I would also recommend going on the Team Tabs and look on the cover page to find out the CE. Then write to them, they usually have more projects and can tell you if they would need your help or can note you down for the next project.
It’s a good idea. As for the training part, I would put this responsibility to the selected language’s community. I think first, we should collect those groups in every language, whom are able to train some newbies. As most of the languages have bigger, well known groups, I’m pretty sure that from these groups there could be always someone, who could help to the new volunteers. When someone with near 0 experience apply, I think the CM should tell these ppl, to look for the selected language’s group for help (and not just saying right away, that they should go away). In these groups these ppl can get experience. If the community finds out, that the newby is a GT Fighter, then the community itself could punish these ppl. Those, whom are taking serriously, the language community could keep help them, and in a very short time, they could be a very valuable contributors.
I dont know how it is in other languages group, but for example in mine, it actually works. We were able to collect some amazing ppl, just because we gave them a chance.
So I think really the main point here, to create a list/post something somewhere, and when anyone new appears at a CM or at a mod, who don’t have the time to train, then they should redirect these person to the right “team”.
I think this is a wonderful idea! I was given a chance by a lovely CM when I was new at this and I really appreciated it. I’m very thankful for having gotten the opportunity. I’d definitely love to and be willing to pay it forward if anyone comes along in my language community (I translate in Macedonian) and needs some guidance and a chance to learn. I’ll just leave this here in case someone does come along and comes across this thread. Newbies, do feel free to send me a message and ask for help.
Don’t worry, I don’t mind <3
I’m from Polish community
I have reported users to the Viki in the past, I have deleted people using gt from my teams and I have talked with some CMs regarding some users
I’m not dropping names, since that wouldn’t lead to anything
It’s just something that happens when you’re part of something for a long time: you meet people, who abuse the system in some way.
There are good translators and those that do not even care, if the gender of the character is right.
I’d like to add that I think the vast majority of volunteers are great and I really enjoy being a part of this community and I don’t want to paint everyone badly. It’s just that things happen.
When the translation is copied directly from the google translate without any changes, you can see it easly.
Like this for example:
Or when the guy says the verbs in the feminine form, someone uses plural form where there is only one person, when the sayings are translated world for word, when what is going on on the screen doesn’t match the subtitle at all, when the whole sentence doesn’t make sense…
Sorry for sidetracking in the topic, if you want to continue the conversation, we can do it on private messages
I have given editor and moderator roles to my very best subbers, the ones who rarely make mistakes and I know that they know the language very well.
As for subbers, I try to include 2-3 inexperienced ones on every team. I believe it is good because 1) you never know, they might be a hidden gem, as it has often happened 2) one has to start from somewhere and 3) the good ones are not always available, sometimes they will leave Viki because of X Y Z reason, so you have to renew your pool of collaborators.
Seeing that there were some common mistakes that all newbies - and many experienced ones - make, and that I wasted a lot of time in correcting them again and again, I created a course for Italian subbers.
Of which details are here in English and here in ItalianMy Italian Subber Training Project (both beginners and experienced)
I am now starting my 7th group and I’ve had some wonderful experiences. Some of those people left soon, because they didn’t have the time or inclination, some others stayed until the end and became very good subbers I often work with, others yet missed many lessons and they stayed mediocre, still with some more knowledge than before.
I also learned a lot in preparing and in conducting those courses. And with every new batch I learn more.
It’s called a course for subbers but in reality it also teaches editing, because, of course, everyone is first and foremost an editor of oneself, and because we do together editing of the work of all the other participants, trying to find out together the best way of translating something into our language.
And there are several moderator skills involved as well - for instance how to make a project Google sheet, how to save subtitles, the basics of how to make a cover page etc.
One of the ladies that finished the course, wrote to me, seeking advice on various matters, when she first became a moderator and when she became a CM and we had a thick correspondence via Messenger. She is now one of the leading figures of the Italian community and I love her!
And of course I always gladly share tips with anyone who asks, either here on Discussions or by private message. As do many of the other old-time volunteers in the community.
I’d be more than happy to help anyone else who would be willing to try to create such a course in their own language.
Hi! I was very happy to read your message, technically you played the role of a language teacher and for me it is such a great experience.
I have been learning little by little by the moderators who are a love, I would like to do what you do in Spanish to help all the volunteers who arrive and also those who want to join, I have enough time but I don’t know how to start.
*This overlooks the fact this site has essentially driven out many moderators and editors with the majority of the experience here. You may argue that a CM would naturally select someone with higher contribution levels to be less thoughtful of new applicants, but hese moderators with more contributions are also usually the moderators with support in their language and in some genres, experience is simply impossible to ignore as a requisite to hire.
When hiring for my teams in the past, our team specialized in historical and costume C dramas. The formality of court language, the nuances of address, the very complexity of wordplay and cultural notes made it very difficult to hire a new moderator except when linked to an experienced one and thus coached.
Given this site is not going in the direction of including volunteers but notably driving them off, starting with English teams, perhaps linking the new moderators to a individual experienced one on a project rather than going to a full-blown teaching generally would be a better idea.
Language teacher? No, not really. I have a little entrance test which is English comprehension and then a translation test. If someone is below C1 in English I don’t take them. It’s not my job here to teach people English (it takes years!) - nor Italian, for that matter (should have been done in school).
Knowing the two languages (understanding the one and writing the other) is the minimum prerequisite. And every time I’ve said “it’s okay, let’s make an exception, her English is not stellar but it’s not such a big deal”, I deeply regretted it, because when you cannot understand the nuances, your translation won’t be good, even if you write Italian like Dante.
Whatever constitutes the tips and tricks of translation, and specifically the translation of subtitles, which is VERY different from other types (I know what I’m talking about, I’ve been a professional translator for more than 40 years now), comes AFTER the two languages are mastered.
But we also cover cultural things about the three Eastern countries, especially Korea, since it’s the one I know more about.
The important thing is also to know where to look, so I give resources for Chinese and Japanese terms and culture, so that the student can then go and learn more, and learn the way of looking for even more if he/she has the interest of doing so.
We don’t have to know everything, it’s enough to know some basics and know where to find the rest.
Also because I don’t want the course to last a long time. If I wanted to make sure I covered everything in great detail, it would become tiresome and people might drop it, so a balance should be achieved.
Hey Irmar, I am very interested in creating a similar course for Spanish. I think the biggest challenge of such a program would be the overwhelming amount of requests we get for new subbers and how to pick candidates from that pool of requests.
The requests for new subbers to take part in a team may be many, but those willing to undertake a three-month intensive training will be much less, trust me! Not to mention those who drop by the wayside after 2-3 sessions, when they find out they actually have to do homework. So you can safely start a course with a couple of people more than you think would be ideal.
You can also collaborate with others and have a different teacher for each section (as they do in the Segmenting NSSA course), to make the work more manageable.
If you are interested in organizing such a course, we can meet online and discuss the various topics (curriculum, reference, tests and exercises) in detail. I have made many tweaks during the past years, seeing in practice what worked and what didn’t work. So it might save you time to have a base, which of course you will modify to your taste and according to the specific needs of the Spanish language. For example the frequent mistakes when translating from English might be different for Spanish speakers, although I suspect that in many cases they will be the same as in Italian.
Hola a tod@s.
La idea de este proyecto me parece genial y me interesa mucho.
Aparte de ello debo decir que estoy algo decepcionada del sistema que aquí se emplea, aunque entiendo que deben de haber muchas cosas por manejar, llevo varias semanas enviando solicitudes para ser subber de inglés a español y no he recibido respuesta.
Lo que me decepcionó un poco es que utilicé el buscador de proyectos para ver que dramas están disponibles, elegí entre ellos, envié solicitud y luego alguno me interesó para verlos. Allí es que veo que sí están realizando la traducción al español, de forma lenta claro, porque cada uno dispone de tiempo limitado (puedo entender eso) aún así, he visto errores gramaticales y de tipeo lo cual me pone un poco triste.
Tengo sentimientos encontrados pues considero que es genial que den oportunidad a quienes disfrutamos del contenido de viki para poder formar parte del equipo, pero veo que ha perdido calidad la traducción.
Disculpen si es algo negativo mi comentario pero sentía que tenía que decirlo.
Soy una persona detallista por temas laborales siempre he observado con atención los textos que llegan a mi, es parte de mi trabajo y se tornó parte de mi personalidad, por ello me ofrecí a subtitular porque me gustaría colaborar, aunque también veo que en la parte de edición es necesario recorrer mucho camino aún.
Si este proyecto avanza, o alguien sabe de algún grupo en donde se pueda colaborar, o mismo aprender sobre el tema de este hilo de conversación, por favor hagan mención sobre ello.
Gracias por exponer el tema a quien inició esta charla y a quienes han participado en ella.
Saludos
It’s best to send an application through the DM on Viki.
The Project Finder has it’s limitations and:
Some people don’t use to review the applications
It lists dramas/movies that might not be available
The best way to start in the community is to write to some experienced moderator and ask them, if they need help with any projects. Thay might relocate you to something less popular which still needs to be translated. When you gain some experience and “some connections”, it will be easier to get a project.
I agree with you. Project finder is not the best method to find a project. My best advice is to directly send a message to the moderator. Also, keep in mind that for Spanish, depending on the project, we get a lot of requests, so we might take a bit of time to get back to you.
