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English native(s) needed to proofread subtitles

Messages
9
Hi, I made a documentary film consisting of interviews of patients, experts, a politician etc. here in Finland in Finnish. I made subtitles to it in English and would really appreciate if someone could check them and give me feedback on the translation, understandability, etc. There is quite a lot of text (the film lasts for 35 minutes), but it can be divided into parts and really any help is appreciated.

The film can be seen here:
(I will add the English subtitles within a few days even when they are not checked yet).

The situation in Finland is especially dire, children with ME have been taken into custody and the highest health care officials are applying Per Fink's "functional disorders" theories into practise, etc. That is why I thought it could be useful to have this film translated.

If you have the extra energy and would like to help, you can contact me here or in Facebook "ME/CFS-kanava". Thank you anyways :)
 

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
362
Location
United Kingdom
Subtitle workshop can check subtitle spelling and grammar when used with microsoft office. You could also load srt subtitles into a text editor to check English spelling. That would just leave the actual readability and understandability to check.
 

Rebeccare

Moose Enthusiast
Messages
9,064
Location
Massachusetts
Wow, this is quite an amazing video! It must have taken so much work--I am very impressed! I have a few suggestions about the subtitles, most of them are very small things. Everything is understandable to an English speaker, but there are a few spots where the language is just a tiny bit off. Even if you take none of these suggestions, everything will be fine:

0:18: "It can't be so that the parents..." (take out the word 'so')

1:05: In the title, I would change 'Helathcare's Final Stumbling Stone" to 'stumbling block.' Although the original title is understandable, the phrase 'stumbling block' is more commonly used in English.

1:32: "And I long thought" could maybe be changed to "And for a long time I thought"

1:42: "that I was just so out of shape that I have to strengthen my fitness levels"--that last phrase 'strengthen my fitness levels' doesn't sound quite right. Maybe "I have to get more fit" would work better?

2:10 "cloggy nose"--maybe change that to "stuffed nose" or "runny nose"

2:55 "untreated mycoplasma"--maybe change that to "untreated mycoplasma infection" or "untreated bacterial infection"

3:11 "Only after a year past I started combining all of the symptoms"--maybe "making a list of all of the symptoms" instead of combining. Also, the beginning could be "After a year went by"

4:15 "...and when tried to just go out with my dog it was that..."--either take out 'it was that' or maybe change to the "situation was such that"

4:30: The captions don't fit on the screen, so we can't see the complete translation of the text

5:05: "...with ME/CFS patients' brain images on the cover how exercise affects the circulation in their brain"--maybe change 'brain images' to 'brain scans.' Also, maybe at the words "that show how exercise affects..."

5:10: "This was in 1992 that's quite many years ago..."--maybe add a comma after 1992, and change 'quite many' to 'quite a few' or just 'many'

5:50: "Viruses trigger this condition on everyone"--change the word 'on' to 'in'

6:35: "And they have seen that there are quite many anomalies"--again, change 'quite many' to 'quite a few' or just 'many'

6:50: "And why it is so comprehensive..."--Two things here. First, maybe use the word 'extensive' instead of 'comprehensive.' Also, change the wording to either "And why it is so comprehesive/extensive because" (take out the word why), or "And the reason why it is so comprehensive/extensive is."

7:14: "Most of the energy in the body is consumed by the brain, digestion, and immune system

8:45: The captions don't fit on the screen, so we can't see the complete translation of the text

That's all I have energy to watch/write for now. Excellent work! I'll try to watch more later.
 

Mary

Moderator Resource
Messages
17,335
Location
Southern California
@Nutella - I agree with @RebeccaRe, it's an excellent video - I can't imagine all the work that went into it! :thumbsup:

Is it possible to get the subtitles in text form, in a word processing document, broken up by who said what? I think it would be easier and quicker to edit them that way. Overall they're quite good, but some parts could use a little cleaning up.
 

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
362
Location
United Kingdom
@Nutella - I agree with @RebeccaRe, it's an excellent video - I can't imagine all the work that went into it! :thumbsup:

Is it possible to get the subtitles in text form, in a word processing document, broken up by who said what? I think it would be easier and quicker to edit them that way. Overall they're quite good, but some parts could use a little cleaning up.
I 2nd this. A text document would be helpful because some people find watching video difficult to extract useful information and it be helpful with any additional editing and correction.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

southwestforests

Senior Member
Messages
575
Location
Missouri
The situation in Finland is especially dire, children with ME have been taken into custody and the highest health care officials are applying Per Fink's "functional disorders" theories into practise, etc
Being ignorant of what Per Fink's "functional disorders" theories are I looked the thing up.

Among the finds, a posting on Virology Blog by David Tuller & the comments include at least one from Per Fink.
At this point my response is best characterizable as, WTF??? :wide-eyed::jaw-drop: Holy healthcare hostages, Batman!
Now, keep in mind I didn't do a "have got to remember this for the exam next week" kind of reading of things today, some of that headache lingers.

Tuller might be remembered from here and he definitely has credibility, https://senseaboutscienceusa.org/editorial-on-pace/

David Tuller, a journalist who had earned a doctorate in public health, and who ran the University of California Berkeley’s joint program in public health and journalism, believed the sufferers were onto something when they said there was something badly wrong with the way the trial was designed and conducted.

And the thing about patients who either suffer from a rare disease, or a more common and inexplicable one as with ME/CFS, is that they are usually a formidable resource—a network of distributed experts who have sifted and weighed the scientific research with the kind of avidity you would expect, given that their lives depended on it. In pharmacology, rare disease patient groups are highly respected and are seen as partners in research rather than just subjects and consumers of studies.

Tuller dug in the weeds and published his results in a four-part series on the blog Virology.

Virology link now, and Tuller is so totally Not shy and ambiguous about his stand.
http://www.virology.ws/2018/10/16/trial-by-error-per-fink-in-new-york/
 
Messages
9
Hi all and thank you so much for the feedback and comments! :thumbsup::angel: Indeed I have the text in a text editor (Google docs to be precise) and I can give you a link to it in private if you want to take a closer look (no pressure, no deadline). I applied American English spellchecker on that one but there might be something I missed. Downloading the .srt or .sbv file directly from YouTube is also possible and will make copy-pasting comments here easier. I do not know if it's wise to post the link to Google docs here so that anyone can just go and edit. Just PM me if you even consider commenting :)

I will check the timings and make the suggested changes some time next week and will also add translations of the name tags.

So there is not too much text? I'm balancing between getting a lot of info across to healthy allies and making the film too heavy to watch. It should be that keeping up with the subs is not a huge effort (for a healthy person). If you had to stop watching or struggled because the text was too fast please let me know (and maybe the point in time).

Being ignorant of what Per Fink's "functional disorders" theories are I looked the thing up.

I first heard of him watching Jen Brea's 'Unrest' and then later read about his theories somewhere. The people in Finland quoting him claim that ME is basically an overactive nervous system or mostly psychological anyways and many of them say that it can't be too severe and people can easily attend school or work. Risto Vataja, the older bald guy in the film who says that ME is not psychiatric nor somatic, is one of them and I included him mostly to get a broader audience.

Tuller might be remembered from here and he definitely has credibility, https://senseaboutscienceusa.org/editorial-on-pace/

I interviewed Tuller and filmed his lecture named "The PACE Trial: "Thing of Beauty" or Pile of Crap?", these videos can be found on my channel where the film is located too. (I will not post the direct links, they were posted here earlier).

Thank you all :):)
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
Thank you @ChloeC :) It seems I can't send nor receive PMs yet. The Google doc is here.
This is a temporary 'probation' period, and you'll be released from it's limitations very shortly.

I'll be happy to help, and will PM you til I get thru.

You're doing exceptionally important, and very good, work, and thank you for taking that on !!!
 
Messages
9
Thank you everyone :) Just to let you know this is something I love doing so it gives more than it takes.
Comments are still appreciated from 9 minutes onwards, although I will start checking this in more detail myself too.
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
@Nutella
I'm having difficulty with the tape, lots of starts and stops and freezes. My focus isn;t the best right now. If it's possible to get the subtitles in written form, I could do a good run-thru pretty quickly. The written word seems to hold my focus better than a vid with starts and stops.

If not, I'll do my best, yes?

Again, what you're doing is just terrific !!!
 

YippeeKi YOW !!

Senior Member
Messages
16,047
Location
Second star to the right ...
@Nutella
Thank you so much for the script. I'm going thru a little rough period right now, so am slower than usual, and esperience tells me that I'm going to be pretty worthless for the rest of today. Still, I don't anticipate that it should take me more than 1 -2 days to get this back to you, and you'll know best how to use my corrections and clean-up in a way that fits your purposes and vision, as well as the time-stamps.

Where I'm not sure if I'm addressing this the right way, I'll try to make that notation. When I get the script back to you, it goes without saying that any questions or comments you have are welcome !!! Tag me anytime.

I have another commitment I have to follow thru on right now before I collapse for a few hours.

Talk to you later ????
 
Messages
9
@YippeeKi YOW !! thank you again and really take all the time you need. There is really no deadline for this :) I think that the subtitles are OK now but since I'm not an English native they could be a lot better.