I’ve recently started to search for dramas I could subtitle for from english to swedish but have encountered a problem. When I try to contact CMs or moderators for shows older than a year they rarely answer. How do you guys do to subtitle for older dramas?
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Well, you just need to find someone to add you. If not the CM then the All Languages Moderator. If not her, then I think you should contact the Viki staff somehow and they would add you. But I have never tried the Viki staff method, so maybe someone else can be more useful to you than I have been.
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How long do you think it’s suitable to wait before trying the Viki staff methode? It somehow seems a bit intrusive…
Thank you for posting this. I have also come across this problem, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with it either.
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I would check the CM’s profile page to see if this user is still active on VIKI.
If the person is active I’d wait 3-7 days if the person is inactive for a month or more I’d contact VIKI staff.
Another option is to join more recent projects because you never know how fast an older drama loses its licence and then your whole time and effort would be spent for nothing.
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How do you contact people?
Do you check the community walls and write to the language moderator if there is one for your language or are you using the project finder and message the CM from there?
Personally I do not always read messages from the project finder.
We find the drama we want to work on (in the coming soon page, on-air page, or wherever you find it) and look in the team for the moderator or CM, go to their profile and send a PM. That’s personally how I do it. But that method surely skips a lot of shows that I never hear of until they’ve been over for a month or two.
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Perfect! It’s the way I do it, too. 
Intrusive? Why would you think so? No worries. It isn’t intrusive at all. It’s volunteer “work”. No heads will roll.
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Do you know how to contact VIKI staff? Could you please explain the process? Thank you!
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I’d write a message via help center or a personal message to one of the members, e.g. to Camiille via VIKI main page.
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Haha okay then 
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I disagree with sending a message directly to camiille. This is actually not her job. She would have to refer your request to another person.
Writing a request is a good way to go.
Here is a more systematic overview of what to do:
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I added both options because the help center sometimes does not reply to questions… I had one VIKI pass request long ago that never got answered and another issue that was answered 3-4 months later.
If people want to subtitle and no one answers it’s discouraging. For that reason (plus the license aspect) I would not start subtitling with old, abandoned channels. I’d rather ask a moderator of more recent channels because they often also have 1-2 projects that are ongoing but neither on air nor old so I think this way someone who is new to VIKI volunteering could get an insight about the work progress (that you won’t get when you translate an old, already finished project by your own).
I realized the speed of the answer very much depends on what you’re asking for (surprise, surprise! 
).
Everytime I would ask in the help centre about this particular problem (and send screenshots of sent unanswered messages), I would get the moderator position within a day or two.
There are many advantages for newbies to take old projects. Mostly, less stress, more time to review your mistakes and less direct translating competition, since you are more likely to get a subtitler position in an old project.
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That’s hilarious.
Although not surprising. That happens to me all the time. I’ve had unanswered requests for months (whenever I ask anything that actually requires help) and I get answers within 2 to 4 days whenever I say that the problem’s been solved… 
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Good to know they reply faster in that case…
Didn’t you read my whole post?
Without someone you could ask you won’t learn what’s important while volunteering for VIKI because no one will tell you and as a beginner you may not be able to realize your own mistakes or specific important aspects for a certain drama.
Don’t think all the time that Kdramas are the only dramas VIKI shows… there are many Cdramas as well and most have 40+ episodes so there are many recent/ongoing dramas that have an active language mod/team plus enough episodes for everyone (just few have closed teams).
I’m not even sure if they got Swedish language mods for any drama I was working on, but in that case, the all language mod or CM could give some advise for beginners what wouldn’t be the case when CM, all languages mod and English team are already working on a new project.
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Well, this issue is resolved if you start as a subtitler under an experienced moderator. I don’t think it necessarily depends on whether the drama is old or new. As long as the moderator is active, you’re good to go.
The absolutely biggest hurdle a beginner faces is not how to get a position in the team or how to learn to translate well (although both are important). The biggest hurdle by far is to finish a drama.
Most newbies are not aware how hard it is to finish a 16-17 hour drama with on average 700-800 subtitles per hour. Even one episode is a huge challenge for a majority of them. Unfortunately, short 4-episode dramas are rare. However, movies are a good substitute.
In the long run the only thing that keeps you going is your heart. If you don’t like what you’re translating, it will be hard to finish translating the series.
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@sonmachinima and @bozoli thank you both so much for all of the advice/knowledge that you shared. It was all very helpful for me as a newbie. 
So how many moderators do actually be active on older dramas? You seem to be quite optimistic that most are still working on old dramas so everyone who’s new may find a guide.