The ultimate bottom-feeder (in subtitling) Thread poster: José Henrique Lamensdorf
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Lately, I've been bombarded via all possible means with the job offer below. Last night I received three such messages, one of them as a Proz job post.
It works like this... the translator replies to the message, and they offer some despicably low rate, a small fraction of the minimally acceptable actual market rates.
Their stategy became clearer to me when I saw - in another Proz-like site on the web - an old forum message where a translator said that $1 per minute of ... See more Lately, I've been bombarded via all possible means with the job offer below. Last night I received three such messages, one of them as a Proz job post.
It works like this... the translator replies to the message, and they offer some despicably low rate, a small fraction of the minimally acceptable actual market rates.
Their stategy became clearer to me when I saw - in another Proz-like site on the web - an old forum message where a translator said that $1 per minute of runtime was too low, even in India. Last week they were offering $1.75. So they have raised their offer by 75% already, and are still desperately hunting for translators. It may take time, but they might someday reach some rates level compatible with the quality they supposedly brag about.
In this meantime, after 24 years I've been translating mostly corporate/business video, apart from maybe two dozen feature films, I am now translating a well-known TV series for a thoroughly good subtitling company. Upon doing a web search for a very peculiar and rarely used expression in the first episode I took, I stumbled into the fan subtitles for that same episode into my target language.
For those unfamiliar with the jargon, fansubbing is the development of subtitles by amateurs, for free. They just love the series, and want to give themselves a reason to watch (an illegal copy of) it under a magnifying glass, and spread it to the world.
While that fansub included a couple of interesting insights into the characters, possibly from the perp's personal devotion, it contained an average of one really thundering translation blooper per minute (rolling credits' time included), on top of minor ones, as well as grammar/spelling mistakes.
Then I got to my second episode. Just for fun, I decided to download the freely available fansub. Surprise! It was by far the worst piece of machine translation I ever saw. The subs looked like someone having taken extreme pains to make sure nobody would understand what was being said there, unless they spoke the source language, rendering the subs useless.
So when this all-cheap subtitling company eventually realizes that the translation marketplace demands rates several times higher than what they are willing to pay, they'll eventually dismiss translation, and resort to downloading the freely available fansubs.
I re-read their job offer, and they specifically mention "provider of quality subtitling, closed captioning and translation services ". When one mentions merely "quality", it's usually intended to mean "good/high quality". As it's deliberately omitted here, they feel authorized to make it mean "the lowest possible quality". Why not?
Some translators now and then complain harshly on translation forums, newsgroups, etc. about the subtitle translation bloopers they saw last night on TV. Some of them say they wrote the TV station about it. When they reply, the TV station says they merely broadcast whatever they get from the distributor. Some translators are persistent enough to write to the distributor, who says they received it like that from the producers. And the most persistent ones write to the producers, who say that we've been outsourcing all our subtitling work, traslation included to XXXX, a reputable international company, for the past umpteen years. Quite frankly, I'd write directly to the local sponsors, suggesting they include a clause on their next agreements, stipulating pecuniary penalties in case the subtitles translation is deemed bad, as this will probably lead monoglot spectators to switch to another channel, therefore losing audience. Over time, this could be expected to improve the subtitling industry as a whole.
Back to this subtitling company, to add insult to injury, their Blue Board record is not at all enviable, exactly as expected. Anyway, here is their job offer message:
Dear Sir/Madam,
XXXX, a leading provider of quality subtitling, closed captioning and translation services for major motion picture studios, film festivals, broadcast and cable networks, is seeking:
NATIVE LANGUAGE FREELANCE TRANSLATORS
Main Duties:
Translating from English to the required native language
Proofreading
Education, Experience and Competencies:
Candidates must meet the following criteria:
Be native speakers of the target language and reside in their native countries.
Possess a strong knowledge of the English language (knowledge of other languages is an asset)
Have a bachelor degree and/or experience related to Translation, Literature, Journalism or Communication
Be computer-oriented and have sound knowledge of the MS Office Suite
Be organized, priority-focused, dynamic, independent and resourceful
Must respond well under the pressure of deadlines
Have affinity for North American cinema and television
Other Requirements
Candidates must be available at least 10 hours per week and possess a PC (MAC and Virtual PC are not compatible with our software).
Our minimum computer and internet requirements are:
Windows XP or Windows Vista with 1 GB RAM
DSL with minimum download 256/upload 128 speed or Cable with 1 MB
If you are interested, please e-mail your resume to XXXX, indicating your mother tongue in the subject line. Suitable candidates will be asked to fill out an application form and to complete a proficiency test.
Please visit our web site XXXX for more information regarding our company.
Best regards,
XXXX ▲ Collapse
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X) 
France
Local time: 12:46
French to German
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| Great! I am out! | May 26, 2011 |
This is one of the numerous advantages of working on a Mac: everything which should be done "under Windows only" just passes before my eyes.
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 19:46
Chinese to English
| Fansubbing: for fun only | May 26, 2011 |
Fansubbing is huge here in China - pirate copies of US TV shows are available online almost instantly after broadcast, and a few rival crews get to work subbing them, so they can be made available on file swapping sites here. I'd say Jose's rate of one blooper per minute is low - a lot of the work here bears only a passing resemblance to what's being said.
On the occasions when I've watched official Chinese releases, with official subtitles, I've been very impressed - they're often very cl... See more Fansubbing is huge here in China - pirate copies of US TV shows are available online almost instantly after broadcast, and a few rival crews get to work subbing them, so they can be made available on file swapping sites here. I'd say Jose's rate of one blooper per minute is low - a lot of the work here bears only a passing resemblance to what's being said.
On the occasions when I've watched official Chinese releases, with official subtitles, I've been very impressed - they're often very clear, idiomatic renderings of the original. So this danger of mixing up the amateur work with the professional doesn't seem to have happened here yet. Let's hope it never does! ▲ Collapse
| | | | kmtext
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:46
English
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| Fansubbing can be useful at times | May 26, 2011 |
If I'm working on one or two episodes in the middle of some obscure series I know nothing about, I usually check to see if there are fansubs available, because they can provide some context if there's a theme or running joke in the series. There have even been occasions when I haven't been able to understand what's been said due to poor audio quality or a muffled delivery of a line and the fansub has helped me make sense of what's going on.
I tend to look on them as a useful, but un... See more If I'm working on one or two episodes in the middle of some obscure series I know nothing about, I usually check to see if there are fansubs available, because they can provide some context if there's a theme or running joke in the series. There have even been occasions when I haven't been able to understand what's been said due to poor audio quality or a muffled delivery of a line and the fansub has helped me make sense of what's going on.
I tend to look on them as a useful, but unreliable resource.
In terms of quality of work, the spelling is usually horrendous and the grammar appalling. What's worse is that the results are often machine translated so the initial errors are compounded.
Personally, I would not want to be associated with any agency which would try to pass off such poor quality work as professional. It shows their lack of regard for the profession itself and the skills and talents of genuine translators and subtitlers. Not only that, but mud sticks and if you've been working for a client who has a poor reputation, it can rub off on you. ▲ Collapse
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Phil Hand wrote:
I'd say Jose's rate of one blooper per minute is low - a lot of the work here bears only a passing resemblance to what's being said.
Sure! This average was from the best fansubbed episode I found. The perps proudly include their nicknames and web site in the subs. The others have 0% of usable subtitles.
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