As a translator, if you are able to produce high quality subtitles for videos you will significantly expand the range of work available to you. From the creative sector to the business sector, there is a very real demand for subtitles and the translation of subtitles, and being skilled in this area is an important asset. The task is, in itself, not hugely difficult, but it requires fluency in both languages, patience, organisation, and sustained concentration. You will also need a computer with video software that displays the time in milliseconds, such as Media Player Classic, and a text file editor, such as Notepad.
The task can be divided into three stages: transcription, synchronisation and translation. Transcription is simply watching down the video and writing down all the words. Synchronisation is creating an srt file which synchronises the transcribed text with the spoken words in the video. Translation is the translation of the srt file into the destination language. All three tasks are fairly simple, but can be laborious and tedious; the trick lies in organising them in such a way as to minimise the effort involved, and sustaining the level of concentration required to produce a high quality subtitle all the way through the task.
Transcription
The first thing to say about transcription is that, in my opinion, it should definitely be done separately from synchronisation. It is technically possible to perform the tasks simultaneously, but this is a maddeningly frustrating process; much simpler to have all the text ready when one starts creating the srt file. The actual task of transcription is usually the simplest part of the process. It’s just a question of pressing play, listening to a few seconds of audio, pausing, writing down what you heard, and pressing play again until you’ve made it all the way through the video. As you type, divide the text up into subtitle-sized chunks; this will make the synchronisation process much simpler.
Synchronisation
The creation of an srt file can be done in Notepad. First, locate in the video the line of dialogue you wish to synchronise, using a media player such as Media Player Classic which displays the time in milliseconds. Then, make a note of the precise location of the beginning and end of the line of dialogue in the video in hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds. Then, to enter the subtitle into Notepad, write it in the following form: on the first line, put the chronological number of the subtitle. On the second line, write the beginning and the end times of the subtitles, with two dashes and a right chevron between them. On the next line, write the subtitle itself (if it is too long for one line, you can go down to the next). Leave a blank line between subtitles. For example:
1
00:00:05,398 –> 00:00:11,245
Hello, and welcome to our instructional video for
drilling a hole in your iPhone 7 to make a headphone port.
2
00:00:11,245 –> 00:00:17,116
This is definitely not a hoax and will
in no way damage your phone. Honest.
Simply continue in this fashion all the way through the video until all the text has been synchronised with the audio. Then, when saving the file, make sure you save it as an srt file and not a txt file. To do this, go to save as, then select “all files” instead of “txt files” and write “.srt” at the end of your file name.
An important thing to bear in mind is that the subtitles should be legible and not obscure too much of the video. Try to keep each subtitle to two lines, and not to make the lines too long, because the eye of the viewer is naturally focused on the centre of the screen and having words too close to the edge makes them harder to read. Sometimes, you might have to go to a third line or use the edges of the screen if you have particularly rapid speech, but try and minimise this. Of course, this means more work, because you’ll have more subtitles to synchronise, but it will lead to a much better quality job.
Translation
The final step is to translate your srt file into the destination language. This is best done using CAT (computer aided translation) software – Wordfast Anywhere is an excellent free option. Simply translate as normal – the main precaution here is to ensure that the data lines with the time information for the subtitles is kept the same – with Wordfast Anywhere, this is simply a case of pressing the “copy source” button. The other thing to bear in mind is that you should try and keep the translated lines approximately the same length as, or shorter than, the originals – you don’t want to end up with a giant subtitle that fills up the screen and is only displayed for a couple of seconds. This can be an issue when translating from English into Portuguese because some expressions which are just a couple of words in English can be siginificantly lengthier in Portuguese. Fluency and confidence in the destination language is essential.
Overall, if you already have the skills to be a translator, you should have little difficulty in acquiring the skills to make translated subtitles. The software required to do so is available for free, and is simple to use. It can be a time-consuming task, but if you have the persistence and patience to see it through and create really good subtitles, this has the potential to be an important asset.