Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Advice, please: creating subtitles in source or target language?
Poster: José Henrique Lamensdorf
Post title: Some sound advice
Though subtitling may seem simple, since so many people (fansubbers) do it for free on the web, it is not.
To give you an example, the client who got me into translating video for dubbing back in 1987 tried to wing it at subtitling. They have been in the trade for decades, had their own (analog) dubbing studio for many years, so they are not unfamiliar with the trade.
I got into subtitling in 2004 on my own, did a lot of work for them, yet always delivered the finished DVDs, so they never bothered to delve into it.
One day, they needed a quick subtitling job done. I received their call on my mobile... while on vacation overseas! Couldn't help them. So they had their first hands-on experience. Two guys, very experienced in video translation and dubbing, worked one entire weekend on subtitling a 10-minute video, and the result came out awful.
My suggestion is that you engage someone fully familiar with the entire process to do it. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be a translator (you'll handle that part, with some guidance from them). For time-spotting, if the person understands basic Latvian and English, that will be enough; no fluent mastery required.
The process is described at [url removed] . If you are brave, and really want to face the beast, search on [url removed] . On top of endless information on digital video and software, they have some good tutorials too.
Topic: Advice, please: creating subtitles in source or target language?
Poster: José Henrique Lamensdorf
Post title: Some sound advice
Though subtitling may seem simple, since so many people (fansubbers) do it for free on the web, it is not.
To give you an example, the client who got me into translating video for dubbing back in 1987 tried to wing it at subtitling. They have been in the trade for decades, had their own (analog) dubbing studio for many years, so they are not unfamiliar with the trade.
I got into subtitling in 2004 on my own, did a lot of work for them, yet always delivered the finished DVDs, so they never bothered to delve into it.
One day, they needed a quick subtitling job done. I received their call on my mobile... while on vacation overseas! Couldn't help them. So they had their first hands-on experience. Two guys, very experienced in video translation and dubbing, worked one entire weekend on subtitling a 10-minute video, and the result came out awful.
My suggestion is that you engage someone fully familiar with the entire process to do it. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be a translator (you'll handle that part, with some guidance from them). For time-spotting, if the person understands basic Latvian and English, that will be enough; no fluent mastery required.
The process is described at [url removed] . If you are brave, and really want to face the beast, search on [url removed] . On top of endless information on digital video and software, they have some good tutorials too.