Intro
Did you ever want to help Debian but weren't sure what to do? we want you!
You are not only helping, but you will also learn a lot while doing it!
Find the ins and outs of subtitling and translating Debian videos here
A QUICKIE (IMPORTANT STUFF TO KNOW)
A single subtitle is a lot of work! At least 1-2h per 10min of finished subtitle once you are a proficient subtittler. A single subtitle can take 8h+ to finish. This means:
- Working online you get a nice setup that allows you to become proficient very quickly
- Please, considering contributing even if you only have 30 min to spare. Again, working online makes this very easy to do, because it teaches you as you go
- Dont get discouraged if you cant finish a single one!. Small bits of work are greatly appreciated even if you cant finish one! The fact that it make take a whole week in small sessions to finish a single one turns off many contributors in the past
The files found on amara are the last version of the subtitles. You can download the scripts without login from there (you need to login to upload). Some script to sync the online and offline subs is on the works. Ive been doing the syncs manually till now. (There are very few people working on subtitles and conflicts have been zero so far)
Even if you are going to work offline, check amara to see if your video has some progress already. Fles with the work in progress can be downloaded there too. Check the ?List of videos from Debconf16 and lock the video there or ask on irc for somebody to lock the video for you. People working Online could check there before starting a video as well
When working online, please add the time where you stop in the "notes" field, so the next one to pick up the subtitle know where to start
Where to find us
:: Join IRC if you want something to do... or want to do something but don't know how... or want to hang out... We are cool
:: Use the mailing list for the same reasons as IRC but you prefer the asynchronous nature of email
:: To work on the subtitles online, you can join our team in Amara
:: If you would like to work on the subtitles offline without using amara and be able to submit your own work to the repository you can join the alioth project. You can also speak with somebody on IRC or the mailing list to submit your work for you
Prerequisites
None!
If you can understand english, you can type it down
If you can read english, you can translate it to your local language
How can I help?
Online
This is the easy way to jump in. Register/Login on amara and head to our hub in amara and start subtitling. You dont need to speak or synchronize with anybody. You will also get nice tools out of the box.
Select the language you want to work on, usually "en" if you are just subtitling and not translating. Select edit. We use the "notes" field on the bottom-right corner to put the time where the last person added subtitles so it is easy for others to pick up after you. If the transcript is okay, you can proceed to sync it afterwards
The tools are self explanatory but give us a holler on IRC or the mailing list if you have questions or problems
Offline
This is done using your preferred video player and text editor. Download the video
Then start one of the following tasks:
- Create transcripts of the talks: typing on a regular text file what you heard. Around 42 characters per line
- Syncing transcripts with the video: Using one of the programs listed later
- Correcting subs: A second pass to correct errors
- Translations to your local language: editing the english subtitles text file and translating them
Files can be imported and exported from amara at any state and point in time (ex. transcript half done, fully transcripted but half sync, etc) to work offline
To avoid duplication of work, you can check the video on amara to see if its already been done. If a sub is half done in amara it can also be downloaded to just resume the work.
Its not a requisite, but is nice if you ask somebody on #debconf-subs to lock the edition of the file on the web for you
There are many videos an just a few people doing the subtitling. Its not likely to step in each other work even if you dont synchronize
Need more help?
Read our Conventions and tips for the transcription
If you still have doubts, read our Subtitling FAQ or gives a shout on IRC/mailing list
fast method to sub using aegisub
old things of this page that need to be redone
License
The subtitles will be licensed with the same license of the videos.
Ideas
automatic subtitling for CCC TODO: Check if there is there any software available for this
Using Apertium open source machine translation with subtitle files
* Richard: web frontend to the videos where subtitles could been integrated. Its currently being used for pyvideo.org