We are excited to introduce our new "Sample Videos" tool that will help new contributors demonstrate their language translation proficiency when applying to channel teams!
We know there can be challenges for new contributors, and hope that creating and sharing short video snippets that showcase their translation skills will help with opportunities to join channel teams, as well as assist Channel Managers and Language Moderators in the assessment and recruiting process too. Contributors’ published sample videos can be found on their public profile!
Members of the contributor community were invited to be part of the beta testing process, but we look forward to your continued feedback as we roll out this new feature. Click below to learn more!
UPDATE November 3rd, 2022: Thank you all very much for asking great constructive questions below. Both help center articles for Sample Videos have now been updated. We hope the FAQ section will help answer most of your questions!
Thank you for continuing to be part of the community!
I just saw what it’s about. Very good idea! I am very excited about it, and eager to see it in more languages. I have a couple of questions, though:
How long are these sample videos (meaning, how many subtitles)? Is it enough to give a good idea of the translator’s skills.
Are they chosen to be a good test of translation? Or are they randomly chosen, so they could just be “Hi, how are you?” - “I’m fine, I saw your daughter yesterday”. “Will you have lunch with me?” Because these are too easy, and frankly Google Translate does a quite decent job with this kind of basic sentences. When I prepared my test for would-be subtitlers, I purposefully chose excerpts from real dramas, but scenes which were a bit more challenging. You do find those even in rom-coms, because for instance it may be an office rom-com, so there will be business lingo and such. And, of course, parts which present a challenge especially for speakers of my language (pitfalls while translating from English, like idioms, false friends etc).
Can a subtiler work on more than one of those sample videos? If points 1 and 2 are taken care of, then more than one is not needed. But consider that “tricky parts”/ “pitfalls” are different for different languages.
What dramas / films are these sample videos taken from? The ones already translated here? I don’t think so, because the contributor might consult them and copy the existing translation. Coming soon? That would be fine, but as soon as the drama/film is translated, they cannot be used anymore. Which brings me to the next question.
Can the subtitler go back and edit what they did after submitting the translation? If the drama is then fully translated, if they can go and edit, they might perfect it by copying the translation done by the official team.
This is all for now. Let’s clear these points first, because I’m sure others will have similar questions.
I’m not sure but I feel the Lyrics shown in the editor aren’t ideal as an example… I clicked on “I’m a New Contributor” and the pictured editor is showing just Lyrics as example… somehow it doesn’t make sense, since lyrics are often translated once and always used the same lines from a sheet… they aren’t (those like in the beginning and ending) usually translated individually unless it’s just a one time song…
I’m not talking about the editor you can translate and share… only about the pictured sample… @angelight313_941
Otherwise this is an interesting feature… hopefully it will be available in other languages!
That happened to you because so far they only have practice sample videos for Spanish and Portuguese language. I just finished the Korean one, and before that I did the Chinese video (that one was hard and long), but I can tell you is one of the greatest thing they are doing here.
I DO hope they do it in all language because it’s only fair, but I understand that this might take some time since they really did their research on this one, and is a long process to complete. I am so happy that they are striving on making sure QUALITY will be part of the changes in here. They may have been silent, but they were really listening to us.
Thank you so much to all those involved in this new feature, and especially to the owners of this site, and all staff members that care so much, and are working together in keeping RakutenViki alive and well, the best of the best.
PS. There’s no way anyone can fake they know a language, if they don’t know it. So let’s say GOODBYE! to all the abusers that we had in the PAST.
This is a good idea. This new feature will help Moderators to recruit their team. Since something officially exists now, Moderators will be more comfortable asking someone for proof of their skills.
However, I don’t understand how this will help Channel managers. They can still recruit someone as a Moderator who doesn’t speak the language.
There are some Channel Managers who know Korean/Chinese/Japanese and who choose the English subber team themselves, instead of entrusting the task to the English Chief Editor, as is usually done. Sometimes the English Chief Editor might have trouble finding subbers and asks the CM to give a helping hand. So, just in case, they made the test sample videos viewable to the CM’s too. No harm in that, it may be useful sometimes.
I am somewhat torn about whether I like this or not. As Irene noted, will the segments they need to translate be difficult enough to test their abilities, or will they be random and simple enough to translate with GT? I need to know that they know Spanish and that their level of English is good enough that they understand what’s happening.I believe that in order to understand and translate something, you also need to grasp what is being stated; yet, this is just my perspective, and others may feel otherwise. Again, simple lines can be translated quickly and easily; however, what happens when the same person is tasked with translating a more intense drama?
Also, I share the same concern as Irene about what dramas they will use. Will it be dramas that are already subbed or?
I’m conflicted, too. Of course, I’m pleasantly surprised to see Viki try to care for quality instead of speed/quantity for once, but I’m not sure yet if this is the way.
First of all, the moderator/CM doesn’t get to see the video part of the subtitle editor the new subber worked in so they can’t see the oh so important context. I get that this is probably to keep others from making changes to the samples, but it makes them less helpful.
Second, I think the samples are indeed rather randomly chosen. I also wonder if everyone gets the same samples.
Third, I could think of many ways to cheat with this method. An unexpected, carefully chosen test by a CM/moderator/editor that the new subber couldn’t prepare for months in advance might be more effective.
And then there’s the fact that it’s currently only available in two languages. I’m sure there are reasons for that, but it also takes away the voice of the other languages. Before this is applied to all languages, the Spanish and Portuguese community will already have had the chance to either embrace or dismiss this new feature and staff decisions about future use of it will be based solely on their experiences.
If you want the answers to all this questions you have here; just do the exercise yourself, and you will see or in my opinion, have an overall answer to all your questions. I suggest and HOPE that those doing the exercise don’t post ANY information here about them (but basic stuff).
*There are two levels of these exercise: ONE is EASY, and the other level is DIFICULT/HARDER… I can assure you at least one was HARD (at least for me the Chinese one was). The Korean one should have a more difficult/harder level in it, just because I didn’t feel/see the difficulty in it. They should have added a drama with medical terms or a judicial system scenes were you can really see/feel the difficulty since the translation combined with timing gives you a sense of how much the person translating/subber really knows.
I am assuming they know if a person is going back and forth to the GT bc of the timing. I suggest you take it (do the exercise) since you know both language, and you will have an idea of what/how much your subbers in your team will know as you add them in your team. They have the moderator exercise, but I didn’t took that one because I won’t be able to moderate any projects since I have health issues.
I HOPE they don’t use the same scenes and change the episodes at all time to ensure people don’t go around informing others about it, and the site RakutenViki be running the risk for an abuser to work its way to working as a volunteer (in a language) they are not PROFICIENT enough, like it happened in the past. Let’s hope we can end the circle of abusers we may still have now/had here in the past, so we have better quality work in the dramas/movies/shows in each and every episode viewers watch.
thaly1209 Again, simple lines can be translated quickly and easily; however, what happens when the same person is tasked with translating a more intense drama?
I wasn’t too sure what answer you wanted from this question, but as I went over and over it again. I understood this from it, and I hope was right.
Taking this exercise will serve as proof to the recruiters/moderators/CM of a team to really know HOW MUCH this person/subbers know in the language they allege that they know (in this case so far Spanish/Portuguese). The exercise sample will be visible (as far as what I understood) to Moderators/CM ONLY. Is not for everyone to see in our page, and I hope it stays that way for EVER. IT’S a well known fact; that ABUSERS have a way to play tricks with the information they have/ know, and we MUST prevent that from happening here, so they can’t work themselves to working in here ever again (unless of course they learn and become proficient enough). I can’t wait to see/having these exercise available here in the many other language. It will be a win win situation in the QUALITY Department.*
PS… After looking into what I wrote in here, I hope they do offer a way to test new rookie- want to be CM-Moderators, and somehow be able to determine the capability of taking any of those task )CM-Moderator-positions in dramas-movies etc.
I agree with you. On one hand, I feel that Viki is paying a bit more attention to quality, yet I am not sure if this method will work or be effective. Will this sample video be mandatory, or is it optional? If it’s optional then we can’t really force someone to take it.Time will tell, I guess.
So far I’ve only seen one account, but I have a feeling that it might be the same video for everyone.
I think they started with Spanish and Portuguese because they are bigger communities and they have a larger sample pool. But it would have been more helpful if more languages were included.
I don’t think I have access to try the videos since it’s only for contributors with less than 1000 subs. So I appreciate that you gave a little insight into how it worked.
There’s a timer?
I have a feeling they are using the same videos for everyone, or at least a few people are bound to have the same sample vidoes.
My question was related to the type of videos they use. Easy segments can be translated, and it might show that the person has a good understanding. But if there is a harder drama with legal, medical, or more complex dialogues, how will the person do? This question was actually answered by your earlier description that there are two levels
thaly1209 I have a feeling they are using the same videos for everyone, or at least a few people are bound to have the same sample vidoes.
Well, it’s understandable they might use the same episode, but if that’s the case, I feel they need to find a way to change the episode so others don’t warned others about what they will be practicing on.
In the [activities] section (which not everyone has access to, but some can see CM/Moderators/Person subbing), how fast the subber worked in the drama. A long time ago I was able to see the weakness and the strength of my subber. In other words, I could tell if they were proficient enough in English or their work was solely based in the use of the GT/Bing/ etc. It shows seconds/minute it took the subber how long they took to write their next sentence/subtitle. It might not be a Timer but I call it a TIMER. lol
thaly1209 I don’t think I have access to try the videos since it’s only for contributors with less than 1000 subs
But you can take the moderator sample video because you are the Spanish Moderator of dramas. I didn’t took that one because I won’t be working as a moderator. That one should not have a limit of less than 1,000 subs since it would make no sense to me. Although, I do see many moderators writing subtitles in dramas, and that’s really not the main ‘‘job’’/ ‘‘role’’ of a moderator (unless things have changed now). Moderators roles/job (imo), is not to be writing subtitles, but to manage their subbers in the team; in whatever specific language they are moderating for: Spanish/Portuguese/French/German etc.
PS. I would love to see another way of rewarding volunteers that doesn’t require a ‘‘tally’’ /amount of CONTRIBUTION COUNT (that causes too much unhealthy competition). Some of us are not concerned in how much we do, but how much QUALITY what we do really has. A contribution count through the times has given a false outlook of quality and quantity given by the volunteer.
I remember the BILLION WORDS PROJECT done back in 2013??? I can’t recall the year. I was in TEARS when I saw thousands of these Spanish subtitles to be pure garbage. I was so furious that they did this to my Spanish language, and it hurt me deeply because it wasn’t the native spanish speakers/readers/writers who did this, and that only made me angrier (I even insulted a few). I don’t cover the sky with my hand. I am not a SAINT. I am a person proud of my heritage and my language and when I see my language stepped all over like that, it devastates me, heart and soul. I hope we can work on stopping that to EVER happen again.
I am also sure they will get to your language at some point, and they might even be able to use you since you are good in your native Language and English, too.
I don’t know if you saw my article about the owners/investors/ experts working on solving the quality issues that has been arising for RAKUTEN company (which we also know that for years they own our beloved viki).
Let’s give them a chance to work out on this two language (that I’m assuming are their biggest paying subscribers/customers). For many reasons involved (we all know which ones they are) so I see no need in becoming a broken record.
mirjam_465
I could think of many ways to cheat with this method. An unexpected, carefully chosen test by a CM/moderator/editor that the new subber couldn’t prepare for months in advance might be more effective.
I reserve my opinion on this because I would have to give more information anyone out there needs to know (I’m talking about abusers). Since I believe you are not physically able to see this sample video process, I would kindly ask you to not be judging based on
your own assumptions since is not fair to all the people involved in this, that have worked so hard to get this far, and don’t forget… that the real experts are also involved in all this going on in here.
I can see them on the profiles of new subbers and I can recognize the shows they used for it. I am “judging” based on what I see, and on my experience, though I wouldn’t call it “judging.” We were supposed to say how we felt about this, weren’t we? I just said I was still having my doubts and why.
Now you are the one judging based on assumptions. How can you be so sure that someone is using GT solely based on the time they spend subbing? There could be tons of reasons for that.
They use old shows that are already translated.
With this part, I totally agree, and not just for my own language. Kids nowadays don’t read books anymore and grow up with bad subtitles. No wonder their language proficiency is not that great anymore, even for their mothertongue.
mirjam_465
Now you are the one judging based on assumptions. How can you be so sure that someone is using GT solely based on the time they spend subbing? There could be tons of reasons for that.
Then, I gave you more credit than I should have. If someone is translating in your language, and is proficient enough in English, they will move along quite fast as they sub segment after segment each part in the episode. If the timing in the activity shows a large gap, it will show [that] they were looking from some source of information. That is what I call; common sense to know.
Now, I had a few subbers that would copy and paste each translation they had to do From English to Spanish, and they came back after many hours as they did all their translation with the google translation tool. That was an easy one. No one can give terrible translation (back then) like GT did. I have to admit that they have improved a lot.
Since like I’m guessing maybe you refuse to believe me, we have links the Department of Education in the USA gives to us who work in the school system, that helps us to be able to check if the work our students handed to us; if they were translated by the use of any translation tools, plagiarized any work we assigned to them, and many other stuff, I won’t/can’t mention here. There’s no way we can survive as educators looking for all these information on our own w/o having a helping hand. I even almost made the mistake of providing here a link (to be used here in the USA by teachers only) that can help us find within seconds plagiarized work done by the (cheating) students. lol
If you want to say I judged too, let’s add [that] I did it for the good of a worthy reason, and that was; a good Quality subtitle in the drama I was working as a Moderator.
I am so glad you agree with me about some (kids) not being that proficient, even in their own native language just because they don’t have the pride some of us old timers have for our native language (at least on my end: I’m proud of my lengua latina, orgullo del taino nacido en la isla del encanto, Puerto Rico).
I disagree with this part. I am proficient in both languages, and I take my time with the segments. I don’t like rushing. Sometimes I get side tracked or I am chatting with the team in our group chats while translating. Other times, I go back and forth between the part and the Google Sheet document. That applies to when I’m editing in English too. I like to take things slowly while knowing I am carefully translating/editing everything to the best of my abilities.
So how fast you go doesn’t really say how good you are. You can be using GT and go fast very easily.
I don’t think that’s an option (?) The “I am a manager/moderator” only tells you how to access the videos. Plus it very explicitly says that the people who can take these tests are “Contributors who have less than 1000 lifetime contributions.” Yes, a moderator’s role is to manage the team, but many moderators also take side projects as editors and subbers. I also recently started working with my team and translating because that’s how you improve. Plus, I love it when my editing team gives me feedback. We are not perfect and, as humans, we all make mistakes. We can always improve ourselves, and in this case, we can always find ways to improve the quality.
I really couldn’t agree more with this. Quantity does not equal Quality. I’ve seen so many CMs chose people who are clearly abusers because “they have more experience” aka contribution count.
I was recently watching a show and the subs made me want to cry with how bad and different they are from the English translations.
Basically, it features 4 videos separated into Korean and Chinese and Easy and Intermediate (the dramas are Andante, Chong Ming Wei, Crime Puzzle and Mysterious Love…)
However, Mysterious Love is broken, and you can’t access the video. Anyway, I think they just used the beginning of each show, if I’m not wrong.
You can share them and the person who clicks on it (it’s visible in your profile then) can see the subs in the editor made by that person where you’re reminded to report people who use a translator…
I don’t see the point to limit it to Spanish and Portuguese, though. I mean, it’s not like Viki has to check anything.
I’m a New Contributor
mirjam_465
