How do subtitle groups translate American TV series?

Generally speaking, the translation of American TV series has to go through several stages, including film source, subtitles, timeline, proofreading, special effects, pressing, and release.

1. Film source acquisition

A good cook cannot cook without rice. The first raw material that the subtitle group needs is the film source. The film source is usually obtained from foreign websites. There are people in the subtitle group who are responsible for "moving" the film source, and many of its film sources come from foreign "0-day" organizations.

"0-day" aims to crack newly released software, movies, games, etc. within "zero" days and put them online for free sharing around the world. They use TV cards to record American TV series and release them to the public through point-to-point transmission methods such as BT.

Usually, shortly after a popular American TV series is broadcast, the 0-day organization will release the video of this TV series on foreign BT websites, but without subtitles. This is the source of the subtitle group's film.

2. Subtitle production

For some popular American TV series, the subtitle team has members abroad who are responsible for recording English subtitles. The recording staff will pass the English subtitles to the subtitle director, who will then hand them over to the translator, who will be responsible for translating them into Chinese.

Some American TV series can download subtitles from foreign forums. If there are no ready-made subtitles, the subtitle group can only choose the most painful translation method - listening and translating.

3. Timeline

After the translation is completed, the person in charge of the timeline takes over. The subtitles need to be accompanied by a timeline, that is, "from what minute and second to what minute and second, a certain character said what." Making a timeline requires patience and meticulousness, and if you are not careful, you may get the time point wrong.

4. Proofreading

Proofreading is the final check before the film is released. It is usually completed by several translators, and the language style must be as consistent as possible. In addition, some sentences that are not colloquial must be revised.

5. Special effects

Special effects may need to be added between the completion of the timeline and the completion of compression. For example, special effects for lyrics and logos, animation effects such as the appearance or disappearance of subtitle fonts, or static effects such as changing font colors, can make the video look more beautiful.

6. Tablet pressing

The film source and translated and proofread subtitles are handed over to the compression personnel, who can then compress them into a film using relevant software.

7. Release

After the finished film is compressed, the publisher uses various P2P software or FTP spaces to publish the video files or corresponding subtitle files for users to download.

It should be noted that some popular programs often release a preliminary version in order to meet the needs of the audience, which may not be able to check or correct the defects of the subtitles before release. Therefore, a refined version will be added later, that is, a revised version that is released after the release with the subtitles modified and re-released.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.