Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38] >
Ask me anything about subtitling
Thread poster: Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:26
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Nov 21, 2016

I see you're quite passionate about this topic, Bernhard, and that I can respect. It's no news that subtitling rates have been dwindling overall for quite some time now, and that's what we in the British Subtitlers' association and the AVTE federation are trying to combat, with varied degrees of success. Lately, however, we've made serious progress with some of the largest players in the industry, so the outlook is rather bright. We'll keep on pushing to win good working conditions for audiovisu... See more
I see you're quite passionate about this topic, Bernhard, and that I can respect. It's no news that subtitling rates have been dwindling overall for quite some time now, and that's what we in the British Subtitlers' association and the AVTE federation are trying to combat, with varied degrees of success. Lately, however, we've made serious progress with some of the largest players in the industry, so the outlook is rather bright. We'll keep on pushing to win good working conditions for audiovisual translators.

That said, even now subtitling experts make quite a bit, since the industry itself is booming. If you've established yourself as a quality service provider, you'll be the go-to specialist for the people who know what's what and who are willing to pay up. This is something everyone looking to become a subtitler should aspire to.
Collapse


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:26
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
My take on declining subtitling rates Nov 21, 2016

Max Deryagin wrote:

I see you're quite passionate about this topic, Bernhard, and that I can respect. It's no news that subtitling rates have been dwindling overall for quite some time now, and that's what we in the British Subtitlers' association and the AVTE federation are trying to combat, with varied degrees of success. Lately, however, we've made serious progress with some of the largest players in the industry, so the outlook is rather bright. We'll keep on pushing to win good working conditions for audiovisual translators.

That said, even now subtitling experts make quite a bit, since the industry itself is booming. If you've established yourself as a quality service provider, you'll be the go-to specialist for the people who know what's what and who are willing to pay up. This is something everyone looking to become a subtitler should aspire to.


There is an abundance of subtitling courses everywhere. In spite of the booming industry, the aggregate number of available seats in all these courses is higher than the demand for "graduates". I guess that most people who ask about subtitling rates are trying to ascertain the cost/benefit of taking such a course.

Subtitling possibly involves personal talent in a more significant way that plain text translation (excluding literature, of course). I self-taught the entire subtitling technique after 18 years I had been successfully translating video for dubbing, without taking any formal course.

This talent means "art", hence there will be subtitlers of all shades, in terms of quality. Of course, the better ones will command higher rates. In the opposite direction, subtitling clients will always try to get the cheapest viable option, for the sake of their profits.

As a result, we'll often see quality going below an acceptable level on TV. Skilled bilingual spectators get angry, write to the TV station, expose goofs on Facebook, yet this fails to be an incentive for demanding higher quality in subtitling.

IMHO it would only work if such complaints were addressed to sponsors!
Associations should try to convince TV sponsors to include in their media agreements some clause to the effect that they'd get a pecuniary discount/credit if the translation/subtitling of the program they sponsored was too bad.

It makes sense! Envision this...
ACME Corp. has paid a bundle to have its advertisements broadcast in the eight intermissions of the award-winning movie XYZ on the *** TV network. You are the spectator, and a potential consumer of ACME products. Also, you don't understand the language spoken in the movie, so you have to rely on subtitles. So you watch the first part, and the subtitles are poorly translated, often missing and/or off-time. At the first intermission, as you haven't gained a clue on the plot, you SWITCH to another channel. This means that you, potential buyer of ACME products, will have seen at most ONE - if any - of ACME's eight ad insertions, on account of sloppy subtitling. ACME should be entitled to some compensation...

Perhaps this approach would work better for the entities Max mentioned.


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:26
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Nov 21, 2016

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

IMHO it would only work if such complaints were addressed to sponsors!
Associations should try to convince TV sponsors to include in their media agreements some clause to the effect that they'd get a pecuniary discount/credit if the translation/subtitling of the program they sponsored was too bad.

Perhaps this approach would work better for the entities Max mentioned.


Well, we're doing that as well. Making the industry healthier is not as simple as "addressing complaints to sponsors"; there are many variables in play, and educating the end clients is just one of them.

[Edited at 2016-11-21 20:18 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:26
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Ask me anything about subtitling Nov 22, 2016

The title of this seemingly endless thread, which I never read, always reminds me of those people who wear a t-shirt advertising the advantages of a particular weight-loss product:

"ASK ME ANYTHING ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT"

[Edited at 2016-11-22 09:02 GMT]


 
Michael Wetzel
Michael Wetzel  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:26
German to English
A very interesting question Nov 22, 2016

That is a very pertinent and interesting question, Tom.

I'm glad you finally saw fit to contribute to this thread. Fortunately, you have not ever bothered to read it, which places you in a perfect position to offer a fresh and insightful perspective on Max's efforts to help a long list of colleagues with various questions related to subtitling.

So, thank you Tom and thank you Max for all the good work.


Alex Ossa
 
Monica Paolillo
Monica Paolillo
Italy
Local time: 12:26
English to Italian
+ ...
Well, after all, Tom… Nov 22, 2016

… admitted he never reads the thread, and it shows

Hats off to Max and his hard work.


Michael Wetzel wrote:

That is a very pertinent and interesting question, Tom.

I'm glad you finally saw fit to contribute to this thread. Fortunately, you have not ever bothered to read it, which places you in a perfect position to offer a fresh and insightful perspective on Max's efforts to help a long list of colleagues with various questions related to subtitling.

So, thank you Tom and thank you Max for all the good work.


Alex Ossa
 
Frank Miller
Frank Miller  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:26
Georgian to English
+ ...
Portuguese and Georgian to English Nov 26, 2016

I just completed my first ever subtitling gig for a client in Portugal. I really enjoyed doing the work, and it seemed to go really well. I also translate from Georgian into English and was wondering if anyone had any idea where I might be able to start looking for people who need something in Georgian to be subtitled in English. Because it's such a rare language pair and because Georgian isn't learned by many foreigners, it can be hard to find where this language pair might be worked on. Additi... See more
I just completed my first ever subtitling gig for a client in Portugal. I really enjoyed doing the work, and it seemed to go really well. I also translate from Georgian into English and was wondering if anyone had any idea where I might be able to start looking for people who need something in Georgian to be subtitled in English. Because it's such a rare language pair and because Georgian isn't learned by many foreigners, it can be hard to find where this language pair might be worked on. Additionally, most of the people who work in this pair are native speakers of Georgian and not English. Thus, ქა > EN translations – and subtitles in particular – tend to come out with some interesting constructions. I would also be interested in working on a team or in tandem with or just speaking to other speakers of Georgian – native or otherwise – who might already be doing this kind of work.

Also curious if there are any suggestions specific to Portuguese > English? Any nuances in the market in Portugal that I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance, y'all!
Collapse


 
Elisa Colliez
Elisa Colliez  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:26
Turkish to French
+ ...
Aegisub / STL / Ceefax Dec 9, 2016

Dear colleagues,

Is there any possibily to convert a .ass file into .stl -but keeping the colors ? I am working on a SDH project on Aegisub and thought by exporting my .ass into .stl, the styles would be kept but the result is a stl file without any colors... and double spaces between each word.

If there is no solution on Aegisub to convert into STL and keep styles/colors, which subtitling software (free...) should I use to create stl files (with colors for SDH...) ?... See more
Dear colleagues,

Is there any possibily to convert a .ass file into .stl -but keeping the colors ? I am working on a SDH project on Aegisub and thought by exporting my .ass into .stl, the styles would be kept but the result is a stl file without any colors... and double spaces between each word.

If there is no solution on Aegisub to convert into STL and keep styles/colors, which subtitling software (free...) should I use to create stl files (with colors for SDH...) ?


Many many thanks in advance,

Elisa
Collapse


 
DUPONT86
DUPONT86  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:26
English to French
+ ...
Rates??? ENGLISH / FRENCH SUBTITLES - I am looking for the rates. Can you pls help??? Dec 9, 2016

Max Deryagin wrote:

Hello fellow ProZians,

In this topic I (and hopefully my colleagues that frequent this subforum) will try to answer all your questions about subtitling that you always wanted to ask but thought it didn't warrant a whole new topic.

Ask away!


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:26
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Dec 9, 2016

Elisa Colliez wrote:

Dear colleagues,

Is there any possibily to convert a .ass file into .stl -but keeping the colors ? I am working on a SDH project on Aegisub and thought by exporting my .ass into .stl, the styles would be kept but the result is a stl file without any colors... and double spaces between each word.

If there is no solution on Aegisub to convert into STL and keep styles/colors, which subtitling software (free...) should I use to create stl files (with colors for SDH...) ?


Many many thanks in advance,

Elisa


Hi Elisa,

The EBU STL format is not free software-friendly, and Aegisub does not export color information for this format. The double space issue is a known one, and it won't be fixed any time soon (if ever). What you can do right now is download a fully functional trial version of a professional subtitling tool (e.g. http://titlevision.dk/subevaleng.htm ) to deal with the project at hand in a timely manner, but after that you'll have to buy pro software if you want to continue working on SDH.

[Edited at 2016-12-09 13:06 GMT]


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:26
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Dec 9, 2016

Hi DUPONT86,

There are no set rates in the subtitling business apart from the ones recommended by the subtitling unions and associations. It is your job to figure the rates you are most comfortable with, that satisfy your financial needs and reflect your expertise in the field.


 
narcit
narcit
Local time: 13:26
English to Romanian
Aegisub Keyboard commands Apr 20, 2017

Hi!

Does anyone know if there is a keyboard command for the video frame to start without having to click on the ”play current line” video button, like there is for the audio frame while operating in the Aegisub? For example, if you preset it, the audio frame starts if only you scroll the mouse over and press the space bar. Also if I use Shift+Enter, it automatically breaks the line and you do not have to insert any \N symbols to do so. If anyone out there using Aegisub knows ot
... See more
Hi!

Does anyone know if there is a keyboard command for the video frame to start without having to click on the ”play current line” video button, like there is for the audio frame while operating in the Aegisub? For example, if you preset it, the audio frame starts if only you scroll the mouse over and press the space bar. Also if I use Shift+Enter, it automatically breaks the line and you do not have to insert any \N symbols to do so. If anyone out there using Aegisub knows other useful tips for making the work fast, please share.
Collapse


 
Hana27
Hana27
Morocco
Professional subtitling softwares used in USA, France, Spain and Russia Apr 21, 2017

Dear Max,

I would like to thank you for the goodwill you have to share your knowledge and skills.

Actually, I'm doing a research thesis on audiovisual translation, and I would like to know the professional softwares most used in professional institutions in USA, France, Spain and Russia.

For example, in Belgium the most used software is Swift, it is used in the RTBF, the official national channel, and more other institutions are using it, it is also the m
... See more
Dear Max,

I would like to thank you for the goodwill you have to share your knowledge and skills.

Actually, I'm doing a research thesis on audiovisual translation, and I would like to know the professional softwares most used in professional institutions in USA, France, Spain and Russia.

For example, in Belgium the most used software is Swift, it is used in the RTBF, the official national channel, and more other institutions are using it, it is also the most used software in teaching at Belgian universities. IN Netherlands both Swift and Spot are commonly used.


I hope I can get answers from you and other members who may have an idea about this.

Regards.
Collapse


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:26
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Apr 30, 2017

narcit wrote:

Hi!

Does anyone know if there is a keyboard command for the video frame to start without having to click on the ”play current line” video button, like there is for the audio frame while operating in the Aegisub? For example, if you preset it, the audio frame starts if only you scroll the mouse over and press the space bar. Also if I use Shift+Enter, it automatically breaks the line and you do not have to insert any \N symbols to do so. If anyone out there using Aegisub knows other useful tips for making the work fast, please share.


Hi narcit,

Not sure why, but I have stopped receiving email notifications about new posts in this thread. My apology for the delay.

If I understand your question correctly, which I am not sure I do, the shortcut for starting and pausing video playback in Aegisub is Ctrl+P. Please let me know if this answers your question.



Hana27 wrote:

Dear Max,

I would like to thank you for the goodwill you have to share your knowledge and skills.

Actually, I'm doing a research thesis on audiovisual translation, and I would like to know the professional softwares most used in professional institutions in USA, France, Spain and Russia.

For example, in Belgium the most used software is Swift, it is used in the RTBF, the official national channel, and more other institutions are using it, it is also the most used software in teaching at Belgian universities. IN Netherlands both Swift and Spot are commonly used.

I hope I can get answers from you and other members who may have an idea about this.

Regards.


I've answered your question in another thread, but if anyone else is interested:

Because Russia is a dubbing country, we don't have a rich history of professional subtitling, which means there isn't one preferred subtitle preparation tool. Here's what I know:

  • TV Teletext captions are created via FAB.

  • A couple of subtitling studios use WinCAPS.

  • Some international distributors use Swift.

  • I was the first subtitler in Russia to receive an EZTitles license (this was a couple of years ago), so I think very few Russian specialists use this program.

  • From what I've gathered over the years, most subtitlers in Russia use free subtitling software.

Hope this helps.

[Edited at 2017-04-30 14:11 GMT]


 
Mariaduarte79
Mariaduarte79
Portugal
Local time: 11:26
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Just wondering... and excuse me if it's a stupid question... May 3, 2017

I'm Portuguese, I work as a freelance translator (translating and subtitling from English and Spanish to Portuguese) and I already sent my resume to all of the Portuguese companies I could find online who hire freelancers to subtitling jobs.

I would like to expand my list of clients and just don't really know how to do it. Therefore, I was thinking: is there any way I could be hired by a client who is not a Portuguese company?

Is there any client in any part of the w
... See more
I'm Portuguese, I work as a freelance translator (translating and subtitling from English and Spanish to Portuguese) and I already sent my resume to all of the Portuguese companies I could find online who hire freelancers to subtitling jobs.

I would like to expand my list of clients and just don't really know how to do it. Therefore, I was thinking: is there any way I could be hired by a client who is not a Portuguese company?

Is there any client in any part of the world who would need a translator from English or Spanish to Portuguese?
I work with Spot Subtitling Software and can also work as a literary translator.

Can anyone please help me?

Thank you all in advance.
Collapse


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38] >


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Ask me anything about subtitling







Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
Anycount & Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000

Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.

More info »