Reports from students of our subtitling courses
'I started the comprehensive course at the end of March 2010 after reading about it on the internet. There is no such course in Germany at this point in time so I decided to go with this online course. It was the right decision. The material was send to me right away and I could start the course about three days after transfering the money. And the material was all I could have hoped for. The tutorial videos showed exactly how to use the subtitling program, the e-book descriptions were easy to understand, remember and use. The example videos and exercises helped to improve the understanding of the basics and later more complicated matters.
The whole course of three modules took four months but it was well worth it. I had previous timing experience and books and such, but the course gave me a solid understanding while not being boring or anything. On the contrary, the videos to practice subtitling with were always different. Some easier or more difficult than others but each one interesting and challenging. And while during my course time the activity in the accompanying GoogleGroup was rather low, feedback by Bartho was always fast and very helpful with explanations and suggestions for improvement. Thank you for the great course!
German student - Spring/Summer 2010
'I started the Comprehensive Course in January 2009 and I enjoyed every moment I spent practising. The course is built up in a very professional way. You go ahead step by step, so you don’t get frustrated with the workload but still get the feeling of making progress all the time. Also, the tasks and movies are manifold and exciting. My absolute favourite is in module 3, it’s the incredible music video of an Indian pop star dressed in red plastic, with the funniest subtitles I have ever seen.
Two things were even above my expectations. First the demo videos, which explain where to click on your screen when you make your settings, connected and unconnected subtitles. It feels like having a real teacher right next to you explaining all the things you need to know, while showing you what to do on your computer. It makes everything clear and very easy to understand. Incredibly well done. The other thing which is way above average is Bartho’s attitude to students. You can ask him as many questions as you like, you will still get the same patience and attention. I always had the feeling that he didn’t want me to just finish the course somehow but to finish it by reaching the highest possible level in the end. He is a great teacher and he made a great course. Thanks for everything.' Edina Kozma, Hungary, April 2009
'When I graduated in 1996 from the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters (ASTI) of the University of Buea, I embarked on the search for an Institute where I could learn Subtitling. It is in 2005 that I got in contact for the first time with Bartho Kriek thanks to the ‘magic’ of the World Wide Web. I could not start the Compact Course, now termed ‘Comprehensive Course’, at the time because my computer did not meet the required specifications.
A couple of years later I was set and enrolled. I wrestled with the understanding of 'incues', 'outcues', 'trails', 'frames' and a host of other aspects of subtitling. Besides, I was ‘dancing faster than music’ because I wanted to grasp all at a time. I nearly got frustrated until I shifted back to the step-by-step scheme, kept practising and practising and never hesitating to ‘trouble’ Bartho with questions.
I strongly recommend the Comprehensive course to subtitlers-to-be on account of the fact that it is well designed and practical. And for all those undertaking the course, I wish to say: the royal road to proficiency is practice, consistency, and humility.
Subtitling is now fun for me...even though it remains a challenging exercise. I keep practising. I am now establishing partnerships with subtitlers and film producers in Cameroon, Nigeria especially, and the rest of the world.'
Alphonsius Ategha, Cameroon - March 2009
'After years of working as a translator I decided to take the Compact Course in order to expand my professional skills. Since professional commitments made it impossible for me to attend the courses available at a certain time and place, I decided to take a compact course. The Compact Course proved to be the ideal solution as it was compact and flexible enough to take while maintaining professional activity and comprehensive enough for me to develop and put to practice the set of skills good subtitling implies in its full extent.'
PM, Portugal - February 2008
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'I was especially impressed with the online material. The information is simple and concise but deep and very valuable.
As a pioneer of English Subtitles for TV broadcast in Thailand, I found your course to be simple and concise, yet deep and efficient. The principles are basic but take years to master. I look forward to any further updates in the course material. Keep up the good work.'
A Thai student - Fall 2007
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Brazilian student Sandra Xavier Teixeira, language teacher (English, French and Brazilian Portuguese ) and translator.
e-mail: sandra.teixeira@planet.nl
Language combinations: EN-BR, FR-BR, NL-BR
October, November 2005/April 2006
WEEK 1 and 2
I spent most of the first week trying to get the hang of the software: reading the Help files, trying it out, reading the available material for the Subtitling Course on the internet, taking over al the Spot settings from the Yahoo Group Files.
In the second week, I started to time the subtitles and this is so far one of the biggest difficulties for me : getting used to all the procedures in the spotting process, i.e. defining in and out cues, distinguishing the what-to-do steps for continuous and not continuous subtitles and the one-second-rule.
WEEK 3
I still couldn't achieve a certain regularity in my timing (especially in my incues) but I realize I start to get more aware of it, this way I notice when the subtitles are late or simply early.
In the first weeks, my greatest worries were in relation to the technical details involved in the subtitling process. This week, though I began translating as well (EN-Br). While translating as well I began to realize how difficult this is, because it's not only finding the most appropriate matches in the target language, but also a matter of 'squeezing' (compressing), truncating, in order to accommodate the translation within some requirements as character numbers and reading time without compromising much of the sense.
WEEK 4
I began to correct my own mistakes not only in relation to the timing but in the translation, sentences division, etc.
In fact, I think I'm getting used to a new sort of grammar, in this case the software, its codes as well as the rules that guide the subtitle-making process, so I think ( at least, I hope...) that it's just a matter of time till I can feel more at ease and can show more regularity in the whole process, which I think will come via a lot of work.
WEEK 5
I carried on the same routine: spotting, translation, Master Recut, review. This week I worked with the Onedin video file of the Compact Course. Unfortunately, it's not clear to me yet which procedure has to be used when you have to set the incue and outcue for continuous and not continuous subtitles. Because of this the whole week's work was not that precise.
What is frustrating is that you can have the impression that you advanced a lot in one week and then sometimes revert to the beginning in another. On the other hand, in regard to the translation I got more chances to exercise in aspects like truncating the text, thinking about possible solutions that satisfy criteria like number of characters, reading time, not making the text too poor by means of the truncating.
WEEK 6
This week I worked on the file Ricki, where there are many people speaking at the same time. This brings extra difficulties because you have to decide and select what's more important to be in the subtitle and what you have to dispose of, because you cannot keep all, and so I hesitated a lot about the incues and the outcues.
Working on another file, I noticed that I'm having less difficulties than before in linking the subtitles and that I'm getting more precise about setting the incues. The subtitles now instead of being late are slightly earlier which means I start to get more confident on my reaction speed while timing.
WEEK 7
This week, I worked on the file 'Geluk van Nederland' (NL-Br) which I already started last week. What became clear is that I'm not totally confident yet in my reaction speed. Before some subtitles were either late or early, now most of them are earlier. I believe there's no magical formula to correct that besides practice and exercise. The desire to do and make all timings perfect might even be the reason why they are not so regular. I was told that from the moment I get more relaxed and continue doing the timing in a natural way, the trust in my reaction speed will get stronger. Maybe that's why some files are better than others. As for making outcues and keeping the intervals between the subtitles, I've managed a reasonable regularity. But when looking into problems relating to the translation, I have to admit that most of my attention still goes to the technical aspects of the process.
WEEKS 8 and 9
After having been away for three months, I'm back and busy completing the Compact Course. I can say that in these two weeks and after such a long break my worries were focused on recovering part of the work routine I had before leaving. In the beginning I thought it would be very hard and it was, but not less than I expected it to be. In fact, I was surprised at the speed my memories came back: setting incues, outcues, the one second rule, distinguishing the difference between the intervals of continuous and non-continuous subtitles, doing the Master Recut. Some subtitles still come in earlier than others and I realized that I still have problems with dividing the sentences over the two lines the best way, omitting important elements while truncating, and with typing mistakes, which I justify by the fact that I tend to concentrate myself too much on the technical aspects. In general, though, I am satisfied with the results of these two weeks, and with some more continuous practice I guess I will be able to achieve the so desired regularity.
IN CONCLUSION
It’s been quite a while since I updated this report, but since the last update I’ve been continuing with my practice and I even have some good news. I’ve already done a free-lance job for a French subtitling company and I’ve started applying to other subtitling companies. I was very happy to see how useful this course was. I guess from now on, I'll continue practicing and applying, and see what comes out of it!
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Casey DovaleLanguage combinations: EN-EN and NL-EN
WEEK ONE
I started a file map, printed all the files and reviewed the literature. Next I installed Spot, printed the setup guide and went through it meticulously to have a basic understanding of how Spot is setup. Then I loaded some files and tried practicing some in and out cues, how the keys work and, how to save and retrieve the files. Basically the first week was spent getting acquainted with Spot and reviewing and learning the basic rules to subtitling.
WEEK TWO
After a brief review of the compact course to refresh my memory, I started up where I left off with Spot the previous week. I did not do any translations yet but just entered in garbled text, focusing more on improving on consistency with my in and out cues. Also found myself looking more distinctively at phrasing and the interval between sentences. This plays a large part in deciding whether to apply the one second rule or start a new title. Also checked out Spot's Yahoo member page and browsed through the others student's comments and questions.
WEEK THREE
I made it a habit to review the compact course every time I get ready to open Spot to practice. At first this seemed a bit like overkill but it helps stamp the basic rules into your brain. Slowly but surely I started to get a feel of the program, but realize that consistency is the name of the game if you want to get your timing down right. Did a lot of opening and saving of files after subtitling and for the first time did some translations. On the last day of the week opened previously subtitled files for review and found that as I'm working on them they seem relatively good. However, when I look back to them at a later date I see my inconsistencies and where my timing is off more clearly.
WEEK FOUR
This week I felt I was making progress in that my timing was becoming more consistent. This was a good thing, but I was troubled by the fact that I was doing something wrong when it became time to do a master recut. We all have a natural delay in the response time it takes us to spot a cue. The master recut specifically makes up for this delay and if done properly will make your title appear at the exact right moment. A handy way to do this is to first back up your video files ten frames. Then go to cues and click on master recut. The master recut time in the bottom window will coincide exactly with what your recut should be.
WEEK FIVE
Practice, Practice, Practice. Sometimes it seems to get a little monotonous. This week I figured I was up for a challenge so I tried a video clip that had somewhat more agitated conversation and a lot of dialogue back and forth. Here you have to make choices. Do I join two people 'talking together' on one title? Can I omit a 'but' or 'you know' and still make a title work? How much should I truncate? What can I leave out and what not? Remember that people read in 'blocks' of words, so it's important to group your words together to make the title visually appealing and quickly understandable. Next week we'll discuss 'assimilation' and how important this can be to master the art of subtitling.
WEEK SIX
Ok, now that we've got our feet wet and are feeling a little more confident about what we are doing, we can start being a little more articulate in how we do things. We aren't just blindly spotting and translating anymore as our knowledge base and experience increases. Equally so, our approach to the material we are working on evolves and consequently improves as well. A logical next step would be that of 'assimilation' and simply put, means placing 'you' within the video and characters you're working on. As events unfold in the video, imagine them happening to you and how you would react. Allow yourself to 'feel' the emotions and events occurring in your video and you will inadvertently spot and translate better.
WEEK SEVEN
What you will undoubtedly experience (as I have) is that when translating you'll be reading a sentence and then start to translate it bit by bit as you go along. Basically, there is nothing wrong with this method but... what I've found is that in doing so, you stay too close to the source language and wind up not writing subtitles that correspond to the language you are translating to. Here's a tip: read the sentence in its entirety, listen and think about what is being said and then formulate your subtitles based on a conceptual thought of how the sentence should read in the language you are translating to. With a little practice you'll find that your titles will look and read quite different.
WEEK EIGHT
Undoubtedly if you've been titling for a while you will have come across different types of media files requiring different settings. When working on dramas or TV soaps etc. we have learned to start at 39 (safe area override) characters per line. If you're set at 39, Spot will look for any line longer than that and it will show up when you do a check: shift + F9. Our indicated reading speed for this setting is 11. Shift + F9 will also flush out any lines that cannot be read properly at this setting. Now here is where it gets tricky. Documentary settings usually have a shorter override setting, namely 37. My advice is to hold off doing any documentaries until you've gotten used to the 11/39 setting, as 11/37 will really show you the meaning of 'truncate'.
WEEK NINE
OK, we're into the last lap of the course and hopefully by this time you'll have noticed significant improvement in the titles you've produced recently. Here's one important key element in succeeding with the compact course: practice! Consistency is crucial to getting a feel for what is right and how to apply that quickly and efficiently from your keyboard. When the going gets tough (your feeling less motivated) remember why it is you started the course in the first place and let that be your motivator to keep at it. Only by consistently working on applying the basic rules and automatisms will you have a chance to become a successful subtitler.
[Casey Dovale had to stop working on the Compact Course because he found a demanding full-time job. We've given him six months to think about whether or not he would like to come back and pick up from where he left off.]
March, 29th 2006
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