I’ve mentioned the length of subs before on other threads before. Usually those have focused on grammar or a linguistical aspects. For me this is probably the most frustrating thing when watching shows on viki. I compared 3 examples of the same dialouge. 2 English, Viki and Netflix, and one Finnish. The finnish subs tend to be more accomodating for some reason, which I’m glad for. However, I’m dyslexic, so that means my eyes can’t pick up as many words from one spot on the screen as ‘normal’ ppl’s eyes. Long subs slows my reading of the subs by maybe 1/3-2/3 from those double lined subs. This means I have to focus way more on reading than watching. Grammar etc. doesn’t bother me. Partly I want to went a little, but also take up this subject as a separate topic. I don’t know what could be done about it. I also tend also switch between the font size, to small if I’m close to a screen, which helps, though this is muted if watching on something further away, such as a tv.
The second one is much worse in my opinion, and I can’t even think how I can fix that. It would help if I knew what they added next although I feel perspective/measure is very confusing in there.
[From your perspective where family members measure and compete with each other]
What you think about that one?
I feel the same. We can’t fix it unless we have the whole picture. It looks like a very literal translation. By ‘measure’ I think he’s trying to imply that the other person is calculative. We can omit/ replace ‘perspective’ though.
Totally agree with you in everything you wrote. I just think that the word measure should not be used in that sentence/subtitle at all. It sounds to me like something we might say in Spanish, but I can’t make sense of that word even when I added the second sentence from this screenshot.
Just this week I was watching Melancholia on the big screen and the sub was so long, it actually came out on both sides of the screen: missing the subject (I) and the last letter and full stop in the end.
Not really, none of my parents are finnish speakers and I don’t consider myself to have a traditional ‘native’ language. Though it’s true that it’s a agglutinative, like Korean is also.
Just to make it clear, that english netflix screenshot text is totaly fine, since it’s double lined. The viki one is the one spreading whole screen in one line. Grammar isn’t important, as long as it’s understandable.
Look, both Finnish and English are ‘foreign’. I posted the Finnish one for comparisons sake. I can read the ntflx maybe 50% faster then the viki one. I speak and think in 5 languages since childhood, incl English.
Argh! I can relate. The drama is full of jargons. Even though I study mathematics, the mathematics in the drama is beyond my understanding.
I need a few more seconds than usual to understand what is being said.
The first and foremost is that the whole sub must be visible on the screen. If not, something must be fixed, either by the Viki engineers or the subbers.
I went to the article from your link. Thanks for that! I see now what you mentioned in your post, and I understand now what you were trying to say here. I am going to read it more in depth because is very interesting to learn this things, and get a better understanding about dyslexia condition.
Wow…wow… such an interesting finding during these studies with dyslexic children, and in your own assertions that hit it right on the dot.
[dyslexic readers have a preferred print size that facilitates faster reading, rather than the normal broad range,]
I hope they take this into consideration, and maybe something can be worked out. Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part.
I’m also dyslexic, and I agree, that the double line is easier for me to take in than the full sentence that goes from one end of the screen to the other. It may not seem like a big difference to someone who is neurotypical, but it can be for me, especially if the subtitle preceding it start’s at 1/3 and ends at 2/3, or is just a couple words right in the middle.
@angelight313_168 there are some really interesting simulations, I’ve shown my kids these, one dyslexic, the other isn’t, just so they both understand a bit better.
The audio on these aren’t great, but the content is good.
This first one, what the woman on the far right said at ~2:55, is something I had to tell my husband when he would make our youngest tell him what she just read. When you focus so hard on deciphering every single word the context of the sentence is lost. A really easy demonstration of this is just to find a paragraph and read every word but pause for a moment between each word. Comprehension works the opposite of what many people think, slow reduces comprehension, fast increases it.
They started those long line subtitles (which I hate too) bc some applications/roku, when adding the < br > to separate the next (second) sentence (like the subtitles on netflix) affects the way viewers see them in the screen, and they can’t read the subtitle at all because is all over the place. I experienced that with roku a while back so I know the problem is real, and don’t know if the tech dept will take the time in finding a solution to this problem in the subtitles.
Although Netflix is now using a one line only subtitle in most dramas and movies. The problem with that (imo) it changes too quickly, so you have to be speedy Gonzales while reading the subtitles, which it’s also very annoying for me.
Thank you so much! I find this subject matter so important to know about. I was always frustrated with my oldest son, and although he was evaluated, they never said he was dyslexic. They instead said he was very Hyperactive, and needed ‘‘medicine’’ to calm him down which I refused for him to take, and thankfully he did graduated from High School, but refused to go to College and has been working ever since.
PS. I paid tutors for him because I would cry when I tried to help him with his Homework. I thought I was not patient enough with him, and I felt very guilty about that.
I have this dilemma subbing Thai. Sometimes the translation seem too long to me and I try to shorten it as much as possible without losing context. I have added a break a few times because it was needed. When I’m done I like to check my subs and see if I can comfortably read the subtitles, as if I’m a viewer.
The best way to fix this is when segging. If the dialogue has a slight pause or even the tiniest change of tone, they can break the sentence into 2 segments. Even if the segments end up going faster at least the flow of reading isn’t interrupted.
As a viewer it’s easier to read 2 segments than 2 lines on a screen.
I add breaks all the time. Our language viewers don’t even know what Roku is. Why would I punish them for a piece of technology that’s only used in another part of the world?
At first I’ve thought of that, too, but I was surprised that practically that didn’t work for me. In fact, sometimes I merge the translation of the two segments together (write a full sentence in two segments) because otherwise one of the segments flashes on the screen.
We shouldn’t have to be resourceful as subbers. Viki should fix this from a technical point of view. It’s their software’s fault in the first place.
You’re right. It’s tedious for subbers to find solutions for something technical. When all we are equipped to do is sub. It slows us down because there’s not much we can do except try to translate as best we can.
Now that I think about it, Viki on Roku isn’t even available for my part of the world. I had been uselessly sweating over breaks. I’ll try to use breaks in longer subtitles from now on.
Still, I like subtitles that look like this: - ABC. - DEF.
Rather than:
-ABC.
-DEF.
And it’s something for another topic You know, the Aesthetics of Subtitles
We as community tend to put everything on our backs. We are too responsible and often forget that major difficulties should be primarily resolved by Viki, not us.
Though it’s true that it’s a agglutinative, like Korean is also.
You know, the 
Aesthetics of Subtitles