Spanish presubs are awful 🤦‍♂️

[henrri_11]

Hi everyone!

I would like to bring up the Spanish presubs. It’s been a while since Viki started using them, but I’ve noticed they’re doing it again for some dramas.

I was hoping they would have improved the quality by now, but it seems like the Spanish presubs are still being machine-translated. They often don’t make sense in Spanish. I thought they would have hired people to translate them, just like they did for the Portuguese subtitles, which are done by humans. So, I assume the Portuguese presubs are now better.

For example, I started watching the Cdrama “You Are My Lover Friend,” but the Spanish subtitles were terrible. The worst part is, when I checked the reviews, I found one where a viewer said,

“What a horrible translation; this doesn’t usually happen on Viki.”

Reading that review, I realized that we had a pretty good reputation for subtitle quality. But now, with this kind of thing happening, our subtitles are no better than those on other streaming platforms or websites. It’s really a shame.

I would like to ask Viki to improve the Spanish presubs so that they are more understandable for viewers from the beginning. It takes a lot of time for volunteers to fix poorly translated subtitles, and we always strive to deliver the best quality possible.

Making sure that the Spanish presubs are at least coherent until volunteers can edit and enhance them would greatly improve the viewing experience. If Viki continues to rely on machine translations as they are now, it will not only slow down the editing process but also damage the reputation of the high-quality subtitles created by volunteers.

@brendas @vikicommunity @SpanishCommunity @VikiVolunteers

[valneijr]

As a Portuguese speaker, I can tell that in this project the Portuguese presubs are as bad as the Spanish ones.

[bozoli]

@henrri_11

I thought they would have hired people to translate them, just like they did for the Portuguese subtitles, which are done by humans.

Unfortunately, the Portuguese subs are also machine-translated

Depressing, really.

[mirjam_465]

@bozoli

Portuguese subs are also machine-translated

English, too, from what I heard…

So Portuguese, English, and Spanish subbers are being chased away and seggers are being given extra work all so that the viewers have instant access to a load of crap. I get that Viki needs to keep up, but is this the way? When I am in the role of a viewer, I want my subs to not only make sense but also be of acceptable quality. If they aren’t, I switch to another language… or another platform.

[captncoco]

@henrri_11

Making sure that the Spanish presubs are at least coherent until volunteers can edit and enhance them would greatly improve the viewing experience. If Viki continues to rely on machine translations as they are now, it will not only slow down the editing process but also damage the reputation of the high-quality subtitles created by volunteers.

Thank you so much for bringing up this issue here, Henrri!
This situation reminds me the “nightmare” we faced a few years ago when they tried to implement the VikiBot. It caused so much damage to the volunteers and to the reputation of the site.

I fully understand Viki needs to keep being competitive with other platforms, but they have to keep in mind that their strongest advantage is the high-quality of the subtitles created by us. Viewers choose to watch dramas here because they KNOW the translation is more accurate and smooth than any other platforms.

@vikicommunity, if you remove willfully this key element that makes people choose your website instead of another, little by little, Viki won’t have anything more attractive than others. This is the mistake that will make you lose subscribers AND your passionate community.
Plus, the more presubs languages there will be, the slower the segmenter process will be. It’s only adding more and more work to everyone here.

For the record, if anyone is interested in what happened in 2019 with VIKI BOT: Machine translation from Viki
The reply from Viki Staff regarding the issue back then: [Viki Community Team] French Machine Translations

So, you are well aware machine translation is not the way to please viewers!

[irmar]

@mirjam_465

English, too, from what I heard…

I know for certain the English are not machine-translated. (Maybe some of them?) I even know the names of a couple of translators. Usually it only shows “Viki”, but sometimes it’s a person’s name. And I’ve had the experience of the paid subber changing according to what the English team had decided and spoken about in Team Discussion and Team Notes. (that happens very rarely)

[bozoli]

@captncoco

VikiBot

Don’t you think that the automatic translations today are done by some improved version of the VikiBot?

[captncoco]

Honestly, I don’t know. It makes me think of this Viki Bot issue since they imposed it and it was awful translations that took us months to fix. Improved version or not, it seems like theses subs don’t feel created by human being. Who knows where these subtitles come from… I don’t think it’s really important.
I wanted to point out that Viki responded to us because we voiced all together about the issue.

[henrri_11]

Thank you so much to all who have commented and shared their opinions.

@valneijr I didn’t know Portuguese presubs were still so bad. I have seen several Viki staff accounts that have translated some recent Kdramas into Portuguese, so I supposed they were Portuguese speakers.

[eun_soo_lee_2]

Thanks for bringing this up here Henry.

They are clearly using a machine. I have no idea who could have assured them that a machine is capable of translating languages ​​with as many concordances as Spanish and Portuguese. They are ruining all the work of the volunteers who give their body and soul to offer excellent quality subtitles. By translating with the viki bot, they kick subscribers out off the platform. Is there anyone who is capable of watching a drama with such horrible subtitles? I don’t think so, they will immediately change platform.

Hope they think twice about what they are doing.

[valneijr]

@henrri_11

@valneijr I didn’t know Portuguese presubs were still so bad.

It depends on the show. Some projects are coming with pretty good Portuguese presubs, but not this one.

[henrri_11]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, @captncoco.

I think we all agree that Viki, as a for-profit company, will always aim to make money. Despite that, I appreciate the changes they’ve made to the contribution counting system for segmenters. So I would like to think that Viki still has some appreciation and respect for volunteers.

However, just as they made that change to benefit segmenters, I believe that if Viki is looking to engage more users (customers) and improve the viewing experience, by logic they should provide quality subtitles. Or in this case, presubs that are understandable, that way they could deal with subscribers complaining about subtitles.

On the other hand, this would allow us, the volunteers, to work our magic and create subtitles with the best possible quality and cultural references. That way, viewers who, like me, appreciate high-quality subtitles and are willing to wait a few days can enjoy the Asian content that Viki offers at its best.

So, I kindly ask Viki to listen to the volunteer community. Machine translation is not the way to please viewers!

[nazsaria]

We know that viewers are unfortunately sometimes very insistent and push too hard to have the subs ready as soon as the episode is released to the public, but this is not the right way to please the viewer either.

We had previously expressed this fear, that projects would arrive with pre-subs in Spanish, we mistakenly thought that Viki would listen to our opinions as contributors, but we are now seeing that this is not the case.

[irmar]

@henrri_11

, I appreciate the changes they’ve made to the contribution counting system for segmenters. So I would like to think that Viki still has some appreciation and respect for volunteers.

This is something that cost them no effort, makes no difference to them and surely has zero impact on paying subscribers. So they don’t mind giving us things like these. It’s not to be compared with the issue of pre-subs.

[bepina]

I am working on a Variety Show, in the first three episodes something could have been improved with adjustments, but the fourth episode was terrible, the segments were cut as if with a machete, the segments start from the third or fourth spoken word and the one in front is not segmented at all, and the translation in the segment in most cases it is wrong and does not correspond to what was said. I don’t know what happened, but it was not pleasant to work on a show that is really interesting in itself.

[irmar]

Frankly, in such a case, it would be quicker to delete everything and do from scratch. But Viki would freak out if you did that.

[maria_lavendula_77]

I really hope we don’t see a continuing trend with bad presubs, if Viki chooses to have things presubed it should be much better than the unpaid volunteer that does it so that a show is available in their language. We have really good volunteers in the important languages such as English, Portuguese, Spanish and French so why not let them work.

[mirjam_465]

@eun_soo_lee_2

I have no idea who could have assured them that a machine is capable of translating languages ​​with as many concordances as Spanish and Portuguese.

A machine is not capable of translating ANY language if you aim for quality results. The machine can get better with training, but it will never reach human level. That said, the humans who grow up with such subtitles might not develop the skills needed to translate better than a machine.

[deval_chloe]

Hello,
I was here and had faced the issues with Vikibot subs back in 2019. And even before in 2018, I will always remember the presubs we had on “Wok of Love” when it aired, people complaining because of Spanish subs being in Portuguese subs and so on.

Having nonsense in subs is not new, but it shouldn’t be the “new” Viki. We, volunteers, fought for years to bring quality subtitles to everyone.

I also am co-CM on a channel which will be presubbed in 4 languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish and French) and when I heard that I was quite frustrated. Not only because it meant more work for the dear segmenting team already having so much to do, their job changed so much over years because of all the presubs… But also because I already saw what it looks like when shows are coming presubbed in French (not to mention others, I know some Spanish but am not fluent either, as for English presubs it depends on the show, some are fine some are a mess). It didn’t change much through years.
Informal/formal languages mixed in the same sentence, feminine/masculine mixed not even used for the good character, some words not even translated or left in English in the French sentences, many sentences making nonsense (you can find examples on the topic Captncoco linked above too).
How can you expect viewers to stay and watch dramas on Viki if they can’t understand a thing in their own language subs?
Don’t forget, your dear viewers are also some of your volunteers.

Having presubs never helped.
People will always complain, no matter what you do @vikicommunity. They want both quality and speed.
But you will lose more by adding bad quality subs than having people complaining because they’re waiting for a few more days for translations.

I had to reject more than 10 subbers who were willing to help on “Family by Choice”. Knowing in French, we almost never have very big teams, so 10 is already a lot for us.
Where will the volunteers go if everything comes presubbed? Not everyone can edit nor want it.
You say you don’t want to get rid of volunteers, but you only prove otherwise.
I feel so sorry for the Portuguese volunteers already being in this situation.
The community will not stay to fix the mess forever, viewers won’t pay for bad subs, they’ll go on other sites even illegal ones to watch what they want for free.

We already lost so many seggers, English and Portuguese volunteers because of presubs.
I personally stopped segging for a few months, since you announced all shows were coming both in English and Portuguese, because I was already tired of having to fix segments with English, so adding Portuguese was already too much for me, even if I know I would be able to do it. Even though I love segmenting.
Now, imagine the same seggers, who were willing to bring quality having to copy past subs of 4 languages on one video. That’s great now they get contributions doing it, still it is an endless work. And knowing they have to keep bad presubs, it’s even worse.
If you keep going with Spanish and French too, the whole community will end up leaving little by little.
We can understand Viki is a company, but without quality, even if you have quantity, it will not help.

I totally stand with the Spanish and Portuguese volunteers here, having to face this.

[henrri_11]

I just wanted to share how users (normal subscribers) are complaining about the subtitles. Since they are not used to such awful quality subtitles on Viki.

I hope Viki understands the situation, and as @deval_chloe mentioned, subscribers will not pay for these subtitles either if they can watch them for free on other illegal websites and with maybe better subtitles.
@vikicommunity
@brendas

P.S @valneijr Could you help us with the Portuguese-English translation of some reviews, please?