For matters related to payments, access to training sessions and technical issues, please submit a support request for faster assistance. Would you be interested in a one-on-one course on subtitling? Thread poster: Max Deryagin
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Max Deryagin 
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:11
Member (2013)
English to Russian
Hello everyone,
I've decided to come up with a one-on-one course for translators who want to add subtitling to the list of the services they provide. The problem, however, is that I am not sure such a course would be in demand, and hence the topic.
Why one-on-one?
Well, first of all, I want to be able to tailor my course for the learner, so that it takes into account his or her budget, background in subtitling and specific professional needs. It can be a sh... See more Hello everyone,
I've decided to come up with a one-on-one course for translators who want to add subtitling to the list of the services they provide. The problem, however, is that I am not sure such a course would be in demand, and hence the topic.
Why one-on-one?
Well, first of all, I want to be able to tailor my course for the learner, so that it takes into account his or her budget, background in subtitling and specific professional needs. It can be a short "bare minimum" course, an in-depth comprehensive training, or something in between. Second, I'd like to be able to answer all your questions to make sure that, after the course is over, you have soaked all the information given and are confident in using your newly acquired skills. Third, giving training in this mode is not as formal as your regular webinars, and for that reason it is more enjoyable for both parties. And finally, it's just easier for me
So tell me please, would you be interested in such a course? ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes definitely | Mar 18, 2015 |
hello Max,
I would love o learn more about subtitling.
Which software is useful, how the spoken language is to be shortened for the subtitles and so on.
I don't know how good this work is payed and if they are chances to find work.
May be you could tell me how much such a course will cost.
Thanks in advance
Gabriela
| | | | Max Deryagin
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:11
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
Gabriela Gavrilova-Widua wrote:
hello Max,
I would love o learn more about subtitling.
Which software is useful, how the spoken language is to be shortened for the subtitles and so on.
I don't know how good this work is payed and if they are chances to find work.
May be you could tell me how much such a course will cost.
Thanks in advance
Gabriela
Hi Gabriela,
I don't think I would be able to put a specific price tag for such a course without a prior short Skype discussion about what exactly you want to learn, and to what extent.
It is important to note, however, that this topic's purpose is not advertising but rather getting to know whether or not such a course would be needed
[Edited at 2015-03-18 14:45 GMT]
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 11:11
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Too heavy if you have no idea if you'd ever want to offer it | Mar 18, 2015 |
I wouldn't want a 1-to-1, but I'd be really interested in a non-technical overview of what subtitling jobs are all about. By non-technical, I mean that I wouldn't want it to go into the mechanics of the various tools: if I don't know if I'm ever going to offer subtitling, I don't at this stage need to know about the mechanics.
There's a lot of information I'd like to have, in broad terms:
- what clients mean by "closed-captioning" (if that is indeed the correct term) and othe... See more I wouldn't want a 1-to-1, but I'd be really interested in a non-technical overview of what subtitling jobs are all about. By non-technical, I mean that I wouldn't want it to go into the mechanics of the various tools: if I don't know if I'm ever going to offer subtitling, I don't at this stage need to know about the mechanics.
There's a lot of information I'd like to have, in broad terms:
- what clients mean by "closed-captioning" (if that is indeed the correct term) and other jargon terms;
- what files you're likely to receive from the client, and what they expect to get back for their money;
- whether it's something you can do without massive investment in tools;
- whether you have to be a real IT geek to understand the process;
- how subtitling for different purposes (cinema vs TV, entertainment vs documentaries, foreign language vs hearing-impaired subtitles, etc.) varies;
. . .
If, after attending that course, I'm sufficiently interested to want to offer the service, that would be the time I'd be interested in a 1-to-1. ▲ Collapse
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| Divide to conquer | Mar 18, 2015 |
Great idea, Max!
However I suggest you divide it in three (cumulative) stages, and don't expect everyone to be interested in taking all of them.
1. Translation
This is obviously a part that all translators do, however many that I know stop right there. Someone else will do the time-spotting.
When I get a multilingual subtitling request, I outsource the languages I don't work in to ... See more Great idea, Max!
However I suggest you divide it in three (cumulative) stages, and don't expect everyone to be interested in taking all of them.
1. Translation
This is obviously a part that all translators do, however many that I know stop right there. Someone else will do the time-spotting.
When I get a multilingual subtitling request, I outsource the languages I don't work in to colleagues. I work EN/PT, most frequent such cases are to include ES/FR, which I speak (IT too) but don't translate professionally. In these cases, I discuss with my colleague who will do the time-spotting, because I could do it too.
If a multilingual subtitling request involved a language I don't speak (the list is endless), I'd ask the fellow translator to time-spot it too.
Many video producers ask me for the translation without spotting, since they have internal salaried sesquilingual staff who can do it.
2. Time-spotting
This is an important part, however separate. Keep in mind that the entire DVD/Blu-Ray and on-the-fly cable TV subtitle generation industries stop right here.
3. Burning
Some more computer tech-savvy learners might be interested in learning how to burn subtitles on videos. Though the operation in itself is "mechanical" (once set up, the computer will do it unsupervised), they'll have to struggle with file formats, codecs, picture aspect ratios, and a host of other variables. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Max Deryagin
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:11
Member (2013)
English to Russian
TOPIC STARTER
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
Great idea, Max!
However I suggest you divide it in three (cumulative) stages, and don't expect everyone to be interested in taking all of them.
1. Translation
This is obviously a part that all translators do, however many that I know stop right there. Someone else will do the time-spotting.
When I get a multilingual subtitling request, I outsource the languages I don't work in to colleagues. I work EN/PT, most frequent such cases are to include ES/FR, which I speak (IT too) but don't translate professionally. In these cases, I discuss with my colleague who will do the time-spotting, because I could do it too.
If a multilingual subtitling request involved a language I don't speak (the list is endless), I'd ask the fellow translator to time-spot it too.
Many video producers ask me for the translation without spotting, since they have internal salaried sesquilingual staff who can do it.
2. Time-spotting
This is an important part, however separate. Keep in mind that the entire DVD/Blu-Ray and on-the-fly cable TV subtitle generation industries stop right here.
3. Burning
Some more computer tech-savvy learners might be interested in learning how to burn subtitles on videos. Though the operation in itself is "mechanical" (once set up, the computer will do it unsupervised), they'll have to struggle with file formats, codecs, picture aspect ratios, and a host of other variables.
Thank you for the input, José. Though it seems there is no demand for such a course, after all.
| | | | | Some answers for Sheila | Mar 18, 2015 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
There's a lot of information I'd like to have, in broad terms:
- what clients mean by "closed-captioning" (if that is indeed the correct term) and other jargon terms;
Closed-captioning (CC for short) is another game.
Subtitles are in a language different from the original audio track, and try to convey as concisely as possible what's being said, so the spectator has some time left to watch the action. Otherwise, one could merely text them the script, because they'll be time-precluded from actually watching the video.
CC is intended to replace the audio track, visually. This includes not only hearing impaired spectators, but also show places where the sound is either impaired (e.g. noisy places like an airport or a bus terminal) or inconvenient (e.g. a hospital or a company reception hall).
CC includes not only the entire script spoken, in the same language, but also relevant sounds, usually in brackets, like [car starts], [music], [buzzer], [siren], etc.
CC are embedded (encoded) in the video file. They already existed in the days of video tape (VHS), and are decoded by the TV set, not the playing device (in my VHS example, the VCR). I mean that a CC-enabled TV with a plain-vanilla VCR would show them, while a plain-vanilla TV and a super-duper VCR would not.
Software for CC'ing is not free nor cheap (see below). Personally, I've had so few such requests, that I chose not to invest on that. I advise my clients that I can put subtitles in lieu of CC, and most of them so far took the chance.
Sheila Wilson wrote:
- what files you're likely to receive from the client, and what they expect to get back for their money;
That depends a lot on the client.
My specialty is corporate (training, institutional, product launch) video. These clients want a turn-key job. They may want a subtitled video to put on their web site or on their Intranet (for employees); others may want a fully-authored interactive DVD. These seldom offer you a script or a transcript, because video is not their core business; some producer made it for their headquarters, being beyond reach.
Some video producers/subtitling studios will provide you with the video and "templates". These are segmented, pre-timed transcripts of the videos, for you to translate each segment. Final quality won't be at all great, however this is the most affordable way to have one video translated into a number of languages quickly for an international release.
And some distributors will send you the video file and the original script.
Sheila Wilson wrote:
- whether it's something you can do without massive investment in tools;
Nowadays, yes. A regular PC with some freeware will do it.
It used to require a professional video tape editing suite (U-Matic, and later Betacam), a CG = character generator, and a GenLock, a device that would superimpose the characters on the video.
[quote]Sheila Wilson wrote:
- whether you have to be a real IT geek to understand the process; [quote]
Video freeware is surprisingly good in terms of the results it delivers, truly professional quality. Of course, freeware means no tech support other than from peers, and an interface that is often not so obvious.
However I must say that most freeware video programs are much, much more user-friendly than all CAT tools known to mankind at this time. So, for a weathered translator, they should be a piece of cake.
Due to the proliferation of video formats proprietary to specific portable devices, as well as some major increase in image resolution, yes, you have to be a geek if you want to serve them all. However if your subtitled video destination is YouTube, Vimeo, alikes, or a mundane DVD, you'll just need a converter (free ones available too).
By this time, I could have invested a bundle in high-tech subtitling software, however these add mostly to automate the user's work. I've mastered the ropes so well that I prefer to fly on manual control, using the very same freeware I know inside out.
Sheila Wilson wrote:
- how subtitling for different purposes (cinema vs TV, entertainment vs documentaries, foreign language vs hearing-impaired subtitles, etc.) varies;
There should probably be a (thick) book about this available somewhere.
| | | | | Sparse, erratic, and occasional | Mar 18, 2015 |
Max Deryagin wrote:
Thank you for the input, José. Though it seems there is no demand for such a course, after all.
Your prospective students would be "too-laters". They'd want your course when it's too late. They have been assigned a video to subtitle because of their specialty in translation and language pair, and they suddenly discover that it's not just another case of having Trados.
They have a deadline, but your course will take longer than that. And then they realize that if it took them umpteen years in translation to have their first such request, another umpteen years may go by until they have the next one.
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I'd be interested, but I'd prefer the course in French or German as English is not one of my working languages.
| | | | Luca Tutino
Italy
Member (2002)
English to Italian
+ ...
| Start offering webinars | Mar 19, 2015 |
You might rather want to start offering paid webinars. I believe that some good webinars on subtitling should attract some interest.
A single seminar will not offer all the information that you could teach in a one-to-one course. But a series of sessions (2 or 3, I guess) should be sufficient to give a good overview of the field (and possibly of the market) and introduce the need for a deeper one-to-one training to those interested in making good subtitles and subtitle translations.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 11:11
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Wow! Thanks! | Mar 19, 2015 |
Hey - a customised, one-to-one course, for free! And from an industry expert!
Thanks very much, José Henrique.
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