Sometimes when I’m watching dramas, with subtitles of native language on (out of curiosity), I can see a lot of mistakes. Mistakes like wrong translation, unnecessary use of big/traditional words, grammar mistakes, etc. This usually happens in dramas that are older/ were translated a long time ago. And most of the time, it’s evident that the person has used GT.
What do you do in a situation like this? Do we just let it go? I asked cause it’s really been bugging me for a while, i apologize if it’s a dumb question. ^^
To be honest, I don’t know.
But they might thought it was correct and let it go. But if they find it they just correct the translation, if the user used Google Translator they might get banned from the subtitling community.
This is my opinion, I know that there is place for better everywhere, but…
There are a lot of topics related to translation, segmentation, etc., which if you open and read, you will find out how many problems these volunteers face. At the same time, you will understand that it is better to say “thank you”, because for those who know English it is much simpler because almost all movies/series regardless of the site/platform are found with English subtitles, while they are extremely few with subtitles in other languages, and the community on Viki is great and thanks for what it is.
So thank you to all the volunteers.
It may be old. In older times, the standards at Viki were not that high.
It may not have had an editor. Or the editor left, and they didn’t find a new one. Especially translation editors are a rare breed nowadays. And without a translation editor, the English editor can only polish the English language, but if the translation is not correct, s/he won’t know it, if s/he doesn’t know the source language.
It may not have a moderator or Channel Manager anymore, because the person left Viki or whatever.
The Channel Manager, English moderator and English editor are lazy and/or incompetent.
What to do when you spot mistakes:
Now, to answer the O.P.'s question. There is not only one answer.
For us volunteers, we have to be tactful and know who we are talking to. There are some people who get hurt and offended if you point out mistakes, there are some others who welcome the feedback and help, and are quick to go and correct whatever needs to be corrected, even if it’s a drama from years ago.
Of course, a viewer who is not a veteran volunteer doesn’t know who is this person behind the username, so s/he has to go blindly.
The correct procedure:
Write down the episode number and timestamp (minute) of the subtitle, and also write the whole subtitle down. You may also suggest why this is wrong, if it’s not evident.
Collect them all and send them to the relevant person. Start with the Chief Editor. If you don’t get a reply, try the English moderator, and if you don’t get a reply, the Channel Manager.
Of course, if the mistakes are so many that it’s a week’s job to make a list of them all, there’s no point in doing all that. In that case, write a general message with few examples, and gently remind the person that they should do something about editing this show. You could even offer yourself - if you can access it.
Pulling up the subtitle file while watching and copy pasting the subtitles with the timing seems more efficient. More errors means more time spent on typing. @jooniax
You should wait a couple of days, maybe up to a week, before moving up the ladder.
as it might be old or has a poor moderating experience,
Although we know something is wrong we cannot change only thing we can do is report or reply maybe it has some other traditional words as India consists a lot of states with different native Hindi language talking lifestyles…
I would think given how one responds to explaining the mistakes that the subbers would be happy to get help and better understanding of which ever language they are being corrected on. Not always the case, some get pretty bitter about it. And it can lead to getting comments, reviews, etc being deleted. Just saying.
Well, if there are so many, it’s pointless to point them (see the pun?), because it means the episode hasn’t been edited, or that the editor sucks. It’s one of the cases when you quote a couple of glaring examples and you tell the higher-up (as politely as possible) that the amount of mistakes is unacceptable and they should find some competent person to check it.
