Viki Subtitle Guidelines

General Guidelines

• Please do not work in any episode part someone else is working in. Otherwise, you may overwrite each other’s subtitles/work.
• Only create subtitles for the segmented parts that you know everything said in the whole part. Partially-filled subtitles may look finished and could be missed by other volunteers.
• Every sentence should end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point.
• Please avoid editing other subtitle volunteers, even in your own language. If you notice anything worth editing:
  • Option 1: Mention it within the team discussions for any editors to look at.
  • Option 2: Raise it up with the Community team.
• If a segment is created for no reason, leave the segment and do not add anything to it.
• Plot-pertinent dialogue always takes precedence over background dialogue.
• You should never solely rely on Google Translate/Translator or any other translation software for your translations.
• You should not fill the subtitles with suggestions, these should be used for help with translation and not used to fill-in incomplete subtitles.
• Please post in the ‘Team Discussion’ section when you start to sub or edit to let everyone know which part you will be working on. When you leave a part, post the percentage completed before moving on to another part. Always check carefully to make sure nobody is in the part you are going to sub or edit in. Look in Team Notes, and also check in the chatter, just to be sure.

Subtitle Guide

1. Specifications 
   1. Format: Subrip(*.srt)
   2. Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8)
2. Timing/Synchronisation
   1. Timing to audio
      1. Segments should be timed to the audio.
      2. Segments should not overlap with each other.
   2. Timing to video
      1. Subtitles should stay on screen for at least 10 frames.
      2. Subtitles should not cross shot changes wherever possible.
3. Formatting
   1. Italics
      1. Italics <i> should be used for dreams, thinking, flashbacks, speech where the voice is being transmitted over the telephone, radio, or television and song lyrics.
      2. Italics together with square brackets [ ] should be used to indicate on-screen text.
         E.g. <i> [TEXT ON SCREEN HERE] </i>
4. Capitalization
   1. Capitals should be used at the beginning of every sentence; a subtitle that begins in the middle of a sentence should not have its first word capitalized unless it is a proper noun.
      1. A capitalised sentence should only be used when the character is yelling. An exclamation mark should be used instead where they are only slightly shouting or to express distress or the tone of anger in their speech.
5.  Punctuation

All subtitles should be properly punctuated and all sentences should  end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.

1. Commas , 
   1. Commas should only be used where appropriate in a sentence. If a sentence continues into the second segment, a comma should not be added at the end of the first segment unless it is appropriate. 
   2. Do not use commas to indicate pauses; ellipses should be used instead. E.g. when a character wishes to say “I love you” but pauses after saying “I”, the proper way to subtitle would be “I… love you” and not “I, love you”.
   3. When a character is talking to another and addresses him/her by name, a comma should follow the name. For example, if Anna wants to ask Bob if he’s seen the movie, the subtitle would be “Bob, have you seen the movie?”.

6. Quotation Marks “ ”  or  ‘ ’ 
   1. Quotation marks should be used when quoting.
      E.g. He said, “Don’t do it.”
   2. They may also be used for sarcasm.
      E.g. apparently they were ‘happy’. 
7. Ellipses  …
   1. ... may be used to indicate a pause in the sentence or a sentence that is incomplete.
   2. Use an ellipsis followed by a space when there is a significant pause within a subtle.
      1. Subtitle =I> She hesitated… about accepting the job.
8. Dashes --
   1. Dashes should be used to indicate interruptions in speech and not ellipses.
      1. Use two hyphens to indicate abrupt interruptions.
         • Subtitle 1 =I> What are you--
         • Subtitle 2 =I> Be quiet
9. Additional use of dashes or hyphen (- or --)
   1. Dashes should be used to differentiate between different speakers.

Note: You would want to add a line break (<br>) between the speakers.

Example: - Hello. <br> - Hi.

10. Line Breaks & Characters-limit
    1. Subtitles should be concise and can  include up to two lines of text per segment, or about 84 characters (one line is about 42 characters). However, If there is a need to exceed 84 characters or two lines in order to fully translate the content, always defer to translating the line as completely as possible.
    2. There should not be any line breaks in a segment unless there are: 
       1. Two (or more) speakers in one segment
       2. On-screen text 
       3. OST/background music requiring lyrics
       4. Any combination of the above
    3. If text has to be broken, please follow these rules:
       1. The line should be broken:
          • after punctuation marks
          • before conjunctions
          • before prepositions
       2. The line break should not separate:
          • a noun from an article
          • a noun from an adjective
          • a first name from a last name
          • a verb from a subject pronoun
          • a prepositional verb from its preposition
          • a verb from an auxiliary, reflexive pronoun or negation
       3. If text has to be broken into two lines because there are two speakers in the segment, please break the line and use a hyphen to indicate each new person speaking. E.g. Fei Liu: "Let's go back."  Mei Changsu: "Fine, let's return."   It should be entered as such:  - Let's go back. <br>- Fine, let's return.

Note: A space is always required before the <br> tag

11. Music Lyrics
    1. Lyrics of background music should be enclosed by musical notes and italics. E.g. <i>♫ I love your dimples ♫</i>
    2. If the actor/actress sings a song, the lyrics should also be subtitled. It should be italicized with a music note (♪) at the beginning and the end of each subtitle. E.g.<i>♪ I love your dimples ♪</i>
    3. Commas and periods can’t be used at the end of a line. Commas only can be used within the lyric line, if necessary.
12. Profanities
    1. Subtitles should be consistent with audio. If profanity is audible, it should be included in the subtitles; if profanity or slang have been censored, this should be indicated in subtitles.
13. Dates
    1. If you are translating a written date displayed on the screen, just subtitle it the same way displayed.
    2. Keep dates in traditional American format: “Month Day, Year”
       1. Example: June 6, 2019
14. Numbers
    1. Spell out numbers from 1 - 20 unless it’s a really long sequence or a phone number.
       1. Example: I’m twenty years old.
       2. Example: Call me at 7173894426
    2. Any number over 4 digits should include appropriately placed commas.
       1. Example: 1,000,000
    3. If there is more than one number in a sentence or list, it may be more appropriate to display them as numerals instead of words:
       1. Example: On her 21st birthday party, 54 guests turned up.
    4. For sports, competitions, games or quizzes, always use numerals to display points, scores or timings.
15. Unification
    1. All units should stay unified throughout subtitling for all episodes, this includes monetary, areal and weight.
    2. Currency: Monetary unit used as won (KRW) in episode 1, going forward all monetary units should be in won throughout the series of the show/movie. =I> ‘The cost is 20,000won’
       1. 20,000won <I= Correct: Valid use of monetary units as specified via dialogue or show image.
       2. $20 dollars <I= Wrong: Do not mix monetary units or convert to currency of subtitled language.
    3. Areal: If an areal unit is used as pyeong in episode 1, going forward all areal units should remain the same throughout the series of the show/movie. =I> ‘House size is 55Pyeong’
       1. 55Pyeong for a house size <I= Correct: Stick with the areal unit mentioned by the dialogue.
       2. 182m <I= Wrong: Do not exchange or convert the units from 55Pyeong to 182m.
    4. Weight: Weight units should stay the same throughout all episodes =I> ‘1kg of vegetables’
       1. 1kg <I= Correct: Use the same unit type mentioned in the dialogue.
       2. 2lbs <I= Wrong: Do not convert/exchange units. 
16. Situational guidelines
    1. Stammering and trail-offs - If a speaker stammers, give some indication (but not too much) by using hyphens between repeated sounds. This is more likely to be needed in drama than factual content. Letters to show a stammer should follow the case of the first letter of the word.
       1. Examples: 
          • I'm g-g-going home
          • W-W-What are you doing?
17. Language Specific Guidelines
    1. Terms like “Oppa”, “Hyung”, “Ahjumma”, “Noona”, “Unni” are all okay to use and not translate.
    2. Avoid using slang/terms 
       1. Examples: “LOL”, “Anyways”, “Ya”

Note: terms like “Gonna” and “wanna” should not be used unless a child said it

18. Use of English in Dialogue Guidelines
    1. If an English word is used in dialogue, use the word in the subtitle but take note if there is a different use of the word.
       1. Example: “Grand Open” in dialogue would be “Grand Opening”
19. Names
    1. Once a name has been decided upon, use the same spelling and follow orthography from the first episode until the end.
       1. Example: Moonlight Drawn by Clouds =I> Lee Yeong =I> Episode #1 - 18
          • Lee yeong <I= Wrong: Upper case Y should be used
          • Lee Young <I= Wrong: Spelling of Yeong is not consistent/the same.
          • Note: If any documents show character’s name in the video footage, it is recommended to follow the name shown in the image.
20. Accuracy of Content
    1. Include as much of the original content as possible. 
       1. Do not simplify or water down the original dialogue.
       2. Truncating the original dialogue should only be limited to instances where reading speed and synchronicity to the audio are an issues
21. Korean Source Language Specific
    1. Keep all Korean expressions the same. Do not change or translate Korean expressions.
       1. Example =I> “Aigoo, daebak”
    2. When subtitling food use what seems appropriate to the drama. It depends on how we start out the series for consistency and also the reading time/character limit.
       1. Example =I> Kimchi or Jjajangmyun
    3. When using Korean terms, keep them the same.
       1. Examples =I> “Ahjumma”; “Ahjussi”; “Unni”; “Oppa”
    4. Keep all location spelling to one word.
       1. Correct Example =I> Daegu
       2. Wrong Example =I> Dae Gu
22. Segments Without Dialogue
    1. If a segment was created but not necessary, do not write anything within the subtitle box. Leave the unnecessary segment blank.
    2. If a segment was created but no words can be heard or translated, do not write a description such as “sobbing”, “moaning”, “singing”, etc.
    3. If you are unable to read the text on the screen, just leave the blank segment blank.

Note: You can post within the Team Discussion area the time of the unnecessary segment to request it to be removed.