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Ask me anything about subtitling
Thread poster: Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:44
Member (2013)
English to Russian
Mar 20, 2015

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!


Yaotl Altan
Dorothee Rault (Witt)
 
Arabic & More
Arabic & More  Identity Verified
Jordan
Arabic to English
+ ...
Thanks! Mar 20, 2015

Is there a free software program I can download and use to learn subtitling? I am looking for something that includes adequate tutorials.

Katharina Nachtigall
Farah Hassan
Adriana Campos
 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:44
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Mar 20, 2015

Amel Abdullah wrote:

Is there a free software program I can download and use to learn subtitling? I am looking for something that includes adequate tutorials.


Hi Amel,

Generally speaking, you don't get to learn much by just downloading a free subtitling tool and starting to use it while reading its tutorial. What you can do instead is download a trial version of one of the commercial subtitling programs — they always have very informative Help sections written and constantly updated by industry professionals.

I suggest you start with EZTitles: http://www.eztitles.com/index.php?page=try_out

Download the trial, install it and read through the comprehensive Help section. You'll get to know a whole lot about the technologies, formats, standards and best practices in professional subtitling from that alone.

Then you can either download a trial of another commercial tool (WinCAPS Qu4ntum/Cavena Tempo/SoftNI/Spot Subtitling System etc.) and read its Help section for additional learning, or you can move to a free tool to start subtitling. I suggest that you use Aegisub or Subtitlie Workshop 6. SW6 has a Help section; Aegisub's manual can be found online: http://docs.aegisub.org/3.2/Main_Page/

Also, please make sure to read this article by TranslationEngland: http://www.translationengland.com/translation-blog/how-to-make-it-as-a-freelance-subtitler

Hope this helps.


Daniel Olsson
Tatiana Simonova
Yaotl Altan
Bruna Santanita
Adriana Campos
Mai Alfayoumey
Viera Valková
 
Mirta Tula
Mirta Tula
Local time: 08:44
English to Spanish
Hi there! Mar 21, 2015

Hi Max,

First of all, thanks a lot for your willingness to share your knowledge. It is much appreciated.

I've always wondered where I could find free but solid material on the basics of subtitling such as
guidelines, the do's and the don'ts and so on.

Thank you again!
Cheers,
Mirta


Sohaib Mahmoud
 
Kalyanasundar subramaniam
Kalyanasundar subramaniam
India
Local time: 17:14
Tamil to English
+ ...
Ask me anything about subtitling Mar 21, 2015

You can try Aegisub and Subtitle edit . Aegisub user manual can also be downloaded .
Media subtitler is also good ,but some of the features in Ageisub are not there in Media subtitler .
Do hands on trials as much as possible for subtitling and time coding with any available video of short durations (say 15 to 30 minutes )with you .The more trials you conduct you would improve on your translation and time coding skills

Good luck


 
Lauriso
Lauriso
Latvia
Local time: 13:44
Direct speech Mar 21, 2015

Hi Max! That's very nice of you.

My question is regarding direct speech. I'm translating subtitles of a recorded theatre play, and there is a lot of direct speech. Should I translate it with all the grammar rules and punctuation?

For example

"There. Now I'm dead", / he thought.
VS
There. Now I'm dead, / he thought. (?)


 
Arabic & More
Arabic & More  Identity Verified
Jordan
Arabic to English
+ ...
Thank you, Max and Kalyanasundar Mar 21, 2015

I appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge and resources.

 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:44
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
Hm Mar 21, 2015

Mirta E. Tula wrote:

Hi Max,

First of all, thanks a lot for your willingness to share your knowledge. It is much appreciated.

I've always wondered where I could find free but solid material on the basics of subtitling such as
guidelines, the do's and the don'ts and so on.

Thank you again!
Cheers,
Mirta



Hi Mirta,

There are a number of different kinds of subtitles which come in different media (e.g. TV, DVD, Web, cinema, venues etc.), and so there are different guidelines to learn and follow.

If we're talking about intralingual subtitling/captioning (=transcription of the audio portion of a video intended for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), then there are lots of cool manuals and guides. My favorites are

1. DCMP Captioning Key: http://www.captioningkey.org/
2. CAB Protocol: http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/social/captioning/captioning.pdf
3. BBC's Editorial Guidelines: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/accessibility/subtitling_guides/online_sub_editorial_guidelines_vs1_1.pdf
4. Ofcom's Guidelines (quite outdated but still a good read): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/itc_publications/codes_guidance/standards_for_subtitling/index.asp.html

When it comes to interlingual subtitling (=textual translation of the words spoken, sung or shown in a video into the native language of the intended audience), I don't know of free comprehensive guides or manuals. Much of what you'll read in the aforementioned guides for captioning also applies to intralingual subtitling, but the rest is rather difficult to pinpoint. I suggest that you read through subtitling-related articles in JoSTrans: http://www.jostrans.org/index.php (use the search field to find them). There are more than two dozen articles about subtitle translation there; reading them will give you a fairly good idea of the inner works of this translation field.

I hope this subforum's other frequenters will give you more links to tutorials/guides/manuals related to subtitling.

[Edited at 2015-03-21 11:56 GMT]


Daniel Olsson
 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:44
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
Yes Mar 21, 2015

Lauriso wrote:

Hi Max! That's very nice of you.

My question is regarding direct speech. I'm translating subtitles of a recorded theatre play, and there is a lot of direct speech. Should I translate it with all the grammar rules and punctuation?

For example

"There. Now I'm dead", / he thought.
VS
There. Now I'm dead, / he thought. (?)


Hi Lauriso,

Yes, you should use quotes, as it is more convenient for the viewer.

Also, please keep in mind that when it comes to theatrical plays, because of the (sometimes) high pace of speech, you'll have to condense your translations via synonymization, paraphrasing, idiomization and omission, so that your viewers could keep up with the rapidly changing subtitles.


Bora Güngör
Kathleen Kownacki
 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:44
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Digital video references Mar 21, 2015

Max Deryagin wrote:

I hope this subforum's other frequenters will give you more links to tutorials/guides/manuals related to subtitling.


Digital video is what empowered translators to do subtitling from start to end without investing an unaffordable sum in hardware.

IMHO the most extensive and searchable knowledge base on digital video may be found at http://www.videohelp.com . Of course, it covers much, much more than subtitling, and leaves aside the translation-related aspects, however it sort of builds a bridge between us, translators, and the computer-related aspects of digital video.


 
Lauriso
Lauriso
Latvia
Local time: 13:44
Direct speech Mar 21, 2015

Thanks Max, but what about direct speech that's stretched over many lines? Should I put every line in quotations marks, or just add them at the beginning and end of a certain character talking?

Also, often there are long dialogues uninterrupted by the narrator, and then they turn to thoughts, which are still "spoken" by the character. It's a little confusing.

Also, this thread might turn too complicated in time.

Max Deryagin wrote:

Lauriso wrote:

Hi Max! That's very nice of you.

My question is regarding direct speech. I'm translating subtitles of a recorded theatre play, and there is a lot of direct speech. Should I translate it with all the grammar rules and punctuation?

For example

"There. Now I'm dead", / he thought.
VS
There. Now I'm dead, / he thought. (?)


Hi Lauriso,

Yes, you should use quotes, as it is more convenient for the viewer.

Also, please keep in mind that when it comes to theatrical plays, because of the (sometimes) high pace of speech, you'll have to condense your translations via synonymization, paraphrasing, idiomization and omission, so that your viewers could keep up with the rapidly changing subtitles.


[Edited at 2015-03-21 14:17 GMT]


 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:44
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Mar 21, 2015

Lauriso wrote:

Thanks Max, but what about direct speech that's stretched over many lines? Should I put every line in quotations marks, or just add them at the beginning and end of a certain character talking?

Also, often there are long dialogues uninterrupted by the narrator, and then they turn to thoughts, which are still "spoken" by the character. It's a little confusing.

Also, this thread might turn too complicated in time.


Lauriso,

Please open this webpage: http://www.captioningkey.org/lang_mechanics.html

Scroll down to the "Quotation Marks" section to see how it is done.

For thoughts you can use italics.


 
Mirta Tula
Mirta Tula
Local time: 08:44
English to Spanish
That's great! Thank you very much! :grin: Mar 21, 2015

Max Deryagin wrote:

Mirta E. Tula wrote:

Hi Max,

First of all, thanks a lot for your willingness to share your knowledge. It is much appreciated.

I've always wondered where I could find free but solid material on the basics of subtitling such as
guidelines, the do's and the don'ts and so on.

Thank you again!
Cheers,
Mirta



Hi Mirta,

There are a number of different kinds of subtitles which come in different media (e.g. TV, DVD, Web, cinema, venues etc.), and so there are different guidelines to learn and follow.

If we're talking about intralingual subtitling/captioning (=transcription of the audio portion of a video intended for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), then there are lots of cool manuals and guides. My favorites are

1. DCMP Captioning Key: http://www.captioningkey.org/
2. CAB Protocol: http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/social/captioning/captioning.pdf
3. BBC's Editorial Guidelines: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/accessibility/subtitling_guides/online_sub_editorial_guidelines_vs1_1.pdf
4. Ofcom's Guidelines (quite outdated but still a good read): http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/itc_publications/codes_guidance/standards_for_subtitling/index.asp.html

When it comes to interlingual subtitling (=textual translation of the words spoken, sung or shown in a video into the native language of the intended audience), I don't know of free comprehensive guides or manuals. Much of what you'll read in the aforementioned guides for captioning also applies to intralingual subtitling, but the rest is rather difficult to pinpoint. I suggest that you read through subtitling-related articles in JoSTrans: http://www.jostrans.org/index.php (use the search field to find them). There are more than two dozen articles about subtitle translation there; reading them will give you a fairly good idea of the inner works of this translation field.

I hope this subforum's other frequenters will give you more links to tutorials/guides/manuals related to subtitling.

[Edited at 2015-03-21 11:56 GMT]


 
Ana Carla Guimarães
Ana Carla Guimarães  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 22:44
English to Portuguese
Subtitling rates Mar 22, 2015

Hi,
I have a question about subtitling rates in the USA. Does anyone know how much translators get paid in US dollars? I mean, a junior translator rate to a senior one.
Thanks
Ana Carla


Oluwatobi Opanuga
 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 16:44
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
- Mar 22, 2015

Ana Guimaraes wrote:

Hi,
I have a question about subtitling rates in the USA. Does anyone know how much translators get paid in US dollars? I mean, a junior translator rate to a senior one.
Thanks
Ana Carla


Hi Ana,

I will ask some of my colleagues tomorrow and get back to you with the answer.


abdullah ibrahim (X)
 
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