HappyScribe? Téma indítója: Elisabeth Maurland
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Hi,
I don't do much subtitling, and what I have done, has usually been in Word or Excel bilingual files with time codes already inserted. A couple of years ago, I had a translation agency ask me to do a fairly small job in HappyScribe, and I didn't really think about how long it took.
So when a private client recently asked me to subtitle a piece of raw footage, I accepted, thinking I would use HappyScribe again, since I was somewhat used to it.
So, long story short – 100 min... See more Hi,
I don't do much subtitling, and what I have done, has usually been in Word or Excel bilingual files with time codes already inserted. A couple of years ago, I had a translation agency ask me to do a fairly small job in HappyScribe, and I didn't really think about how long it took.
So when a private client recently asked me to subtitle a piece of raw footage, I accepted, thinking I would use HappyScribe again, since I was somewhat used to it.
So, long story short – 100 minutes of unedited conversation, small talk, cross-talk, and mumbling took 39 hours and 45 minutes to subtitle, not counting any kind of break. I had offered USD 5 per video minute, which turned out to be 12.50 an hour, again, not counting any kind of break. So asking too little was my first mistake.
What else? Is there a better program than HappyScribe when all you have is the footage? It automatically did an AI translation for me, which I had to edit all the way through and often delete to start from scratch. And the really time-consuming part was making each subtitle fit within the required character count and length.
Also, the subscription for HappyScribe was $29.95 a month, because this job was longer than the free trial offer.
I have been asked to do 25 more video minutes, same subject, which at this pace would take 10 hours at this pace, and I've basically turned it down. But maybe there is a way to do this job more profitably?
1. Ask for a better rate (probably too late in this case)
2. Find a more efficient tool
3. Be less exact with the placement of the subtitles
?
Any insight would be welcome!
Elisabeth ▲ Collapse
| | | | yinnyann 
Spanyolország
Local time: 13:46
angol - francia
+ ...
Hi Elisabeth,
Subtitle Edit is open source and pretty straightforward, but it's not a CAT tool.
I can hardly imagine working directly on Word or Excel bilingual, by the way. If you have a good CAT tool, it should offer tools to i... See more Hi Elisabeth,
Subtitle Edit is open source and pretty straightforward, but it's not a CAT tool.
I can hardly imagine working directly on Word or Excel bilingual, by the way. If you have a good CAT tool, it should offer tools to import videos. The Video Preview Tool available in memoQ (from version 8.5) allows you to view your translations as subtitles directly with the mp4 file of your project.
In my opinion, AI still means more harm than good. Usually, one minute of video requires at least twenty minutes of human work. For quality purposes, I would recommend not doing more than 25 minutes a day. Just do your math to find your best rate. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elisabeth Maurland
Egyesült Államok
Local time: 06:46
Tag (2013 óta)
angol - norvég
+ ...
TÉMAINDÍTÓ
I don't have a good CAT tool. I have a Mac, so the only CAT tool I own myself, is WordFast Pro, which is now rendered useless because my Mac doesn't have the required chip after a WordFast update. But even before that, I didn't use it very much since almost all my clients are agencies with their own online CAT tools.
It looks like Subtitle Edit might not be great with Mac either... But I will look into it if I get another chance to subtitle something. (It *is* fun!)
I don't th... See more I don't have a good CAT tool. I have a Mac, so the only CAT tool I own myself, is WordFast Pro, which is now rendered useless because my Mac doesn't have the required chip after a WordFast update. But even before that, I didn't use it very much since almost all my clients are agencies with their own online CAT tools.
It looks like Subtitle Edit might not be great with Mac either... But I will look into it if I get another chance to subtitle something. (It *is* fun!)
I don't think I could do 25 video minutes (of the material I just did) in one day. It would have taken 10 hours, which would have to be split into two days. I have turned the job down. Regrettably, since it was interesting and for a good cause.
I absolutely agree with AI being more trouble than good. I do use it sometimes, but never for pre-translation.
Thank you again for your points of view!
Elisabeth ▲ Collapse
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Hi,
Some of my fellow subtitlers use Aegisub on Mac.
Like Subtitle Edit, it's an open source tool for creating and modifying subtitles but no CAT tool.
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Hi Elisabeth,
First of all, for your language pair, that was asking too little. However, there are us who work for even less, so don't feel bad about it.
In Subtitle Edit, you have a way to make your job easier - Whisper. You simply turn your audio into text and you don't have to enter subtitles one by one, it does that for you. Mind you, you will have to merge the subtitles and change the timecodes, because it won't always cut it where it needs to be cut, but again, you won't have t... See more Hi Elisabeth,
First of all, for your language pair, that was asking too little. However, there are us who work for even less, so don't feel bad about it.
In Subtitle Edit, you have a way to make your job easier - Whisper. You simply turn your audio into text and you don't have to enter subtitles one by one, it does that for you. Mind you, you will have to merge the subtitles and change the timecodes, because it won't always cut it where it needs to be cut, but again, you won't have to do all that work by yourself. Secondly, you could try to machine translate the subtitles, but in my opinion, it's not worth the effort, because, you will, essentially go back and forth, deleting and correcting it, that you could just save yourself some trouble and translate it yourself.
And when talking about software that is not free, I can recommend EZ titles. It's relatively straightforward and easy to use, and you can make your subtitles just by pressing the spacebar for as long as you want your subtitle to last. You can download the trial version. However, Subtilte Edit works just fine. And it's free.
Happy translating! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elisabeth Maurland
Egyesült Államok
Local time: 06:46
Tag (2013 óta)
angol - norvég
+ ...
TÉMAINDÍTÓ | Thank you, Ekaterina and Milica | Mar 27 |
I will keep Aegisub and EZ Titles in mind for next time! I don't think Subtitle Edit works with a Mac, but I appreciate the insight in the subtitling world. Now I have some tools…
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