Upset with the use of translators for spanish subtitles

General Discussion
1

These bad subs are from different dramas different subbers. Some are from Spanish to English, others are from English to Spanish. In my opinion English to Spanish subs are the worst, since they are done completely, word by word with the use of a translator.

How can Rakuten Viki put more effort and try to stop this from happening here so much?
I have reported several subbers that make the subtitles word by word with obviously the use of a translator. Even after I reported them, they are right now working in dramas(some are even on air dramas).

This is my issue; why bother taking in a report and not doing anything about it? If it was that at least 50% of their subs are decent enough to read, I would say ok, but they are not. When I go to this ‘‘offenders’’ page they are currently working in not one, but several dramas.

They need to use the translator as a guide to help them with a word or two, not the sole purpose for their subtitles. My issue is not the grammar, but the context that at times is even ‘‘invented’’ by the subber (I have some examples below that were done in a Japanese documentary).

I deleted a part of the person’s name and left a letter or number(or both a letter and a number) bc I see these subbers working right now in several dramas. I understand their eagerness to help and learn the language but what I can’t accept is their deceitfulness to say they know the language when they don’t.

Some dramas have 17, even 30 Eng to Spanish subbers, and one is as bad as the other. Is not like you can eliminate and keep the good ones. You know why this happen bc the moderator herself uses translators so they cover for each other.

You may ask, why am I doing this Topic today? Because I always check them from time to time, and lately the situation with the Spanish subtitles has gone from bad to worse, and I hate to see poor quality Spanish translations in the dramas.

They don’t need to be perfect, that is not what I want. I want decent Spanish subtitles that make sense bc the person has a pretty decent, good knowledge of the English language.

PS. I am aware that sometimes the English translation in the drama itself is very bad, and I have gone through that myself but then again, if you know the English language, you can manage to give a decent Spanish subtitle, too.

I know for a fact we have several Spanish moderators that are translator only users themselves, and their English is just as bad. But I see them not only as moderators but CM of not 1, but several dramas here at this site. Why is this getting so out of hand here at this site? How can we work on trying to stop this mess from continuing to happen?

You look like a blowfish.
| Mar 31
Te ves como un pez globo. (The subber wrote in spanish Te ves/ ‘‘You see’’/ You look like is TE PARECES a un pez globo).
Since the person is using google translator her sentence in Spanish is incorrect

| Mar 31
No llores. No se puede volver a casa con ese aspecto.
Don’t cry. You can’t go home looking like that.

It’s all my fault for leaving you
| Apr 22
Todo es mi culpa por dejarte (Incorrect tense)

What did we write.(English sub)
¿Qué nos escribimos .(her translation)

58:43
“likes the 39 year-old Hong Sunny more than the 19 year-old Hong Sunny.”
" gusta a los 39 años de edad, Hong Sunny mås de 19 años de edad, Hong Sunny . "
This subber wrote in Spanish: ‘’ like to the 39 years old, Hong sunny more than 19 years, Hong Sunny. (obviously done with a translator)

The correct way should have been: Le gusta la Hong Sunny de 39 años, mucho mås que Hong Sunny a los 19 años.

In here subber writes informal and ends sentence formal
Tell Jebin that I’m not your lover
Dile Jebin que no soy su amante

y que nada estĂĄ pasando entre tĂș y yo !
and that nothing’s going on between you and me!

| Apr 22
Le pregunté lo que estaba haciendo !

Another terrible translation
I could, but you can’t? This english sentence was wrong it should have been: I can, but you can’t.
m | Apr 22
Podría, pero no quiero? The subber wrote Could, but I don’t want.
In Spanish it should have been. You puedo, pero tĂș no puedes.
m72 | Apr 22

¿No te digo


1:03:11
Didn’t I tell you

| Apr 22
SubtĂ­tulos traĂ­do a usted por Ășltimo equipo EscĂĄndalo en www.viki.com
Subtitles brought to you by Team Last Scandal at www.viki.com.

Since it’s obvious this person uses only translator for her subtitles she could not realize this sentence makes no sense for one simple word that was spelled wrong in English:

I think I’ve done more than enough for flaking out on today’s shoot.
m72 | Apr 22
Creo que he hecho mĂĄs que suficiente para formar escamas en la sesiĂłn de hoy .
the translation this individual wrote is as follow:
I think I’ve done enough to form SCALES (this means fish scales) in today’s session.

57:02
I don’t remember. It’s been so long.
m72 | Apr 22
No recuerdo . Ha sido tan largo.(she wrote definition of long-largo) If she knew English she would knows the LONG word mean Tanto Tiempo

This is another person that worked in one of my projects:
Irene, Âżde verdad no te fuiste con el?

g 3 | Jan 22
Irene, did not you really go with him?

This other subber in a Japanese documentary makes up the sentence with her imagination and writes them as subs.

will surely blow away
summer’s heat!

lu0 | Jul 30
seguramente el verano llegue a tu corazĂłn!

The chill is perfect
for summer.

l_9 | Jul 30
Es realmente delicioso. Pienso que es perfecto para el verano.

lub | Jul 30
Si comes estos fideos
Slurping chilled soup and
chewy noodles heartily

THE WORST TRASLATION
Bueno, entonces arreglas tĂș sĂłlo tus problemas, que yo no me meto mĂĄs.

m | Jan 16
Well, then fix yourself your problems, because I don’t get there anymore.

(This subber does incomplete translation in all her sentence when they are long)
Aquí dice que fui yo la que entendió mal y eso es mentira fueron ellos los que se equivocaron. No sé no me parece justo.
g | Jan 22
This says that I was wrong and they didn’t do anything.

g | Jan 23 (SHE DOES INCOMPLETE TRANSLATIONS)
No, of course no, I respect your daughter.
No, por supuesto que no. ÂżCĂłmo puede usted pensar eso? Yo respeto mucho a su hija
.

Trabajador, luchador, que piensa en el futuro.
History
g | Jan 23
who works hard, someone who fights for what he wants brave.

g | Jan 21
No in the social column.

g | Jan 21
Carlos Ernesto made a desition and we have to respect that.
Carlos Ernesto tomo una decisiĂłn, Âżverdad? Y tenemos que respetarla.

Virginia Gutiérrez continuara trabajando en esta empresa.

g | Jan 21
Virginia Gutierrez is part of this company.
g | Jan 21

g | Jan 21
Thanks to you, for beeing the perfect wife.

g missing half a sentence.
Y ademås peligroso para el Señor Carlos Ernesto contratar a una asesina.

History
g | Jan 22
And that’s dangerous, work with a killer.

Trabajador, luchador, que piensa en el futuro.
g9 | Jan 23
who works hard, someone who fights for what he wants brave.

This a complete, confirmed google translate.This was from Spanish to English the subber did word by word translation using goggle translate (done by a moderator)

TĂș impertinencia al entrar sin anunciarte, no tuvo ningĂșn sentido porque yo la verdad no sĂ© donde estĂĄ mi hermano en este momento.
e
| Feb 8
It did not have any sense your impertinence when entering without announcing, because I really do not know where my brother is at this moment.
I found her whole sentence to be from google translate link

ed | May 21
Vine a preguntar si nuestro Bong Pal estå haciéndolo bien en la escuela. (This is the translation this person wrote which is wrong)
I came to ask if our Bong Pal is doing well in school.(this was the English subtitle)

Yes. Bong Pal is doing very well.

e | May 21
Sí, Bong Pal estå haciéndolo bastante bien.

6:37
There’s someone from the animal protection organization here to see you.
.
ed | May 21
Hay alguien de la organizaciĂłn de protecciĂłn animal aquĂ­ para verte. (she put verte using informal when is suppose to be formal).

PROOF THIS IS GOGGLE TRANSLATION

Oh, really? I’ll be right up.

e9 | May 21
Oh, ¿en serio? Estaré a la altura.

7:10
I will remember those nice words.
e9 | May 21
Voy a recordar estar hermosas palabras. (She wrote estar which is TO BE)

Get home safe.

ed | May 21
Vaya a casa a salvo.

I’m sorry for coming so late at night.

ed | May 21
Lo siento tan tarde por la noche.

I had a question about your husband’s death 18 years ago.

e9 | May 21

Tenía una pregunta sobre la muerte de su esposo hace 18 años.

8:44
it looked difficult to fall off the railing by mistake (episode 13 bring it on ghost)

e9 | May 21
parecĂ­a difĂ­cil de caerse de la barandilla por error.

Then, I’ll be on my way.
ma 07 | May 21
Entonces, seguiré mi camino.

The saddest part is, that these bad subbers make up to 3 different accounts, and use different names, and one even use a combo of her new name with her old name but they can’t change the fact that they make the same mistakes, they make in all other dramas.

How can they be so lame and think that changing their name will cover up their bad SPANISH subtitles? I emphasize SPANISH because I can’t speak for other language although I know this is also an ongoing problem here at this site.

There was a subber who told me she knew Korean perfectly well, and when I checked the subtitles she did for me, it was one HORRIBLE mess, and I had to delete all of them. I no longer see her name around here, so beware of those dreadful subtitles of her.

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I always tell people that if you see someone used Google Translate, collect proof (screencaps etc) and report it to Viki. Viki doesn’t see everything and doesn’t know every language so they have to depend on people reporting it.

And it’s so annoying when a CM doesn’t know English well enough to even be a CM. Had one project with such CM and there where some issues but the CM didn’t understand what we where trying to say.

3

This is why I wrote this topic bc reporting them no longer works, and now we have too many moderators/CM that don’t know English, but are working here in several dramas. That doesn’t make sense to me at all.

Look how you went through that yourself. I went through the same thing several times, and I reported this individuals to viki (CM/Moderators), and I still see them as of today, managing and/or moderating dramas.

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4

@kris_o @jimmy_l @camiille How should we report users now who break this rule since reporting as we did doesn’t seem to work? And how does Viki deal with CM’s who don’t know enough English to really manage a channel well?

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Hi everyone,

To report inappropriate subtitling or segmenting, please use this report feature and one of our community support/moderation team members will look into it.

Best,
Camille
Viki Community Team

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Reporting doesn’t work, I have reported this one Spanish abuser like 3 or 4 times already and nothing happened, she even continued to work on the project I reported her for, she also used google translate literally for the whole part.
She would occasionally take my parts without permission on a project we have and I had to sent her a message asking her to stop abusing. If I left my part at 50%, when I went back to finish it, she would have done the rest without asking or anything.
Her excuse was that “she was just completing the unfinished parts and wanted to learn”, (when those parts had my name for a reason :angry:). I seriously got annoyed with her so I told her to stop doing that and that if she wanted the work in the project she should contact the Spanish moderator and ask for permission
 well she’s still there, not stealing my parts anymore since I wrote directly to her, but still there doing other parts without asking for them and using google translate like no tomorrow.

Sorry for the rant :rage:

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This is what bothers me too, and the reason I wrote this topic here bc the people at this site in charge of taking care of these situations, and are always saying ‘‘report these abusers’’ are doing absolutely nothing about it.

You see these abusers time and time again doing (garbage) Spanish subtitles in many dramas, and the main reason why they get away with this is bc some of these Spanish moderators are themselves, ‘‘Goggle translate’’ users. They have their own group of bad subbers working in many dramas, and that makes me so angry. They are claiming they know the language when they don’t.

By the way, I’m the Spanish moderator of ‘‘You are the chef’’ ( I see you are doing segments there? is it you?). If you want to help me with the Spanish subtitles let me know, and I’ll open the channel for you. I keep them close for that same reason, to keep away these type of abusers, that give such poor quality Spanish subtitles.

I’m glad you are one more witness of what’s going on here, and nothing is ever done about it. I’m glad you were able to rant bc that situation is very stressful, and no volunteer willing to work for free, has any need to go through that.

I have been for years ranting, reporting, and now I see the situation going from bad to worse, with no hope of any kind of solution EVER.

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Angelight, Dudie, and the rest of you who have found “abusers”. Be a broken record to viki staff. Complain over and over and over about the same abuser. Provide three or four specific examples. If it’s Spanish you might also see if you can get another well established Spanish subber to look over the offensive subs and confirm your findings.
In the past, I have successfully complained so that the abuser had a reduction in the contribution count and even sometimes the membership was suspended or removed. But this was only after I persisted in my complaint.
I suspect the flagging function to report an abuser is ignored because I have never gotten any feedback about any action that was taken after I flagged someone with documentation of the abuse.

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@cgwm808

That’s exactly what I did, click the flag and added the bad subs, etc

and like you wrote here, I was ignored and the abuser continues giving terrible spanish subtitles to dramas, shows, and documentaries.

Thank you for the suggestions but I was hoping we can work out a faster solution now, where those reported should automatically receive a notice, and get completely blocked from subbing. It’s not like we have such few Spanish subbers that we can’t get rid of the offending ones.I hope something is done soon.

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@cgwm808 yes I know it sometimes hard to go against Viki and you have to complain multiple times, I once managed to get someone’s sub count reduced and the account suspended.

First you ask nicely and provide proof.
Viki’s response: We will lock the language.
Me getting pissed off: I don’t want you to lock the language! I want the their subs gone and the person blocked from my channel and it would be nice if their account get’s suspended.
Viki: We will remove the subs.
Me, still annoyed: Thanks, but I see the subcount is not reduced and the person still has QC status by unfair means. Please remove QC status, reduce subcount and make sure the person is blocked from my channel.
Viki: 

Me: You see I don’t want to witch hunt and check all other languages on my channel and I see this person is abusing on other channels too! Please do something!
Viki finally suspends account after I don’t know know how long and more damage is done.

It’s upsetting that Viki sometimes doesn’t see how serious this matter is. And some people already find it hard to even file a report because they don’t want to be mean, maybe that person doesn’t know and all the other excuses why to not report someone.

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Yes, I’ve seen than! I really try to avoid even silly mistakes and to go according to the the punctuation and orthographic rules of the Spanish language. I also follow the rules for the channels, like don’t edit other subbers stuff
 but when I see mistakes that are so common in the language, like accents for question forms or the like, and that the moderator doesn’t edit them or it’s him who wrote it like that
 I really wonder if he thinks that’s all right or what’s going on


But I have to say that I’ve worked with some great moderators who know their language, have great editors and keep their translators close :slight_smile: , but I’ve also had the experience where the moderator is, as you said, a “google translate” user, which it’s a shame
 I really hope they could give us more options than just “flag them” because it just continues to happen.

Yes I’m currently segmenting, working my way through the NSSA levels, yes! I’d love to help you with the subs! :slight_smile:

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Thank you and Welcome to the Spanish team! I’ll add you now, and will send you the link to start.

And, Yes there are many great moderators here: mirna023_316 is in my opinion, one of the best here. Very skilled when it comes to assessing bad segments, and her teams always do great Spanish translation.

Kalmendarez gone with the shirt team is also great with spanish subs.

I noticed this problem started recently with some new added moderators that to make matters worse are very rude, and hard to work with.

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Terrible business! What does, “you look like a blowfish” mean? What’s the name of the drama?

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‘‘The last scandal of my life’’ it’s an old drama. If ‘‘you look like blowfish’’ sounds bad, check out the Spanish translation, totally ridiculous. Mind you, this scene is about the guy telling the woman she looks like a blowfish from crying so much.

The English subtitles in that drama are not great either, so using a translator for the spanish subs was a total mess.

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Unfortunately that reporting avenue doesn’t give you the opportunity to include screenshots. Of course web addresses can serve the same purpose in most cases, but not in all. Moreover, the person could change something if suspecting someone will report him, while a screenshot is proof.

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Episode 107 minute 13:30 Secret Love (Spanish Telenovela)
Episodio 107 minuto 13:30 Secreto de Amor (telenovela de Venezuela)

Ejemplos de cómo traducir con traductores då un subtítulo en inglés erróneo.
Example of how using a translator will give a wrong (bad) subtitle.

ÂżPudiste hablar con Rebeca? ÂżCĂłmo la dejaste?

A person using google translate will translate the following: Could you talk to Rebecca? ÂżPudiste hablar con Rebeca? How did you leave it?
ÂżCĂłmo la dejaste? How did you leave it? Traducido a español es: ÂżCĂłmo dejaste eso? (El traductor no traduce la palabra (her/ella) *(Google translate used by many many here didn’t translate the word her)

In English both sentence with a translator is incorrect and makes no sense. [Could] is past tense therefore, you need to use the word: [Can] you speak to Rebeca? But it so happens that the person is not asking the other person if she can talk to the other person (Rebeca). The person asked if she (agustina) was able to talk to (Rebeca).

He (Leonardo asked Agustina) Where you able to speak (talk) to Rebeca? ÂżPudiste hablar con Rebeca?

How she looks? (Leonardo wants to know if she looks (is) alright. How did you leave it (her)?

Although the language is Spanish, the way the sentence is structured/said in that country, when we use a TRANSLATOR for English subtitles it completely changes the meaning, and only 1 or 2 words might be the same.

A pesar que el lenguaje es español, la manera que dicen las cosas en ese país, cuando traducimos al inglés con TRADUCTORES cambia su significado completamente y una o dos palabras solamente puede que sean las mismas.

What is the best approach for this problem? DON’T USE A TRANSLATOR.
ÂżCuĂĄl es la mejor manera de corregir este problema? NO USEN TRADUCTORES

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Hi how are you?
I have an advice you have to take in mind that we use differents ways to write and speak in Spanish and for example in the first example you could use ves instead pareces because in Spanish these words are synonyms and works well in that sentence(at least for me) . in sentence of april 22, for you what will be the correct tense and translation of this phrase? and in January 22? nd in some translations for me the fault is from English subbers.
Daniela

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I’m sorry I have no intention to be rude or offend you but I don’t understand what are you asking here. Can you please, write it in Spanish. I think I would understand better. If I’m not mistaken you used a translator for your english comments, right?

Lo siento, no es mi intención ser grosera o ofenderte pero no entiendo lo que me preguntas aquí. Puedes por favor, escribirlo en Español. Creo que entendería mejor. Si no me equivoco usaste traductor para este comentario en inglés, ¿cierto o no?

19

Hola ¿cómo vas? ¿En serio no entendiste mi mensaje en inglés?

Lo que te estoy diciendo en el mensaje es un consejo: tienes que tener en cuenta que somos de distintos paises hispanohablantes por lo tanto, hay diferentes maneras de escribir y hablar. En cuanto al ejemplo que tĂș das este:

Te ves como un pez globo. (The subber wrote in spanish Te ves/ ‘‘You see’’/ You look like is TE PARECES a un pez globo).
Desde mi punto de vista estå bien traducido, porque en español la palabra look se puede traducir como ver o parecer son sinónimos,
Y mi pregunta es si esta traducción:[quote=“angelight313_168, post:1, topic:20096”]
Todo es culpa por dejarte (Tiempo verbal incorrecto)
[/quote] estå mal para ti ¿cómo era la frase en inglés y para ti cuål sería el tiempo verbal correcto?
Saludos.
Daniela.

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Indiscutiblemente se puede usar Te ves/ Pareces un pez globo pero no puedes negar que esta persona uso ese subtĂ­tulo porque fue lo que encontrĂł en google translate.

AquĂ­ estĂĄ el link y la evidencia:

https://translate.google.com/#en/es/You%20look%20like%20a%20blowfish

Si la persona sabe inglés no va a un traductor y copia palabra por palabra como lo hizo esa persona.

You look like a blowfish
Te ves como un pez globo

Yo me referĂ­a mĂĄs que la persona usĂł toda la traducciĂłn del google translate, como hacen muchos aquĂ­.

Lamentablemente cerraron el canal y no puedo conseguir el subtítulo en inglés para contestar tu segunda pregunta.

Pero si lees mĂĄs abajo escribĂ­:

PS. I am aware that sometimes the English translation in the drama itself is very bad, and I have gone through that myself but then again, if you know the English language, you can manage to give a decent Spanish subtitle, too.

PS. Yo estoy conciente que la traducción en Inglés en el drama es muy mala y ya yo he pasado por eso también. Pero otra vez, si saben inglés (y no usan un traductor), pueden conseguir dar un subtítulo decente en español también.

Al usar el google translate o cualquier otro traductor, si la oración en inglés estå traducida mal, la traducción en español serå mucho peor y eso fue lo que sucedió en este drama.

En mi opinión personal, ‘‘Pareces’’ suena muchísimo mejor que ‘‘Te ves’’ y no importa de que país somos, creo que todos usarían ‘‘pareces’’ pero esta persona copió tal y como estaba en el google translate por eso usó ‘‘Te ves’’ lo cuál es aquí mi tema principal.

Añadí esto en uno de mis otros comentarios: ''A pesar que el lenguaje es español, la manera que dicen las cosas en ese país, cuando traducimos al inglés con TRADUCTORES cambia su significado completamente y una o dos palabras solamente puede que sean las mismas.

Este es una parte de tu comentario:
.
. in sentence of april 22, for you what will be the correct tense and translation of this phrase? and in January 22? nd in some translations for me the fault is from English subbers.
Daniela

Te hubiera entendido si lo escribieras asĂ­:

In the April 22 sentence (subtitle/translation) What would be for you, the correct tense in the translation of this phrase?

phrase is a group of words that work together to make meaning, but it is not a complete sentence. In other words, it does not have both a subject and a verb

(First of all it wasn’t a phrase it was a sentence or subtitle but it’s alright).

''and in January 22? nd in some translations for me the fault is from English subbers.
Daniela

Also, on January 22nd. to me, some of the wrong (spanish) translations were the fault of the English subbers (translators).

Me diste un consejo y yo te doy otro: Cuando se tiene un argumento debiste comprender la verdadera intención que tuve aquí, la cual no fue criticar al subber, sino, critico el uso de traductores que afectan la calidad de nuestros subtítulos en Español. Lo mismo que no critico tu inglés, solo que no lo pude entender como lo escribiste y te lo corregí para que veas por qué no lo entendí bien.