Usually, I don’t let subbers work alone without a moderator when I’m a CM. It’s kinda risky, idk. But I’ve seen other CMs do that, even CMs who are Viki Staffs. So, what do you think?
As long as the subtitler is good and responsible, there’s no problem. Of course you can’t really check this if you don’t speak their tongue, but doesn’t that also go for an OL moderator?
I guess this is to some extent just a matter of trust. If it’s a really abusive subtitler, who would just fill in the segments with whatever, you would probably notice. If he/she writes in the agreed language, you may assume they are serious and trying their best.
In the worst case there might be mistakes in it, but it still could make the difference between people with that native tongue being able to watch that particular show or not.
Besides, I think a lot of people are too proud of their language to want to be responsible for a lot of mistakes in the subtitles they write.
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You would be surprised! Really. Viki has more than enough bad subtitles. I feel like they just take away it’s credibility…
Yes, this is what got me thinking twice. The fact that more people would be able to enjoy the show. Unfortunaly, I wouldn’t be able to check on the subs, so I was just concerned about the quality.
But, yeah, I think you’re right.
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You are right. I’ve also come across some bad subtitles. But usually they were still understandable. And of course I would prefer quality, but I don’t think excluding a potentially good subtitler just because there’s a chance that they might not be so good, is the best thing to do if they’re your only option to get subtitles in a certain language.
I figure most people are honest. I generally have an “open door” policy so that the viewers in the less common language at viki might benefit from this. I do spot check – I put the English subs in Google Translate to make sure they aren’t using Google Translate. Also, I put some of their subs into Google Translate and let google “detect” the language – and see if the content is at least close to the English. Once in a great while, someone uses Google Translate – I report those people to viki staff and ask that all that person’s subs be removed and deductions be made from their contributions. More often than not such people do that to get QC’ed so they will choose an uncommon language. Thankfully there aren’t too many.
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I’d say better someone who translate it than no one for languages with only few subbers in total.
Besides it can also happen that someone translates worse than Google Translate…
(That’s probably the reason why VIKI is testing its machine learning software.)
In one article was written that translation software for books is sometimes already on the same level as human translations and sometimes just a bit below so I guess in the long-run these softwares will be able to translate on a average level of a human translator. One of the most annoying aspects of GT atm is the often wrong syntax but that is something many human translators do too (here on VIKI) so it’s not even specifically for a software translation.
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If someone wants to sub without a moderator you could take a look at their contributions. If they have several dramas with only 100-200 subs, there’s little chance they will finish it. But if they have more than 10,000 subs on drama, chances are quite big that they are responsible and stay with the drama till all the subs are filled in.
For the laguage barrier you can ask someone who also knows that language to say whether or not the subs make sense and if they’re at least decent.
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Guys, thank you for your opinion!
I agree with you all. From now on, I’ll let them sub, but I’ll keep an eye on them.
Thank you ^^
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Most of the time I sub alone as a Moderator because there is a lack of subtitlers in my language. It’s a very common thing for small languages and nothing to be frowned upon.
I ask to be the Moderator, not a subtitler, because I need control over the locking of the videos and if there is a new subber that wants to join me while I translate that show (slowly, because I’m a single Mod), she is more than welcome.
You can somewhat check if the Moderator in question is responsible by going into their Projects page and checking:
- the number of total subs per project,
- the last episode contributed in that project.
As @oriya says, the total number of subs per project should be above 10.000 for a single Moderator in a standard Korean drama of 16 episodes. You should also check that she translated the last or semi-last episode on most of her old projects. Both pieces of information would indicate that she finished translating those dramas, and mostly by herself.
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Good point about checking the number of subs if the person has previously subbed. I do check – and if they have previously subbed, I see they have a small number here and there, I check for the number of completed episodes. I suggest they finish something they already started. Recently, I have been getting requests to sub in a less common language in three or four dramas from the same person on the same day – three or 4 pms. I tell that person to choose the one they want to sub the most and when they finish, then tell me what they want to work on next. I try to look at it from the standpoint of someone who wants to watch a drama in that language. Would they like to see one episode each of 16 dramas or one complete drama?
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If they have a low number of subtitles in some of their shows (but not in all), it might also mean that on a few occasions they worked in teams or that they lost access to a drama they were subtitling. So it doesn’t necessarily have to mean they willingly abandoned those projects.
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