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From SDH/CC to "regular" subtitles
Thread poster: Jemina Pusa
Jemina Pusa
Jemina Pusa
Spain
Local time: 22:53
Finnish to English
+ ...
Jan 17, 2018

Hi all,

So I had a project with a client, who wanted me to translate subtitles for a movie. Subtitles already had closed captioning in them, so I obviously assumed these should be translated as well, as there was no separate mention about it. Got finished, returned project, everything was good. Now client contacted me saying, that he wants them as regular subtitles, without the SDH/CC. This is the first time I need to reverse this, and am not quite sure how to do this. Do I just man... See more
Hi all,

So I had a project with a client, who wanted me to translate subtitles for a movie. Subtitles already had closed captioning in them, so I obviously assumed these should be translated as well, as there was no separate mention about it. Got finished, returned project, everything was good. Now client contacted me saying, that he wants them as regular subtitles, without the SDH/CC. This is the first time I need to reverse this, and am not quite sure how to do this. Do I just manually remove the subtitles from the file, which are like "APPLAUSES" or "LAUGHING" or is there another way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Nevermind, I got it sorted out in one go with a program called Subtitle Edit. Leaving this post here as reference for others if anyone else runs into the same problem.

[Edited at 2018-01-17 10:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 17:53
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
An editing job Jan 17, 2018

Jemina Pusa wrote:

From SDH/CC to "regular" subtitles

Hi all,

So I had a project with a client, who wanted me to translate
subtitles for a movie. Subtitles already had closed
captioning in them, so I obviously assumed these should be
translated as well, as there was no separate mention about
it. Got finished, returned project, everything was good. Now
client contacted me saying, that he wants them as regular
subtitles, without the SDH/CC. This is the first time I need
to reverse this, and am not quite sure how to do this. Do I
just manually remove the subtitles from the file, which are
like "APPLAUSES" or "LAUGHING" or is there another way to do
this?

Thanks in advance.



SDH/CC contains absolutely everything that comes through the audio channel, all SFX and noises, plus the FULL TRANSCRIPT of what's being said, identifying the speaker when that's not obvious.

The idea is that the audio channel to the spectator will be disconnected. It includes the case when the spectator is hearing impaired, but also cases when audio must be muted (e.g. waiting rooms in hospitals), or when it's smothered by noise (e.g. a busy bus or subway station).

Counting on the spectator's brain being less busy to decode audio input, SDH/CC overloads the visual input, with full text and info in writing onscreen.

Subtitles involve a different approach. They merely convey, in writing, the essence of what's being said, as concisely as possible, so that the spectator can have more time to watch the action, listen to the noises, and perhaps pay attention to the tone that is being said, though in a language s/he cannot understand.

So all you'll have to do on your (supposedly subtitles-compatible) file is:
a) Remove all explanatory items, such as sound descriptions and off-screen speaker identification;
b) Shorten* the text as much as you can;
c) add punctuation as necessary.

* For instance:
(camera is focused on John, Gwen is off-camera)
SDH/CC: [Gwendolynne:] An unusually long period of time has elapsed since the last time we were together [giggles]
Subtitle: We haven't met for quite a while.

[Edited at 2018-01-17 10:38 GMT]
 
Evavenegastraud
Evavenegastraud
Spain
Local time: 21:53
Spanish to Latin
+ ...
Manually Jan 17, 2018

Hi,

You have to do it manually from the subtitling program, not from the .srt file because this will be change all the timing.
 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 17:53
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Of course! Jan 17, 2018

Evavenegastraud wrote:
You have to do it manually from the subtitling program, not from the .srt file because this will be change all the timing.


In order to make my suggestion clear, I never expected this to be done in any other way than on e.g. Subtitle Workshop or Subtitle Edit (both are free), as it might involve joining together some subtitles, deleting others, etc. A good chance to check if the SDH/CC timing was accurate.

No point in shoving it through Trados, like some people would do.
 


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From SDH/CC to "regular" subtitles







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