etc.
I only ... See more But usually someone has already compressed the dialogue to a textfile.
I slightly disagree with Juan.
In some cases subtitling has nothing to do with translation. If you get e.g. a DVD-movie by Ingmar Bergman for distribution in the Northern countries, you'll find also Swedish subtitles. These are intended for deaf people but also very useful for students of the Swedish language. The subtitles mention also extradialogical noises, like coughing, music, traffic noise etc.
I only wish all movies would get subtitles also in the original language. Swedish tv-channels already provide Swedish subtiles for many programs. Extremely useful, because you can deselect the subtitles in digital tv.
But if the movie is old, you probably get no dialogue list, but have to reconstruct the dialogue prior to translation.
Regards
Heinrich ▲ Collapse
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Debora Villa
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all so much for the valuable help, I'll know more about what it is expected of me when I receive the material.....I might ask for help again then!
Khaled, thank you for offering to send me a sample, any help will be highly appreciated so if it not too much trouble for you, I'd be very happy to accept your offer.
Thanks again
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