About why subtitle translation is important
Getting started
Most of the content created is often video. Localizing content is an important time, so many people are interested in translating subtitles. So in today's note, I'm going to write about why subtitle translation is important. As I mentioned in a note explaining video translation the other day, there are many types of subtitles. In addition to Subtitle, which is the type of subtitle we usually see, SDH, which is a subtitle for the deaf, and finally, CC, which is a type of subtitle that can only be displayed if set separately. Today's notebook will focus on everything from creating these subtitles to the process of translating subtitles.
Work that lays the foundation for transcription and subtitle translation
For a highly complete translation, good transcription must be done. Transcription refers to the process of extracting spoken language from images as a step of transcription. If the translation is done with SDH subtitles, the background sound and even information about the speaker must be entered during this process. If this process is done well, there may be no errors even when translating subtitles, so it is necessary to work carefully.
Since this is a process that must be carried out before subtitle translation, Letterworks will also go through this process prior to full-scale subtitle translation work. A recent update added the ability to input speaker information and background sounds in case SDH subtitles are generated. The advantage of going through the transcription stage through this function is that the part containing the speaker information or the explanation of the background sound is mistaken for a sentence component and not interpreted.
After transcription, translate subtitles
Once all the necessary information, including audio information, is extracted from the video, the next step is translation work. After going through this step, the translation will be complete. When translating subtitles, it is necessary to refer to the translation results of the machine translator, refine sentences, and go through the process of checking whether the registered TB/TM is properly reflected. What is important in this work is not simply writing down the results of the machine translator as it is, it captures the misinterpreted parts, selects which translation is more appropriate between literal translation and paraphrase, and refining the parts that need to be refined for a more natural sentence.
At the stage of translating subtitles, we go through the process of refining mistranslation or awkward expressions, but we check again during the final inspection stage. At this stage, you'll check the work of fixing typos, incorrect spacing, and expressions that are awkward for locals to see one last time. The translated version completed in this way will be delivered to the client according to the due date. If there is something that needs to be corrected during this process, it is possible to gather feedback and go through the revision one more time.
Subtitle translation completed
Once you've gone through all of these steps, you'll be able to download the completed translation of the subtitles. Adding subtitles to a video and translating those subtitles is quite a laborious task. Therefore, Letterworks is working to create a more comfortable environment. As the importance of SDH subtitles is growing, we've also made updates to make it a little easier to add SDH subtitles. Being able to reduce the time costs involved in translation is a major advantage, and Letterworks is constantly working on research and development for that purpose. If you are curious about how it was conceived to improve convenience and make it possible to translate subtitles, I think it would be a good idea to take a look.
Editor/Lee In Hye
