A Translation Editor (TE) is one of three types of Editors on Viki, along with the Chief Editor (CE) and General Editor (GE).
The TE ensures the translation is accurate and retains the same meaning from:
- The original Asian source language to English.
- English to other languages.
Some of the main responsibilities of a Translation Editor are:
- Editing a translation/cultural reference within a subtitle to better capture the meaning in that language.
- Editing a subtitle to add cultural reference or cultural notes, as needed.
- Editing a subtitle to provide a more accurate translation of an idiom in that language.
- Editing a subtitle to provide a correct translation of a slang term/reference in that language.
- Editing a subtitle for fluency so it sounds natural in that language.
- Editing a subtitle for consistency across all names, terms, rituals, and customs.
- Researching cultural references and verifying the original Asian language meaning so the above translation editing can be done.
Even though translation editing has not been traditionally acknowledged as applying across all languages, it is being done in all languages and thus all should be included whenever translation editing is discussed. Ensuring proper context, understanding, and cultural references across languages is essential and a responsibility shared by Editors in all languages.
Who can be assigned a TE role?
- Any qualified Contributor (QC) doing translation editing from source Asian language to English.
- Any qualified Contributor (QC) doing translation editing from English to another language (e.g. Spanish, French, German, etc).
- Any qualified Contributor doing translation editing from English to their pre-subtitled language (eg. Portuguese).
For language teams other than English where an “all in Editor one” approach may be in use (e.g. one person is playing multiple Editor roles) the TE role may be used for that one individual if they are doing translation editing. If you are an other language team doing subtitling and translation editing at the same time, please use the guideline of whether an individual will be doing translation editing when deciding whether or not to assign a TE role.
Please note this is not the final iteration of the Editor roles. We will be working to further address the inefficiencies of the systems and in the meantime encourage you to adopt this role while we’re finessing how everything works.
A final reminder that translation editing does not mean checking for grammar accuracy, correcting typos, or adding line breaks. This applies to all languages, including English. If you are doing this kind of editing, we ask that you please use the general Editor role.