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[Subtitling Rates] per minute rates | still to low

September 5, 2016, 3:43 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: [Subtitling Rates] per minute rates
Poster: Faustine Roux
Post title: still to low

[quote]BlanKspaCe wrote:

So $3 per minute with a script should be enough at my level. Above all, I was afraid to offer too low a rate and become "unfair competition" when some companies are already trying to pay professionals less (from what I understood by reading this thread).
I will give it a try and see if I can pass the company test first.
I am very excited about learning new skills and now I feel a bit less lost. Thank you so much! [/quote]

I am sorry, but $3 per video minute, even if you have a script and a template, is way too low. You're going to get $300 for a 100 minute film. Are you going to translate 2 films a week to make it (slightly) profitable ? I'm afraid to see the result...
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Ask me anything about subtitling | thank you for the reply

September 25, 2016, 6:41 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Ask me anything about subtitling
Poster: Nastia Ch
Post title: thank you for the reply

[quote]jbjb wrote:

As you know, Russia is a voiceover country. 99% of the translation work is for voiceover and 99% of consumers never watch subtitled products. Subtitling is sort of a niche business for a handful of TV channels, DVD releases (where subtitle tracks are often reformatted voiceover translations) and now, new services like Netflix. So your best chance for Russian subtitling work outside Russia is with a major subtitling company providing services to major Hollywood studios or Netflix. Their rates are the lowest but none of them require translators to have their own subtitling software. After you have worked for such companies (it's not hard to find work there, as the low pay means a constant rotation of translators to replace those who are giving up), you are ready to decide if the work is attractive enough for you to invest in your own software.
[/quote]

Do you think these well known major subtitling companies will hire someone new with little experience?

You are right about Russia being a voiceover country. I forgot all about it. In old times we had just a few TV channels. The only time you could see subtitles was during the news broadcasting. Everything has changed now. I am pretty sure many Russians use Youtube's captions for learning languages.

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Ask me anything about subtitling | inexp

September 26, 2016, 1:46 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Ask me anything about subtitling
Poster: jbjb
Post title: inexp

Inexperienced translators are often hired by major companies these days after passing a subtitling test. The main requirement is accepting the low rate they offer. Their subtitling software (either web-based or proprietary) has been dumbed down, so that translators really only have the "replace original text with translation" function, working with pre-prepared templates.
If a company expects you to have your own subtitling software, they would also expect you to have specific subtitling-related know-how but these jobs would be even more limited.
I don't think it has changed in Russia that much... Everything is still voice-over and Netflix is the first major service trying to enter the market with a subtitled product. But to make any mark there, they will probably have to resort to voiceover. And as voiceovers would be especially expensive outside Russia, they would use Russian companies to do the work - and the companies would use their own Russian-based translators. And if accompanying subtitles are used, it may be cheaper to convert the voiceover translation to subtitles, rather than pay for a separate subtitle translation. Also - to avoid someone watching with Russian voiceover and Russian subtitles and wondering why the translation is utterly different.

So Russian subtitles will always be a bit of a special case and there will be a limited demand for them.
Fortunately the dumbing down also means that many companies are scared to use subtitles produced out-of-house because you have to check that everything matches technically. So it's easier for them to order a new translation, using the template they use for all other languages.
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Ask me anything about subtitling | Someone who actually works for Amara

September 26, 2016, 8:55 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Ask me anything about subtitling
Poster: dilynn
Post title: Someone who actually works for Amara

Now here is someone who actually works for Amara. I agree that their rates are very low; I rarely get over 6 or 7 USD/hr. However, many people sync their transcriptions sloppily or do not care to adapt the syncing of the translation from the original, and I suspect that makes them quicker.

The upside is that the videos are in a database from which you can mainly pick whenever and how much you feel like. Most videos are really short (3-8 minutes), so you can always do something quickly.

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Ask me anything about subtitling | Amara

September 27, 2016, 6:02 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Ask me anything about subtitling
Poster: Nastia Ch
Post title: Amara

dilynn, What do you mean by saying they pay 6-7 USD/hr? Per hour of a video? An hour of a video is lots of work! It seems the rates are way too low.

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Ask me anything about subtitling | thank you

September 27, 2016, 6:13 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Ask me anything about subtitling
Poster: Nastia Ch
Post title: thank you

jbjb, thank you for the useful information that you kindly provided. I wonder how long it would take for Netflix to enter the market in Russia and if Netflix would have a success in Russia, but it is a discussion for another thread :-). Like you said Russia will remain voice- over country for a long time.
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Ask me anything about subtitling | netflix

September 29, 2016, 8:10 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Ask me anything about subtitling
Poster: jbjb
Post title: netflix

Netflix is in Russia already (they are in every country of the world) and a lot of the content has Russian subtitles ( [url removed] ) but I don't think they are officially at 100% localisation yet, as with some other markets (most recently Poland, Turkey).
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any similar experiencies with a selection process? | I'm going through their selection process but I'm having second thoughts

September 29, 2016, 12:32 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: any similar experiencies with a selection process?
Poster: Bellisa
Post title: I'm going through their selection process but I'm having second thoughts

Hi everyone! I'm guessing you're talking about Deluxe Entertainment. I recently contacted them after seeing their ad with promising rates. Obviously those rates are only to caught your attention and get you to apply. I did take the proficiency test and they sent me an email a couple of days later saying that I've passed the test and asking if I agree with their rates "- Translation: 1.25 USD per minute of runtime - Proofreading: 0.20 USD per minute of runtime."
I know these rates are very low, but I want to start in the subtitling business, so I thought it would be good to start with a big company, regardless of the rates. But then, they ask you to work on their software, which only runs on Windows. I have a mac, so I've been reading a lot about hard disk partition and I was ready to install Windows on my Mac. But this is a lot of work, and I started wondering if it's worth it. Then I started looking for reviews of the company on Internet and there are a lot of commentaries about how long it takes them to pay (up to three months). They sent me a lot of instructions and manual explaining their process, and the payment process does seem very complicated.

So now i'm having second thoughts. Is there anyone here who has been working with them for a while and can give us some real insight?
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any similar experiencies with a selection process? | LOL!

September 29, 2016, 9:50 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: any similar experiencies with a selection process?
Poster: Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Post title: LOL!

[quote]InForTheQuill wrote:
"Rates depend on the translator's profile", was the argument.[/quote]
Low-payers always say that rates depend on the translator's capabilities, which ultimately means that they pay so little that they cannot afford top translators and try to convince everyone to work for peanuts.
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any similar experiencies with a selection process? | Deluxe Media from Bangalore, India?

October 1, 2016, 6:10 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: any similar experiencies with a selection process?
Poster: Slobodan Kozarčić
Post title: Deluxe Media from Bangalore, India?

[quote]Mercedes Fatas wrote:

Hi there,
Anyone going through the "selection" process to work for an Entertainment company?

[/quote]

[Edited at 2016-10-01 13:14 GMT]

[Edited at 2016-10-01 13:25 GMT]
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Moved Topic: Advice seeking out direct clients in this field?

October 1, 2016, 11:02 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Moved Topic: Advice seeking out direct clients in this field?
Poster: Shihaoheng

Does anyone else have experience searching for direct clients in this field?

From what I understand, my best bet is to target TV networks and film production companies, but there are still a few unknowns:

-Should I only target companies from my source language, or can I target those from my target language (English) as well (ie. TV networks and film companies from the USA)?
-Who should I be contacting specifically?
-Who is responsible for making decisions about what subtitles to get translated within TV networks and film companies? Should I be looking for agents within the companies, or someone on staff?

In summary, I really just need some help figuring out who I should be making the calls/sending the e-mails to in order to try to get some direct clients. Perhaps just someone who really understands the TV and Film industries, post production, that sort of thing.

Just having trouble figuring out who to ask or where to look. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation

September 30, 2016, 4:27 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Shihaoheng

Does anyone else have experience searching for direct clients in this field?

From what I understand, my best bet is to target TV networks and film production companies, but there are still a few unknowns:

-Should I only target companies from my source language, or can I target those from my target language (English) as well (ie. TV networks and film companies from the USA)?
-Who should I be contacting specifically?
-Who is responsible for making decisions about what subtitles to get translated within TV networks and film companies? Should I be looking for agents within the companies, or someone on staff?

In summary, I really just need some help figuring out who I should be making the calls/sending the e-mails to in order to try to get some direct clients. Perhaps just someone who really understands the TV and Film industries, post production, that sort of thing.

Just having trouble figuring out who to ask or where to look. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | Does not (often) work that way

October 3, 2016, 6:35 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Sylvano
Post title: Does not (often) work that way

Hi,
I'd say working directly for final clients is quite unusual, mainly for one reason: final clients prefer to pay more and get a package (translation + the purely technical parts linked to audiovisual translation) from an audiovisual company or, anyway, leave that part of post-production to somebody else (in a translation agency, for instance), who knows this part better (and can be accountable for it). Audiovisual translators usually can't provide the final product themselves, ready to be broadcast. But there must be exceptions (José ?).
My two cents.

[Edited at 2016-10-04 07:22 GMT]
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | Things may be different for my source language

October 3, 2016, 8:19 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Shihaoheng
Post title: Things may be different for my source language

[quote]Sylvano wrote:

Hi,
I'd say working directly for final clients is quite unusual, mainly for one reason: final clients prefer to pay more and get a package (translation + the purely technical parts linked to audiovisual translation) from an audiovisual company or, anyway, leave that part of post-production to somebody else (in a translation agency, for instance), who knows this part better (and can be accountable for it). Audiovisual translators usually can't provide the final product themselves, ready to be broadcast. But there must be exceptions (José ?).
My two cents. [/quote]

Thanks for the reply，

The thing about my source language is that a unique part of the TV and film industry here is that everything is subtitled by default. It's not like in my home country where you have to turn on subtitles or closed captions, or have the option, but rather on every TV program of every TV channel, there are Chinese subtitles (and the same for movies). For this reason, I would assume that any network or film company that wanted their subtitles translated to English wouldn't need to bother going through a company to get them subtitled first, but rather would already have subtitle files on hand, and would just need them translated. Keep in mind I also take care of timing, character limits, etc, and can offer them a completed .srt file that they can use - I'm not just giving them a word document or something like that.

I would assume this would mean I would be able to get direct clients with film companies and TV networks, provided I knew who, specifically, to contact within those companies.

[Edited at 2016-10-04 03:41 GMT]
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | You have to investigate each potential client

October 4, 2016, 12:37 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Sylvano
Post title: You have to investigate each potential client

[quote]Shihaoheng wrote:

I would assume this would mean I would be able to get direct clients with film companies and TV networks, provided I knew who, specifically, to contact within those companies.

[Edited at 2016-10-04 03:41 GMT] [/quote]

If they do have somebody who manages that part or a dedicated department for translation, it should be easy to find the info on their website or by giving them a call... When I mentionned the technical side of the job, I wasn't refering to cueing and delivering a timecoded translation, but being able to provide the final product that will be aired (with localized graphics, possible edits, specific settings for the broadcast, etc.). In my experience, the translation part (cueing + translating) usually is one line within a much wider overall quote with other (technical and post-prod) services.
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | I see

October 4, 2016, 1:16 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Shihaoheng
Post title: I see

[quote]Sylvano wrote:

If they do have somebody who manages that part or a dedicated department for translation, it should be easy to find the info on their website or by giving them a call... [/quote]

I will keep that in mind, and keep my eyes out for dedicated translation departments within film companies and TV networks

[quote]Sylvano wrote:

When I mentionned the technical side of the job, I wasn't refering to cueing and delivering a timecoded translation, but being able to provide the final product that will be aired (with localized graphics, possible edits, specific settings for the broadcast, etc.). In my experience, the translation part (cueing + translating) usually is one line within a much wider overall quote with other (technical and post-prod) services. [/quote]

I see - so perhaps instead of looking for a movie companies, I should be looking for post-production companies? What about for TV networks?

Thanks!
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | depends

October 5, 2016, 4:18 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: jbjb
Post title: depends

Depends on what you intend to do exactly.
If you mean Chinese-English translations, then yeah, production companies and distributors are the right way to go. if they want to distribute their Chinese product somewhere else, they would create English subtitles (or just screenplay translations) and this is very often done in-house.
If you mean English-Chinese translations of subtitles in TV channels - these are most probably handled by specialised subtitling companies. In-house subtitling departments are preserved in that sector usually in public broadcasters and very old commercial channels who have not divested those departments yet. New channels setting up business usually buy the subtitling service out of the house, as creating a subtitling department is too expensive. If you mean like Hollywood studios - all of them order their subtitles out of house.
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | Which languages pair are you working with?

October 5, 2016, 4:49 pm
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: jyuan_us
Post title: Which languages pair are you working with?

[quote]Shihaoheng wrote:
-Should I only target companies from my source language, or can I target those from my target language (English) as well (ie. TV networks and film companies from the USA)?
[/quote]

Would you mind you clarifying this:

What did you mean by "target companies from my source language" and target those from my target language (English)?

I think the question would be is easier to answer if you would state more clearly about whether you want to translate subtitles from English to Chinese or from Chinese to English.
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | I meant that

October 12, 2016, 2:45 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Shihaoheng
Post title: I meant that



[Edited at 2016-10-12 09:48 GMT]
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Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation | I meant that

October 12, 2016, 2:48 am
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Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Direct Clients for Subtitle Translation
Poster: Shihaoheng
Post title: I meant that

[quote]jyuan_us wrote:
Would you mind you clarifying this:

What did you mean by "target companies from my source language" and target those from my target language (English)?

I think the question would be is easier to answer if you would state more clearly about whether you want to translate subtitles from English to Chinese or from Chinese to English. [/quote]

Let me clarify, I mean for translating ZH-EN, from Chinese to English.

So it would seem I may want to look for production companies and distributors? Any other recommendations, or should I just go about it focusing on these two types of companies?
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