Best single feature in a subtitling app? Thread poster: dgutt
|
|---|
Just out of curiosity: what, in your opinion, are the best single features in subtitling apps you happen to know?
I teach Polish-English subtitling and right now I'm doing an overview of popular subtitling apps for fellow teachers, so I've been comparing/revisiting a number of apps recently, and would be glad to learn what hidden gems you've discovered. Perhaps it would be fair to have separate categories for paid and free software.
In a paid app, I realy like th... See more Just out of curiosity: what, in your opinion, are the best single features in subtitling apps you happen to know?
I teach Polish-English subtitling and right now I'm doing an overview of popular subtitling apps for fellow teachers, so I've been comparing/revisiting a number of apps recently, and would be glad to learn what hidden gems you've discovered. Perhaps it would be fair to have separate categories for paid and free software.
In a paid app, I realy like the way EZTitles now lets you load data directly from a CCSL or similar lists. You help it identify which column is which and configure what data you want loaded/skipped. I don't know how unique this is, perhaps there's something cheper that will do the trick, but I found this really useful.
In a free app, my favourite feature is probably the way Subtitle Edit has now integrated Google Translate into its nterface; some quick MT saves a lot of time in some types of translation. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Automatic timecoding, hands down. Some paid (cloud and offline) subtitling/captioning software have this feature. For the free apps, to my knowledge only Subtitle Composer from KDE has it. But it's still poorly implemented.
| | | | Brian Joyce 
United Kingdom
Member (2022)
French to English
Auto waveform generation, though to be honest, I cannot even imagine starting a subtitling project without an Srt.
| | | | dgutt
Poland
TOPIC STARTER
Brian Joyce wrote:
I cannot even imagine starting a subtitling project without an Srt.
I don't quite follow: do you mean an .srt template?
| | |
|
|
|
Brian Joyce
United Kingdom
Member (2022)
French to English
I think an interesting topic, is to talk about the set of skills involved in subtitling. How they are different from document translation. How the industry is geared towards using subtitlers, as opposed to translators who subtitle, sometimes.
The first questions:
How many minutes a day?
How much an audio minute?
Software?
How many years in the industry?
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Re: Subtitling discussions | May 13, 2022 |
I see what you're saying, but...
Brian Joyce wrote:
How many minutes a day?
How much an audio minute?
Talking about your daily output and subtitling/transcription rates doesn't seem like a very productive discussion to have. If anything, these would just encourage the race-to-the-bottom culture.
Software?
Not truly relevant since most clients have their own preferred cloud subtitling platforms anyway.
I think an interesting topic, is to talk about the set of skills involved in subtitling. How they are different from document translation. How the industry is geared towards using subtitlers, as opposed to translators who subtitle, sometimes.
This is what I would like to have. Many regular translators seem to misunderstood us subtitlers (and to some extent, localizers). Having such discussions would let everyone know what we actually do, how we do it, and how far those regular translators have strayed from the path of God by using CAT software to translate subtitles. Damn heathens!
By the way, Brian, you may want to fix your broken forum avatar. I had the same problem a while back, and a site staff taught me how to fix it.
https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_profile_help/354056-how_do_you_fix_a_broken_forum_avatar.html
[Edited at 2022-05-13 08:14 GMT]
| | | | Brian Joyce
United Kingdom
Member (2022)
French to English
I must admit, I have never been good with technology. Thankfully, I find subtitling tech very usable and palpable. And to answer the question of "how many minutes a day?", being a central question for prospective employers. I find the question impossible to answer without having spent a long time, or a lot of your time, subtitling. Therefore, the question presupposes a certain type of translator the employer has in mind. Has modern technology made interlanguage subtitling, an occupation apart? I... See more I must admit, I have never been good with technology. Thankfully, I find subtitling tech very usable and palpable. And to answer the question of "how many minutes a day?", being a central question for prospective employers. I find the question impossible to answer without having spent a long time, or a lot of your time, subtitling. Therefore, the question presupposes a certain type of translator the employer has in mind. Has modern technology made interlanguage subtitling, an occupation apart? Is it different now than 5 years ago? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Titles are for wimps | May 14, 2022 |
Brian Joyce wrote:
And to answer the question of "how many minutes a day?", being a central question for prospective employers. I find the question impossible to answer without having spent a long time, or a lot of your time, subtitling. Therefore, the question presupposes a certain type of translator the employer has in mind.
If you dig around, you’ll figure out what is the average daily subtitling output rate that you can use as a metric. The reason why I no longer agree to discuss this topic in public, is because how bottom feeders are exploiting this information to undercut the others. That’s right, they don’t just try to be the cheapest, but also the fastest.
I don’t think you should be too concerned about speed. You need time to think of a clever way to render those jokes and word-plays into your target language. Personally, I tend to promise slower turnover time these days compared to when I was just starting out, for exactly that reason. Though of course, you’ll still need to be competitive. Business is business, after all.
Has modern technology made interlanguage subtitling, an occupation apart? Is it different now than 5 years ago?
From what I’ve gathered (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong), subtitling and captioning have always been closer to movie production than the translation industry itself. IDK, it feels like translation communities never really considered subtitling as a branch only until recently. Perhaps they were attracted to the prospect of this market, as they were witnessing such a rapid growth in VoD services? Who knows?
But, and I’m saying this as someone who joined a theater club in my high school years, the showbiz industry has always been abusive. So I’m hardly surprised to see how subtitlers are being treated like sh*t. Even the local actors and actresses were living in poverty.
[Edited at 2022-05-15 02:24 GMT]
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Best single feature in a subtitling app? | 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 » |
| | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
