I recently joined a project that comes with presubs in multiple languages, where deleting subs during A&C for segmenters becomes a hassle. Segmenters here have taken up the challenge, even though it’s opened up a whole new level of frustratingly annoying! for us, since we can’t immediately delete segments and clean them up like we used to. Wanted to start a topic here because it’s easier to quote each other and discuss things here…
I had a thought myself:
Now, the job of a segmenter entails -
Adjusting segment timing
copy-pasting subs in too-short segments to make it look like one long subtitle for the viewer
Copy-Pasting OL subs in the same way using Bulk Translate
Come back to Segment Timer, delete and extend(to make everything look clean and not have repeats - OPTIONAL)
Could we split it up into separate jobs, so it’s easier to say how much a volunteer has worked on the part in Team Discussion(TD)? We used to have just A&C and CS in only-English presubbed shows, but now we could have A&C(1, 2 and 3 done) and D&E(Delete and Extend - 4 done). So a segger short on time can update on TD that they’re done with A&C but D&E is still pending. D&E will be a breeze, since you can just fast-forward through the Segmenting Timer till you find duplicated segments, then delete and extend.
If lots of seggers on a project don’t want to spend time copy-pasting OL subs, we could also have presub editors do Part 3 - anyone who wants to increase their contribution count, or newbie editors who need experience with the Subtitle Editor and Bulk Translate feature.
The advantage - seggers don’t have to spend time copy-pasting subtitles
The disadvantages - OL will take slightly more time
The more people you involve the longer the parts will remain without subs in OL. I guess for Viki having the OL subs up is important so they want the copying to be done simultaneously…
I do agree it’s a lot more work and the OL editors could also paste the subs back in with some delay (as people don’t necessarily work at the same time)
But OL can work on their parts only after the English Team releases the eps-- that’s why I said a pre-sub editor could work on it right after the segmenters…
However, I agree, the more people you involve, the longer it takes. I just noticed that the main complaint segmenters had was that they didn’t want to copy-paste stuff all the time in the bulk translator, especially when the show came in more than two languages.
I am afraid that splitting the job would just increase the possibility of some instances being forgotten.
For instance, we editors routinely find whole sentences repeated. In a show I’m working on right now, as much as six instances per episode. Someone split the segments, but forgot to delete the second part of the first subtitle.
Segment one: Hello, I’m glad you’re here. Come, eat some kimtchi.
Segment two: Come, eat some kimtchi.
That’s exactly why I thought splitting the job would lower the chances of mistakes being made. When one segger is doing the splitting, copy-pasting, and deleting,(the way we’re doing it right now) there are chances they could forget to delete/extend after the copy-pasting(as in the case you mentioned above). If someone else powered through the entire thing, solely focused on deleting/extending, won’t that stuff be caught easier?
Wouldn’t the person need a list of places where this is to be done, with precise timings? Otherwise they might skip it. But this would be a bother for the person who passes first, having to stop and write down this list.
Let’s say that lately CMs are pressured by Viki to release just after segmenting, so that OL can start the translation and by the time their translation is finished, the English editing is also finished, so that the OL can also edit.
This was sometimes done in the past, but it was not the norm. Now it has become more prevalent because Viki urges CMs to do it. And they sometimes tell CMs NOT to get a T.E. because supposedly “there is no need, our people have already done it”.
No, you can stop whenever you see a repeated segment in the timer… and even if one or two parts are skipped, it doesn’t make a difference to the viewer, since it’s just to keep the subtitles neat and clean
That’s a great idea. But it still depends on the cooperation of the CM. I recently heard that there are CMs, who love the number 4 and cut all their shows in 4 parts, no matter how long an episode is. Which leaves us with huge parts and OL-Mods have to count segments, just to not give the subbers too much to work on. And the poor segmenters who have to work on those parts for ages and feel like it’s never ending.