Language with one moderator? How do we know that they really speak the language when Viki does´nt have a badge or a team?

Hi I have a question: Like CM of a channel that is tranlating into a lot languages I have a request of some people from hungarian,hindi galician and other languages that doesnt have a lot of subbers just like one subber… How can prove that the person really speak that language? How I know that if there other subber that speak the language too but could be the same person but with other account? Anyone knows if for this languages like hungarian and so on are badges?
Thanks.

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At least for Hungarian and Hindi, we still have a handful of respected mods who might be able to verify the applicants. @xialongne @mizuki_aikawa_sama @lizako @sakurasubs @shraddhasingh

The only “Galician” contributors I have ever encountered were alter egos of a well-known abuser.

With badges, you mean badges from the language academies? But only a handful of languages even have an academy and participating is not obligated. And not all of them get the Viki badge. Some only have a badge that they need to paste on their About Me themselves. Also, can we really know whether a specific language community is qualified to do a good job?

In general, there is only so much we can do. We can ask other speakers of the same language what they think if they exist. In the end, we just have to consider the pros and cons of giving someone the benefit of the doubt.

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I can only speak for Hindi.
There are badges for the language. As for fluency in the language, you’ll really have to ask around. I know, it’s difficult to verify if someone from said language is fluent or not, in case you don’t know the language. But you can ask around, ask the people that person has worked with; not just one person, but many. The more opinions you’ll have of the person, the clearer the picture will be.

Community is built on trust, so you really need to go with what the majority trusts. If they say the subber is good, chances are, the subber is good.

For Hindi, right now, I know we don’t have people with multiple accounts. I know a language where someone allegedly has 10-11 accounts, but luckily, that’s not the case with us.

Similarly, I won’t know either if someone claiming to know Arabic really knows it. I don’t know the language, so I can only ask other Arabic mods.

People here are really active, if someone is suspicious, others voice their opinion in public; so no one stays behind a mask for a long time. It becomes easier that way. You just need to be active to know what’s going on in the community.

Contributors from other languages have no way of knowing if I am good enough in Hindi. What if I am just faking to know the language, and I am writing rubbish in subtitle editor? This is where community trust comes handy. You’ll have to ask other Hindi members if the user shraddhasingh is trustable.

This community trust also has a downside.
If no one from the said language has said anything, abusers will find it easier to grow. I know someone from our language who writes absolute mess of a subtitle, but they have thousands of subs in their accounts. CMs see this person has done thousands of subtitles, so they put their trust in them and give them their shows.

We have a saying in Hindi: अंधों में काना राजा।
“Andho me kana Raja,” it means “a one-eyed person is king among blinds.”
If the community itself is full of people who know nothing, then there’s nothing we can do too.


It’s not a very recent case, but we had someone in our community who was abusing. As a result, Viki deleted all of their subtitles. The Hindi community was furious. The user was good enough in Hindi and had contributed a lot in the language, yet their subs were deleted.
Others and I from my language wanted their subs to be put back, because we felt it was unfair for subs to be deleted from shows where they contributed honestly. We assumed Viki mistook the user was abusing in Hindi.

Later, it was revealed the person actually abused in English and not Hindi. The person was working as a TE without knowing Korean.
From our POV, the person wasn’t an abuser, from English community’s POV, the person was.

See? It all comes down to trust. But sometimes, this “trust” can not be trusted too. Majority can be wrong too.

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In German as well. "Unter den Blinden ist der Einäugige König.

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It’s quite universal, I guess. We say:
In het land der blinden is Eenoog koning.

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It is like @shraddhasingh mentioned.
Trust!
It’s the main ingredient in a community.
In former years, every subber got the batch automatically, with even less control, don’t get scared, abusers are still a minority, even they are nasty. And if you need someone to check a profile about a certain language … Hey, discussions is open 24/7 normally you will find a helping hand.

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There is only one thing! Ask around, ask the mods S/he worked with before, check if S/he has another projects ask her/his team and see if they has finished their projects or not, ask another mods from her/his community, ones you worked with in another projects, ones you trust and active in here.

To be honest, it is frustrating when you see some ppl got a mod title while they don’t do a proper translation and know nothing about how to be a mod and do something basic as a worksheet! They get it just cos they has 3000! And I know that in some point they will abandon the project :confused:

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Well then I can speak as a Hungarian speaker.
We have the situation for badges, as u have to ask basically from the help center to add the Hungarian badge, As we have, but not add to our profile automatically, Like Japanese and Korean.
So some of them do not have it. We had a situation of this just a few days ago, when one of them asked for a moderation. As she does not have, and new, the CM contacted me to ask what I know.
This is the easiest way. I do that myself too when I have never worked with that person before.
And the problem was solved. I always do the same when I am not sure.
But as a Hungarian language u can ask me any time when u want.
Happy to help u and give feedback.

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I wish if we have something like a directory!

We can just scroll to find the most active members.

Then the CM could search for OL mods asking for help or to inquire about a specific one who applied for the role.
And for the OL mods to find subtitlers to join their team.

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Quantity not mean quality. The two thinks are not the same.
I think most of the CM’s are aware of where they can turn and find moderators.
Same for the subtitles. Newbies usually use project finder, and who have a bit experience as the moderator who they was worked before. Or just simply messaging to the mod as they want to take part of it.

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And in Swedish “När en blind, leder en blind…” (it’s from the Bible originally). “When a blind leads a blind…”

When it comes to Swedish I sometimes help out when a CM ask me to either look at the video (sometimes the person has made a test version to show their subtitling), and sometimes if I can help out as the mod. I think most CMs know someone from the language they are searching a mod for or know someone that knows someone.:wink:

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In earlier days there was a list Vikians of the first generation had the link, you could peak on it, and you would always see who subbed the most and in which language, and then you would check to find someone whose project ended or is about to end to get him or her in your team. It didn’t say anything about quality, either. If it is good for competition, there is more than one opinion about it.

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Just as Mirjam suggested. But…I would add that if you have the opportunity, ask more people. Because I’ve come across cases where the person who was asked said that the applicant was a good subtitler of the language, but in fact they were not. "Only because it was someone the person who was asked knew so they protected them and the candidate successfully threw up incomprehensible sentences for the project :slightly_smiling_face:

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I don’t consider badges to be relevant, as I have had several badges missing for months that were not on my profile but actually should have been. In hindsight, I asked for them to be sent to me… The other thing about this is that if someone uses GT, they get the badges just as much as someone who works honestly. So what is the point of watching the badges?

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Thank you :heart: for considering us as respected moderators with Mizuki and Sakura. We talk a lot about how to improve the quality of the subtitles on the viki. Because if the quality of subtitles on viki is good, then the viewer is willing to subscribe to it. Otherwise, no.
We’re very happy to help CM determine the quality of a Hungarian translator’s subtitles, whether or not they’re on my team.
Mizuki and I talk to our translators on a daily basis. Some are already very independent, but others need constant conversations. The subtitles of the projects we have are always checked. If the translator disagrees with a change, we discuss why what he wrote is right or wrong and come to a common ground. It is rare that we cannot reach an agreement.

As for the badge, I don’t have Hungarian either, but in RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS you can see my profile in which language I translate. I agree with Sakura, the existence of a badge does not prove that the quality of the subtitle is adequate.

For me, the biggest recognition is when my translator colleagues tell me that they will wait until I am done with the Hungarian subtitles, because they want to watch the series with those subtitles, not the ones outside the Viki.
By the way, I always say, although we are volunteers on viki, viki is not a playground, if you want to translate here, make a subtitle that, when someone watches it, will give them an experience that will make them want to watch it more than once.
Second, I have to be good at Hungarian to make a good subtitle. If I don’t understand something in English I look it up, not just type something in to get my contributions.

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Exactly. I, for one, disagree that because we are volunteers we don’t have to do our best. The fact that we are not paid for this does not mean that we have not taken on the task of producing honest, understandable and enjoyable subtitles.
I have written this many times, but I repeat: it is one thing to make mistakes, we are all human. It is another thing that some people are interested in the number of lines, or badges in having as many lines as possible (counter on the profile), but have long since given up on the level of quality, or have never cared about it.
I’d rather have fewer lines and projects, but I know the viewers like what I do and how I do it.

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totally agree with you Sakurasubs , im new here and i read loads of mistakes on translations made i wish we could have a warning button alert… I translate from viewing the segment the best i can, i cant understand what the editors are doing… the non earners get the blame…

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Since we already talk about this issue, I want to also add something that has been on my mind for some time:
Why do some CMs add people, who are clearly abusers (for example someone who got deleted from 5 out of 8 projects)? Do they not do any research? Do they not check anything?
Even if you get only one application, you should check that person and if they seem unfit to be a moderator, don’t add them. Lack of subtitles is better than google translated gibberish.

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In my experience is because we don’t know that they has been take out and are considered abusers so if no one tells me and is from a language that doesn’t have a team is very difficult to know he/she is an abuser…

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The moderator position requires having at least 3k contributions.
Without that you can’t get added as a mod.
If someone has 3k contributions, they must have been in some projects as a subber before.
You can check those projects and see, if this person is still in those teams, you can contact the moderators from that teams to see, what they have to tell about that person.
It’s really not that difficult.

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