The Hedgehog Commune contacted several translators who had worked in the subtitles group and listened to them about the workflow of their subtitle groups. Some people are relaxed and happy, some people are hurt and happy, and some people have revealed some little-known stories.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Hedgehog Commune” (ID: ciweigongshe), the author defensive, edited Shi Can. Authorized to reprint.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Japanese subtitle group for pigs. Since 2004, the pig subtitle group has begun to translate Japanese TV dramas and Japanese movies, which is considered a veteran in the subtitle group. To celebrate, the pigs launched the 15th anniversary limited edition 2020 Japanese drama calendar, which was sent to the buyers in the past few days.
A purchaser wrote in the evaluation: “I have been eating pigs for so many years, thank you pigs.”
Like pigs, focusing on different language, different fields and different types of folk subtitle groups, it is like a film and television enthusiast’s “food and clothing parents.” Counting this year’s “explosive models”, the United States’ “Deadly Woman”, Japan’s “It’s Your Turn”, South Korea’s “Super Band”, are actually brought to the public by the subtitles group.
FIX subtitle group “It’s your turn” poster, Source: Weibo
Someone described the subtitles group as “burning themselves and illuminating others.” Many subtitle groups that were active have disappeared because of many problems such as manpower, profit, and copyright. The existing subtitles group is also hard to say that it completely escaped the gray area.
In order to understand the contribution of the subtitle group behind the scenes, the Hedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe) contacted several translators who had worked in the subtitle group and listened to the workflow of their subtitle groups. Some people are relaxed and happy, some people are hurt and happy, and some people have revealed some little-known stories to the Hedgehog Commune.
How can I join a subtitle group?
The leaf was translated in a well-known English subtitle group. When she joined the QQ group of the subtitle group five years ago, there were more than 200 members in the group. The oldest members have served the subtitles group for more than 10 years from the very beginning to the present.
The leaves are frank,When adding a subtitle group, there is a clear rule: you can’t disclose the work content, especially if you don’t accept outside interviews. Only over time, more and more people recognize the importance of subtitle groups, and many people who have participated in subtitle translation will experience sharing on Zhihuo and Weibo. The behind-the-scenes work of subtitle groups is not a secret. .
Generally speaking, members of the subtitle group will have different divisions of labor. The “Director” is responsible for all co-ordination work. The main types of work include source, timeline, translation, proofreading, post-production and suppression. Among them, the audience is most familiar with translation and proofreading.
The general perception of subtitle translation by most viewers is to listen to subtitles while watching the video. This is actually not accurate.
In the Anglo-American series, the producer will embed a special Closed Caption (CC), which is specially designed for the hearing-impaired audience. In addition to restoring the character dialogue, it will also appear in the drama. Background music and plot sound effects. In addition, the words “subtitles” are often seen in Japanese film and television works, as well as closed captions for the hearing impaired.
The top right corner is the “closed caption” logo
In this case, the subtitle group only needs to be translated according to the CC, which can greatly reduce the difficulty of translation and improve the accuracy of the subtitle.
However, the reality shows and performance dramas such as “British Daren”, “American Idol”, “National Supermodel Contest”, and the film and television works of many countries with disabled people’s work are generally not worthy of CC. By listening to subtitles, the language level of translation will be higher.
The leaf tells the Hedgehog Commune that even if it is translated on the basis of CC, it is very difficult. High-quality subtitles, in addition to requiring translators to have a high level of foreign language and Chinese expression, also require translators to fully understand the story, or even understand the culture of the other country, in order to ensure that the translation results are accurate enough.
Take the subtitle group in which the leaf is located as an example. It is necessary to set up four assessment thresholds for recruiting new translator members. In addition to the basic translation and language skills, it is also necessary to examine the working attitude and the level of care, learning the writing norms, the translation of proper nouns, and the method of marking special sentences. Finally, the applicant also needs to select a drama that is being broadcasted in the season, and then follow the translation team of the drama to make a trial. After the director of the drama is satisfied, he can formally enter the subtitle group.
In addition, the subtitle group will also grade the translation, and the translation just entered the subtitle group is called “trial translation.” Accumulated a certain amountAfter the translation time and the endorsement of the drama director, they can turn into a “official translation.”
In fact, in addition to not being able to serve as proofreading and director roles, “trial translation” and “official translation” are basically indistinguishable from other permissions and can participate in the translation of all episodes. There are a lot of translations in the subtitles group that are in the “trial” stage, and there is no plan to turn it forward. Leaves are one of them.
Unlike the large subtitle group in which the leaf is located, there is not much regulation in the Thai subtitle group of Yiyi: there is no entry threshold for the subtitle group, and the Thai level of the translator is uneven, and the coordinator and timeline are not even Thai at all.
As a proofreading, Yiyi often sees many low-level mistakes when checking translations. It is also very common to hear, leak, misunderstand and inaudible. In addition, because the members responsible for the timeline do not speak Thai, it is often necessary to rely on the help of the sentence.
The Thai drama has a small audience. It is difficult to get the reputation of the subtitles group, so it is difficult to recruit people. Similar small language subtitle groups have such problems. In this regard, Yiyi also expressed understanding, and is willing to pay more to make up for the shortcomings of the subtitle group.
“There is less to be in Thai, but also to ride a bicycle?” Yiyi joked.
Subtitles should also be headed
Leaves describe their working mechanism as “family contract responsibility system”: the drama is the smallest unit, each “player” works independently, and ultimately serves the entire subtitle group.
Generally speaking, the US drama is broadcasted on a “season” basis. It is a broadcast season from mid-September to late April of each year. The list of the episodes and the date of the premiere will be announced before the broadcast season. If there is a new drama broadcast for the first time, the senior translator can ask to become the director of the drama. Other members can voluntarily sign up to join the working group, and the director will lead the establishment of the QQ group.
The frequency of US dramas is usually one episode per week. Each week, the director will inform the broadcast time of the week (usually in the morning or afternoon of Beijing time), and the members of the group will reply to participate in the work of the week. After the episode is broadcast, the members responsible for the film source will get the video through their own methods, some through the TV file, some on the video site, and so on.
After receiving the film source, the director will assign work according to the number of translators on the day. Each person is responsible for the translation of a video, and the duration is generally about 6~8 minutes. Later, the members responsible for the timeline will use Aegisub and other tools to create a video for the video, roughly making CC as the basis for bilingual subtitles, and rooting.The timeline is divided into several parts according to the number of translators on the day. After the translation receives the respective parts, the results are submitted before the specified deadline, and the director is usually responsible for the proofreading work.
Style of typical subtitle documents
Finally, the members responsible for post-production and repression will integrate the video and subtitles, adjust the position, color and style of the subtitles as appropriate, and then distribute them to the audience through various channels.
The leaves are very satisfied with this “zero job”: “In addition to the director responsible for coordinating and proofreading, the workload of other people is actually not large. Sometimes the workload of the day can be translated in less than an hour, and one week can participate. Translation of several dramas, but also to watch the drama in advance.”
This kind of “welfare” is based on a large number of subtitles, strong capabilities, and a wide audience. The subtitle group in which the leaves are located has been established for a long time, and there are many members, which naturally form a very standardized and efficient workflow, which reduces the workload of members. Compared with the leaves, another respondent was more miserable.
Yi Yi once worked as a translator and proofreader in a Thai subtitle group. This is a small subtitle group. The coordinator, timeline, translation and proofreading add up to no more than 20 members. The process is to translate the final axis. Sometimes there are not enough people, one set of one and a half hours of Thai drama, only Yiyi and another member of the two translators, and then proofread each other.
Yiyi told the Hedgehog Commune that in most cases, their subtitles group had only one working principle: fast. The Thai drama has a small audience, and the stickiness of the subtitle group is not so high. Which subtitle group will see which one is faster. This is the habit of many niche audiences.
“There is also a bug in which Thai TV dramas are broadcast very late. Thailand also has an hour difference with China. Sometimes it can be obtained at 11:00 pm.” Yiyi recalled that the previous subtitle group translation On the day when a certain department was relatively popular in China, the day after the finale was broadcast, the translator rushed to work late at night. She got up at 4 am and was supervised by the director of the coordinator. This was the first start of the finale.
A subtitle group updates the comments from users under Weibo
Another Japanese translation quiet is different from the above two. She is a fan of Ohno Sho, a member of the Japanese men’s idol group, and joined a subtitle group based on Ohno’s personal, mainly translating the personal cut of Ohno’s participation in the show.
This is also a job that requires “explosive liver”, but the reason will be more warm. “Because many people wait to see it, I want fans to see it earlier.”
There are a large number of subtitle groups based on “Hunting Stars” like Jingjing, and they are concentrated in Japanese and Korean. Such subtitle groups are popular among fan groups. They are more willing to look at the translations of subtitle groups with the same fan attributes than the subtitle groups in the traditional sense. There are many stalks inside the circle.
“A lot of people will think that the people in the subtitles group are very good, the language level is very high, and the translation is very professional. Actually, there is really no,” the leaf said frankly. “It is more important than ‘like’ to compare these.” /p>
Does the subtitles group really not make money?
Everyone mentioned a word in the subtitle group experience: using love to generate electricity.
In their view, the love of film and television works, and the sense of accomplishment when they see the finished product, are enough to ignore the problems of free translation, day and night bleeding.
Today, whether it is day and night translation, or early proofreading, Yiyi has not earned a penny, relying on her love for Thai drama. For the subtitle group where the quiet is located, the list, photo, retouching, and materials are all things that “use love to generate electricity.” Subtitle translation is just one of the “following stars” of omnipotent. Skills only.
From the reality of more subtitle groups, it is not so much “power generation with love” as it is “cannot use money to generate electricity.”
In 2006, The New York Times published a report titled “Chinese Subtitles Breaking Culture Screening,” which reads: “The members of the subtitle group know that their work may be considered in other countries. It is an infringement. However, according to Chinese law, these works are likely to be regarded as academic research because they are neither charged nor profitable.”
There is no doubt that the translation and widespread dissemination of film and television works without authorization is outside the scope of the law. In order to avoid risks, many subtitle groups have positioned themselves as “communication forums for film and television drama lovers”, and stated in the resources that they are disclaimers such as “use of fans for communication” and “not for commercial use”.
Subtitles groupDisclaimer
Even so, many subtitle groups have not escaped official inspections. On November 22, 2014, the old-fashioned subtitle group website Sagittarius announced the closure of the station; one month later, the most popular everyone’s film and television also announced the permanent closure of the website. In fact, this is not the first time that the subtitle group has been called to stop. Among them, the film and television in the disaster-stricken areas, the number of times in crisis can not be counted.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the founding of 2016, Renmin Film and Television published an article on the official Weibo, “Everyone in a decade, re-starting”, indicating that everyone’s film and television subtitles group has been successfully transformed, and the core business is “for genuine video stations and All film and television companies introduce and provide genuine translation services for export, publishing houses, games, etc. Under this premise, “the subtitles of their own translated TV dramas will be shared freely to the fans.”
Now, in addition to the signature American drama translation, there are many businesses such as Han Fen, Japanese, and Fadsey, and they have cooperated with many film companies and video websites. More than before, “bright and bright”.
The leaf also introduced the subtitle group and external cooperation to the Hedgehog Commune based on its own experience. Previously, she had participated in the project of cooperation between subtitle group and video website, and had received a “no more than a lot” labor service fee. It was a BBC documentary. A video site bought the film’s rights to play in the country and invited her subtitle group to cooperate.
The leaves recalled that the film source at the time was provided by the video website, and the translation process was the same when it was peaceful. However, unlike the usual habits of the subtitle group, when the show was broadcast on the video website, the subtitle group logo and the names of the members participating in the subtitle work were not displayed.
In the weekdays, the leaves can occasionally receive translation services, the number is not too much, and the hourly salary is more than ten dollars. She does not know where it came from.
With the introduction of more and more overseas dramas, the subtitles group has more compliant business opportunities. However, when recruiting new members, the subtitle group will still be described as “free of charge”, and many people join the subtitle group for money. Just seventeen years ago, why did the form of subtitles rise, just because of the word “like”.
“When will the caption group disappear?”
Although the identity of the folk subtitles group is being standardized and legalized, the Hedgehog Commune was rejected when it contacted the well-known subtitle groups and wanted to know the profitability and official cooperation of the subtitle group.
This is actually explained from the side, until today, the folk subtitles group is still “struggling” on the edge of the law. In the work content of the subtitle group, there is still a considerable part of the “gray production”.
The leaf tells the Hedgehog Commune that the subtitle group’s so-called “no commercial use” resource sharing also implies a lot of commercial behavior. “In fact, it is very obvious now that many video resources of subtitle groups have patch advertisements, and there are also advertisements on websites and forums.It’s not necessarily how profitable or profitable.
Poster ads for a pre-title group
After this phenomenon, some viewers expressed dissatisfaction. Previously, “Fatal Woman” was disgusted by the audience because of the advertisement of too many medical beauty apps. However, most of the audience are still grateful to the subtitles group. After all, subtitle groups are their only choice in a relatively closed and traditional film and television environment in China.
The origin of the domestic subtitle group can be traced back to 2002. A group of young people who like “Friends” established the “F6 Forum”, the originator of American TV subtitles, and then derived a group of old subtitles. TLF, YYeTs (ie everyone’s film and television), wind soft, broken bear, long bird, holy city home and other subtitles group, are the earliest names of American fans.
The 2006 American drama “Prison Break” set off a wave of American dramas in China. In today’s words, this is also the first “explosion drama” that allows many subtitle groups to “out the circle.” The leaves still remember the “Prison Break” that she saw at the time, which was the work of the Eden Subtitles group.
At that time, the domestic introduction of foreign film and television dramas still stayed at the stage dominated by TV stations. Taking into account the scope of the audience and the possible impact, the TV series will cut down on sex, violence and other common elements in the film and television drama according to the national conditions, and will strictly control the type and quantity of film and television dramas.
In this context, bringing outstanding foreign film and television works to China, inspiring the interest of domestic audiences and broadening their cognition, and even encouraging more creators to innovate, the subtitles group has played a key role. .
Compared with the piracy of ten years ago, the number and scope of imported films have increased, but the audience’s demand for subtitles has not completely disappeared. First, because the folk subtitles group is more flexible in translation, and there are some “playing” phenomenon, which is even a default “fun” between the audience and the subtitle group. It’s because the video resources of the subtitles group are richer than the official ones, and the content is more complete.
Subtitle group “Play Terrier”
As early as 201In the past 4 years, Guan Xin, a famous independent subtitle producer, mentioned on Weibo that “when the subtitle group will disappear”, he gave an example to illustrate.
In “Wu Zhuangyuan Su Shier”, the emperor asked Su Shier: “You help tens of millions of people, one day does not dissolve, how can I feel good?” Su Shier replied: “How many people are not me?” The decision is what you decide. If you are really wise and let the people live and work in peace, the ghosts will be willing to be a deaf!”
“Similarly, the more smooth and convenient the genuine channel, the higher the quality of the translated products, the less people will find it to go down (download).” Guan Xin wrote in Weibo.