Experimenting with subtitling
I have always wondered how to add subtitles to movies and video clips, so today I decided to experiment around. It turns out that all the necessary software to add subtitles to a movie and render the subtitles directly to the video file is available for free. I use Windows XP at the moment, and it only took me a few minutes to get the subtitled movie created once I had prepared the text, and installed the following software:
There are many people out there whose hobby is translating and publishing subtitled Japanese shows/movies/animations in their native language, for various reasons. Many of them want to practice their Japanese skills, or simply want to help their fellow countrymen (and women) experience these Japanese productions in a way that wouldn't be possible with the language barrier looming large. Others are trying to release so-called "fan-subbed" versions of titles that are not scheduled for release outside of Japan, meaning that the only way to watch some Japanese shows/movies/animations is to buy a ticket and hop on a plane. These aims are justified in some cases, but not all the time...on the consuming end of the equation, many people just like Japanese stuff and want to get it illegally for free.
There are a few animes out there that I like, but I'm not really a big fan of the genre overall. My intentions for getting into the subbing scene is to hone my translation and (currently non-existant) video production skills while helping foreigners in Japan understand more about the society in which they're living. Last month I was a volunteer interpreter for a trip to the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution in Kobe. It's actually really nice because they have really good multilingual facilities for foreign visitors: guided tours on tapes are available in at least Korean, Chinese, and English, there are in-house interpreters available, and the movies in their theater can be heard in English, Chinese, or Korean by using miniature radio receivers. This is great, because they want to help educate foreigners in Japan about what to do in the event of an earthquake, how to make one's home safer, emergency checklists, etc. However, not all Japanese institutions are so easy to understand for foreigners who speak no or limited Japanese. My post yesterday about the upcoming law about used electrical appliances is one such issue. English-language Japanese newspapers exist both in print and online, but subscription is somewhat expensive and it's hard for busy people to read the news every single day. So I thought I would try to set up a free service on behalf of my company Chameleon Language Services, in which I would translate documents (and subtitle videos) for free provided that (1) I have enough time and (2) they are aimed at improving the health, safety, and or education of the public. This is a very new idea of mine, and not very well-developed yet, but I thought I would take a stab by translating and subbing an informational video clip aimed at educating consumers about the forthcoming enactment of new provisions to the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law, which relates to my post yesterday.
So without further ado, here is my first, albeit very small, translation/sub!
Video Link
It took me all of 5 minutes to make the damn video, and 5 hours to find an appropriate streaming codec. I first tried streaming Windows Media Video, with no success, then tried a pure Java player for OGG video viles, RealPlayer, etc. with unsatisfactory results. Finally Flash provided the easiest and best solution. Thanks, Macromedia! If you have trouble viewing the video, please let me know.
- Sub Station Alpha v4.08
- TMPGEnc
- VirtualDub
- Subtitler - Sub Station Alpha v2.x/4.x subtitling plugin for VirtualDub
There are many people out there whose hobby is translating and publishing subtitled Japanese shows/movies/animations in their native language, for various reasons. Many of them want to practice their Japanese skills, or simply want to help their fellow countrymen (and women) experience these Japanese productions in a way that wouldn't be possible with the language barrier looming large. Others are trying to release so-called "fan-subbed" versions of titles that are not scheduled for release outside of Japan, meaning that the only way to watch some Japanese shows/movies/animations is to buy a ticket and hop on a plane. These aims are justified in some cases, but not all the time...on the consuming end of the equation, many people just like Japanese stuff and want to get it illegally for free.
There are a few animes out there that I like, but I'm not really a big fan of the genre overall. My intentions for getting into the subbing scene is to hone my translation and (currently non-existant) video production skills while helping foreigners in Japan understand more about the society in which they're living. Last month I was a volunteer interpreter for a trip to the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution in Kobe. It's actually really nice because they have really good multilingual facilities for foreign visitors: guided tours on tapes are available in at least Korean, Chinese, and English, there are in-house interpreters available, and the movies in their theater can be heard in English, Chinese, or Korean by using miniature radio receivers. This is great, because they want to help educate foreigners in Japan about what to do in the event of an earthquake, how to make one's home safer, emergency checklists, etc. However, not all Japanese institutions are so easy to understand for foreigners who speak no or limited Japanese. My post yesterday about the upcoming law about used electrical appliances is one such issue. English-language Japanese newspapers exist both in print and online, but subscription is somewhat expensive and it's hard for busy people to read the news every single day. So I thought I would try to set up a free service on behalf of my company Chameleon Language Services, in which I would translate documents (and subtitle videos) for free provided that (1) I have enough time and (2) they are aimed at improving the health, safety, and or education of the public. This is a very new idea of mine, and not very well-developed yet, but I thought I would take a stab by translating and subbing an informational video clip aimed at educating consumers about the forthcoming enactment of new provisions to the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law, which relates to my post yesterday.
So without further ado, here is my first, albeit very small, translation/sub!
Video Link
It took me all of 5 minutes to make the damn video, and 5 hours to find an appropriate streaming codec. I first tried streaming Windows Media Video, with no success, then tried a pure Java player for OGG video viles, RealPlayer, etc. with unsatisfactory results. Finally Flash provided the easiest and best solution. Thanks, Macromedia! If you have trouble viewing the video, please let me know.
posted by jeremy at 1:35 PM
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