Post-Mortem on Audiovisual Translation Quality Control of The Association of Indonesian Translators Audiovisual Material #001

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Item #: HPI-AVT-QC-001-2024

Object Class: Informative

Procedures: The following insights and procedural enhancements are to be rigorously documented and disseminated among all linguists involved in HPI-AVT Project #001 of the Association of Indonesian Translators (Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia/HPI). Each point includes a pertinent quote to underscore its significance. This document is to be regarded as a living document and shall be updated accordingly.

Description: This report encapsulates the distilled learnings and procedural refinements from the latest AVT project (HPI-AVT Project #001). The objective is to perpetually elevate the quality control (QC) protocols, ensuring excellence and adherence to best practices.

Insight 1: Consult the In-House Style Guide and Technical Requirements Manual

Protocol Update: Prior to commencing any HPI AVT project, all participating linguists are required to consult the in-house style guide, technical requirements manual, and relevant guidelines to ensure alignment with established, generally agreed-upon standards.

Other ‘quality-control’ measures include the specific guidelines created by channel managers or moderators in order to facilitate subtitle consistency on matters such as grammar, capitalisation and character names.

Dwyer, T. 2017. Speaking in subtitles. Edinburgh University Press.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can the in-house style guide be improved to better serve linguists (and other stakeholders) and ensure higher-quality outputs?
2. What steps can be taken to keep the technical requirements manual up-to-date with evolving industry standards?
3. How do discrepancies between different clients’ style guides impact the translation process, and how can these be managed effectively?

Insight 2: Discuss Linguistic or Terminology Preferences with the Client

Protocol Update: Observe pragmatism and engage in proactive dialogue with clients regarding their specific linguistic and terminology preferences to tailor the translation precisely to their needs.

Pragmatic Translation Studies focuses on solutions to specific problems defined by clients.

Gambier, Y., & Ramos Pinto, S. (Eds.). (2018). Audiovisual translation: Theoretical and methodological challenges (Vol. 95). John Benjamins B.V. (Original work published 2016 in Target, 28(2)).

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can initial discussions of pragmatic bent about terminology preferences prevent misunderstandings later in the project?
2. What are effective methods for documenting and updating client-specific terminology preferences?
3. How can client feedback be systematically incorporated into future projects to improve quality?

Insight 3: Take Buffer Time and Regular Breaks

Protocol Update: Incorporate buffer time and regular breaks into the project schedule to mitigate burnout and enhance productivity.

Depression began its ascent when the disciplinary model for behaviors, the rules of authority and observance of taboos that gave social classes as well as both sexes a specific destiny, broke against norms that invited us to undertake personal initiative by enjoining us to be ourselves. [. . .] The depressed individual is unable to measure up; he is tired of having to become himself.

Ehrenberg, A. (2010). Weariness of the self: Diagnosing the history of depression in the contemporary age (E. Caouette, J. Homel, D. Homel, & D. Winkler, Trans.). McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. What are the long-term benefits of integrating regular breaks and buffer time into your workflow?
2. How can physical and mental well-being practices specifically enhance the quality of AVT work?
3. What are some practical ways to encourage team members to adopt these habits in a collaborative project setting?

Insight 4: Research and Curate Information Critically

Protocol Update: Utilize online resources such as Google, ChatGPT, and DeepL judiciously, ensuring all information is critically assessed and curated, or, to an extent, post-edited.

Post-editing refers to an activity undertaken for the purpose of rendering the machine translation output suitable for use. Post-editing is important in evaluating the accuracy, cost, and acceptability of machine translation systems. Post-editing is required when MT output has failed to capture ideas in the original, reproduce the style of writing, transfer different senses of expressions, remove cultural differences, and produce a fluent target text.

Chan, S.-w. (2017). The future of translation technology: Towards a world without Babel. Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can critical thinking skills be sharpened to better assess the quality of online information and the output of machine translation?
2. What are the risks of relying too heavily on online tools for research in AVT projects?
3. How can you balance the use of technology and traditional research methods to achieve the best results?

Insight 5: Self-Editing After a Break

Protocol Update: Implement a mandatory pause before self-editing to regain objectivity and enhance the accuracy of revisions.

Replacing other-revision with self-revision plus some degree of quality control can make translators more self-reliant; they will then take greater pride in their work, and most will produce better translations and achieve greater job satisfaction.

Mossop, B., Hong, J., & Teixeira, C. (2020). Revising and editing for translators (4th ed.). Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How does stepping away from a project for a while enhance the self-editing process?
2. What are effective strategies for self-editing to catch subtle errors that might be missed initially?
3. How can other-revision or peer review complement self-editing to further improve translation quality?

Insight 6: Accommodate Maximum Reading Speed in Subtitles

Protocol Update: Ensure subtitles are truncated to fit within the maximum reading speed limits while preserving the original meaning and context.

Translation studies had traditionally been focused on literary texts and literary translation, so it is not entirely surprising to see the early discussion on AVT focused on the constraints imposed by the presence of non-verbal elements and technical limitations such as the need to synchronize text with image or, in the case of subtitling, number of characters available and reading speed.

Munday, J., Pinto, S. R., & Blakesley, J. (2022). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications (5th ed.). Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. What techniques can be used to effectively truncate subtitles without losing essential meaning?
2. How does reading speed affect viewer comprehension and enjoyment of subtitles?
3. What are the challenges and solutions in balancing brevity and clarity in subtitle translation?

Insight 7: Observe Nuances and Subtle Aspects of Translation

Protocol Update: Vigilantly observe and integrate nuances and subtleties in translations to achieve natural-sounding results.

Translators are akin to tour guides from Point A to Point B. If there are ten passengers at departure, there must be ten at the destination . . . no more, no less. The content shall remain unchanged, but the final reader in the target language shall fully grasp the gist of it.

Maria E. Sundah (Quoted by Lucia Aryani [Lucykokikata], September 22, 2023) — Culinary Translation Tips (Kiat Penerjemahan Kuliner) (Trans. Yowid) on HPI YouTube channel.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can translators develop a keener sense of linguistic nuance and subtlety?
2. What role does cultural context play in capturing nuances in translation?
3. How can feedback from native speakers be integrated to refine the naturalness of translations?

Insight 8: Balance Art and Science in AVT

Protocol Update: Harmonize creative and technical aspects in AVT to produce translations that are both accurate and imaginative.

Over and above the issue of literal versus free translations … there are other recurrent questions in the history of thinking about translation. One such question relates to whether translation is to be looked upon as an art, in which case — often with regard to literary translation — the worth and success of the translation are said to depend to a very large extent on the intuition and competence of the translator. However, if one looks upon translation as a subject to be studied as a science, the person of the translator and his or her capabilities will not be the centre of attention. Rather, more objective criteria for producing and testing a translation will need to come to the forefront.

House, J. (2018). Translation: The basics. Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can creativity be fostered in a field that also demands strict adherence to technical standards?
2. What are the most common technical challenges faced in AVT, and how can they be overcome creatively?
3. How does the balance between artistic expression and technical precision influence the final product?

Insight 9: Deliver the Best Viewing Experience

Protocol Update: Focus on delivering an immersive viewing experience by minimizing distractions and maximizing the engagement of audiovisual material.

Maximize plot-pertinent immersion and minimize undesirable distraction.

Yowid.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. What specific elements contribute most to viewer distraction in subtitled material?
2. How can translators and subtitlers measure and enhance the immersive experience for viewers?
3. What are the best practices for aligning subtitle timing and placement to enhance viewer engagement?

Insight 10: Maintain Professionalism and Network

Protocol Update: Uphold professionalism in all interactions and cultivate a robust network with all stakeholders involved in AVT projects.

Political activism in the audiovisual translation sphere . . . seems to be largely confined to work done by ‘individuals working under their own steam’ (Pérez-González 2014: 242) rather than collectives of the scale and complexity of Babels. And while fansubbing communities tend to be fairly stable networks with a relatively long-term agenda, most initiatives involving political activism are now carried out by what Pérez-González refers to as ‘ad-hocracies’ of amateur subtitlers: temporary constellations that come together to address a specific challenge and then disperse (2010, 2014: 243).

Pérez-González, L. (Ed.). (2019). The Routledge handbook of audiovisual translation. Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can AVT professionals effectively manage difficult or underappreciative clients?
2. What strategies can be employed to build and maintain a supportive professional network?
3. How can continuous professional development be encouraged within the AVT community?

Insight 11: Check, Double-Check, and Triple-Check

Protocol Update: Institute rigorous error-checking protocols to minimize spelling, grammar, and punctuation (SGP) errors and mistranslations.

When working for the DVD/Blu-ray industry or subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms, the file containing the accepted subtitles is converted into an image format and is again checked, in what is known as the simulation. The individual responsible for reviewing this stage checks each subtitle and, if the need arises, corrects any conversion and timing errors, typos or grammatical mistakes. After these final corrections, the subtitles are ready to be delivered to the client.

Díaz Cintas, J., & Remael, A. (2021). Subtitling: Concepts and practices. Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. What methods can be used to streamline the error-checking process without compromising thoroughness?
2. How can technology assist in minimizing SGP errors and semantic mistranslations?
3. What role do peer reviews and quality assurance processes play in ensuring error-free translations?

Insight 12: Embrace Continuous Learning and Improvement

Protocol Update: Foster a culture of continuous improvement (kaizen), learning from peers, and staying adaptable to new methodologies.

One might think that subtitlers, adept at dealing with such translation problems as those we have examined, would develop an intuitive sense of the hermeneutic model and come to regard their work as fundamentally an interpretive act that inevitably transforms the source material. But this progression does not seem to have happened much. Regardless of whether they learned subtitling on the job or studied it in a translator training program, their rare accounts of their work remain not only unreflective but uncritical, showing an unwillingness to question current subtitling conventions.

Venuti, L. (2019). Contra instrumentalism: A translation polemic. University of Nebraska Press.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. How can the principles of kaizen be practically applied in the AVT industry?
2. What are effective ways to stay updated with the latest trends and techniques in AVT?
3. How can feedback loops be established to facilitate continuous learning and improvement?

Insight 13: Share Knowledge and Best Practices

Protocol Update: Actively disseminate knowledge and best practices within the AVT community to foster collective growth and improvement.

Interlingual subtitling is a vast area of practice and research whose specific features and cultural significations are difficult to capture, not least because they constantly evolve in response to social change and advances in technology and the media. Originating in the discipline of translation studies as an area of research and constituting a core modality of audiovisual translation, interlingual subtitling is increasingly expanding the conceptual boundaries and methodological paradigms of these disciplines. In the context of political activism, for example, it has been shown that “subtitling departs from . . . emphasis on semantic content and functions as a political space in its own right” (Baker 2016a:13). Baker focuses on the work of volunteer subtitlers as participants in the broader political project of the Egyptian Revolution. In such contexts, traditional notions of equivalence are secondary to other, more urgent objectives.

Baker, M., & Saldanha, G. (Eds.). (2020). Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. What platforms and methods are most effective for sharing knowledge within the AVT community?
2. How can collaborative learning be fostered among AVT professionals?
3. What are the long-term benefits of a knowledge-sharing culture in the AVT industry?

Addendum: All participating linguists are advised to integrate these insights into their workflow and continually seek opportunities for further refinement. The goal remains the unwavering pursuit of excellence in all AVT endeavors.