Ask me anything about subtitling

Oluwatobi Opanuga wrote:

I'm new on this platform. Thus, I need info on how to get into real subtitle "sector" as I can translate English to Yorùbá easily (oral and written).
Thanks

pedronascimento wrote:

Hello, I'm new to subtitling.

On a subtitle when I do a line break after a comma, do I keep the comma there or I remove it?
I am asking, because I have heard that the line break itself acts as a comma, but now I'm not sure if I really heard it somewhere or maybe I came up with that rule.
Thank you in advance.

Example 1: Freddy, who has a limp, was in a car accident.

1.
Freddy, who has a limp,
was in a car accident.

or

2.
Freddy, who has a limp
was in a car accident.


Example 2: I really wanted cereal this morning, but I didn’t have any milk.

1.
I really wanted cereal this morning,
but I didn’t have any milk.

or

2.
I really wanted cereal this morning
but I didn’t have any milk.

Thanasis Zantrimas wrote:

Hello again.

I just came across yesterday from a Facebook group, which I presume you're part of, a link from a translation agency which redirected me through their application form in order to fill it in with my personal details, rates with template, en cetera. At the end of the form, though, there's a choice about subtitle burning.
I didn't know that when you hardcode subtitles, you can also charge that. They just wanted to know with a simple "yes" or "no" answer if I can provide that. I'm familiar about hardcoding, but I don't know how exactly do you calculate that. I mean, how is it possible? I've did it in the past with various tools purely for fansubbing purposes such as Format factory or Handbrake.
Should I ask them to give me their own suggested rate?

Idzwan Ramli wrote:

Hi all,

I have had a hand in subtitling qa/qc previously (just a little bit). I wish to sharpen my knowledge and skills.

Any forum threads/articles/blog posts/YouTube videos or any resource at all for me to improve as a subtitling qa/qc (quality assurance/quality control)?

I will view all resources shared, even resources for those who are new to subtitling qa/qc

Thanks in advance

[Edited at 2021-07-17 20:27 GMT]

Max Deryagin wrote:



Hi Idzwan,

I actually wrote an article about Sub QC recently. You can find it here: md-subs.com/five-years-of-sub-qc

pedronascimento wrote:

Hello, I'm new to subtitling.

On a subtitle when I do a line break after a comma, do I keep the comma there or I remove it?
I am asking, because I have heard that the line break itself acts as a comma, but now I'm not sure if I really heard it somewhere or maybe I came up with that rule.

Carlos Castillo wrote:

Hello, Max.


I'm coming to this thread now with a question about the SRT format. Although it's a very simple format, I see subtitle editors and video players can treat some non-standard cases (actually format errors) differently. I know these cases are not commonly found, but I've come across files like this in the past and I'd like to know how they should be decoded.

Given the apparent lack of a formal specification, I'd like to ask you, from your experience, which editor or player do you know to have the most "accurate" support for SRT files. Here are a couple of examples of what I mean with these cases. I've been testing other cases, but these are the easiest ones to explain.

1
00:00:07,007 --> 00:00:09,760
This is the first subtitle.
2
00:01:26,044 --> 00:01:28,547
This is the second subtitle.
3
00:01:55,115 --> 00:01:56,116
This is the third subtitle.

4
00:02:03,999 --> 00:02:04,999
This is the fourth subtitle.

According to what this documentation by Matroska says, the empty line between subtitles means the start of a new subtitle. But, for example, Subtitle Edit decodes these three subtitles as if there was an empty line, even though it complains about the format error. CaptionMaker sees only one subtitle, but uses the times of the third one. Aegisub sees only one subtitle with the times of the first one. And VLC also sees one subtitle with the times of the first one.

I think what VLC does is how this should be decoded, instead of trying to understand what was attempted there.

Another case is the following:

1
00:00:07,007 --> 00:00:09,760

This is the first subtitle.

2
00:01:26,044 --> 00:01:28,547

This is the second subtitle.

CaptionMaker sees empty subtitles as well as VLC, as I think they should, but Subtitle Edit ignores that empty line. Aegisub sees a subtitle with a first line empty and the second line as it appears there—which doesn't seem to make sense at all.

I'm mentioning Subtitle Edit and Aegisub because, although they're free software, I think they're widely used, especially for this format. And, if what VLC does is standard among video players in some way, these two editors would be kind of wrong, particularly Subtitle Edit. Someone could open a file like this there and think it's okay—because no error is even reported—but then those subtitles wouldn't be displayed in a player. Only if they save the file Subtitle Edit would reformat it.

Is VLC's SRT decoder reliable enough for this?

Thanks in advance.

[Edited at 2021-08-19 00:03 GMT]

Novian Cahyadi wrote:

I'm sorry if this has been asked before. 30 pages of forum posts are a bit daunting for my evening.

I always wonder, how fast is the expected daily translation rate for subtitlers? I have seen people promising less than 24 hours to create, transcribe, and translate a subtitle from scratch for a 90-120 minutes video. Curious if I'm just too slow, as I would need at least 2 days to translate a subtitle for a 60-90 minute video that already has timecodes.

Thank you in advance.

[Edited at 2021-08-19 11:41 GMT]

Max Deryagin wrote:

Hi Novian,

It depends on the language pair, the type of audiovisual content (as far as dialogue density and the amount of research involved), whether you're translating from scratch or from a template, whether there are additional requirements (e.g. if it's a Netflix project, you have to do FN tagging/annotating/filling out KNPs, etc.), and a number of other things. I'd say the average would be (very roughly) around 15-30 minutes per day.

If someone claims to be able to subtitle a 2-hour film in just one day, they understand neither subtitling nor films.