finicky punctuation symbol...
magda rittenhouse
via email
Hi Adam and Brooks,
This is to let you know -- per Kristin's advice -- that there appears
to be a slight problem with "--" on dotSub... It doesn't automatically
get converted to "–"
It is not that visible on the translation interface, but then when you
watch the actual subtitles during a video show, it looks really weird...
If you change it in a text editor, it's impossible to import the file
( I tried a good many times, with no success, until Kristin suggested
that "–" might be the culprit...).
Looks like dotSub just doesn't like this little fellow "–".
Wondering whether there is any way to fix it? If not, perhaps we
should instruct translators to use just "-"? Not 100% correct, but it
might look a little better....
Best,
Magda Rittenhouse
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Kristin Windbigler <***@ted.com>
> Date: June 1, 2009 3:53:00 PM EDT
> To: magda rittenhouse <***@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: trouble importing ready translation
>
> I'm guessing that's the problem. You can write Adam and Brooks
> directly at ***@dotsub.com. They could tell you for sure if it might
> be causing it.
>
> -k
>
> On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 12:45 PM, magda rittenhouse
> <***@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Oh -- there you go...
>> I replaced "--" with "–" in this last version.
>> I noticed when my previous talk was published that "--" is not
>> automatically
>> converted into "–" on dotSUB. And it is very visible/wierd in the
>> video
>> version -- wanted to avoid that... So perhaps that's the reason?
>> OK, will try to upload it with "--" and let's see what happens.
>> Cheers,
>> Magda
>>
>>
>>
>> I don't think anything has changed, but the other translators have
>> told me that dotSUB is very finicky about what it will accept. The
>> file can't have any extra spaces or carriage returns.
>>
>> I will assign you a couple translations that you can do when you
>> have time.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Kristin
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 9:20 AM, magda rittenhouse
>> <***@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I have just finished and trying to upload a TED talk translation.
>> But having
>>
>> trouble with the import.
>>
>> I kept the original srt format (same as with the previous
>> translation which
>>
>> worked OK) but getting this message : " Your file could not be
>> imported. It
>>
>> might not be a valid srt or slt file".
>>
>> In fact, I have already imported the very same format over the
>> weekend, but
>>
>> wanted to run another spellcheck/make a few minor changes -- and it
>> does not
>>
>> seem to be working now.... Has something changed?
>>
>> Anyway, I am attaching the file here. Grateful if you could please
>> advise.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Magda Rittenhouse
>>
>>
>>
>> PS.
>>
>> Kristin -- do you still need help with revisions? If so, please
>> feel free to
>>
>> send something my way. I won't be able to do it very fast, as
>> quite busy,
>>
>> but hopefully it won't take as long as the previous one I did.... :>
>>
>>
>>
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Support Staff 2 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 02:00 PM
Sounds like a possible bug, I will look into it and let you know. Thanks for the message!
A.
Support Staff 3 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 02:06 PM
I just checked and we are correctly handling the '—' character. Can I ask what browser and operating system you are using?
Note that we do not convert '--' to '—' for you, you must actually input the '—'. (Under Mac OS X, this is Option-_)
Thank you,
A.
adam closed this discussion on 02 Jun, 2009 02:06 PM.
adam re-opened this discussion on 02 Jun, 2009 02:07 PM
Support Staff 4 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 02:07 PM
I might have jumped the gun on you!
Are you saying that importing a file with a — in it is not working?
A.
5 Posted by magda rittenhouse on 02 Jun, 2009 03:56 PM
Yes, that's exactly what I meant.
And that concerned my translation of Nathaniel Kahn that I submitted
yesterday -- tried changing double dashes into m-dashes in that file
and then couldn't import it. Kristin advised that m-dashes might
actually be causing the problem -- and it turned out she was right. So
I gave up and submitted the version with "--"
The revision (about hedron collider) that I submitted today in the
morning had the same issue, but this time I did not attempt to change
these dashes and the import went smooth.
Cheers,
Magda
Support Staff 6 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 03:57 PM
Excellent, sorry about the confusion I caused. Can you please attach the file you tried to upload, that did not work? Sounds like a bug in our import feature.
Thank you,
A.
7 Posted by magda rittenhouse on 02 Jun, 2009 04:13 PM
Here it comes:
Begin forwarded message:
> From: magda rittenhouse <***@gmail.com>
> Date: June 1, 2009 12:20:20 PM EDT
> To: "Subtitles @ TED" <***@ted.com>
> Cc: Kristin Windbigler <***@ted.com>
> Subject: trouble importing ready translation
>
> Hi there,
>
> I have just finished and trying to upload a TED talk translation.
> But having trouble with the import.
>
> I kept the original srt format (same as with the previous
> translation which worked OK) but getting this message : " Your file
> could not be imported. It might not be a valid srt or slt file".
>
> In fact, I have already imported the very same format over the
> weekend, but wanted to run another spellcheck/make a few minor
> changes -- and it does not seem to be working now.... Has something
> changed?
>
> Anyway, I am attaching the file here. Grateful if you could please
> advise.
>
> Regards,
>
> Magda Rittenhouse
>
>
>
>
>
> PS.
>
> Kristin -- do you still need help with revisions? If so, please feel
> free to send something my way. I won't be able to do it very fast,
> as quite busy, but hopefully it won't take as long as the previous
> one I did.... :>
Support Staff 8 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 04:46 PM
Thank you very much, we are examine the file now.
A.
Support Staff 9 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 04:51 PM
Hello Magda,
It turns out the file you attached has incorrectly formatted time codes. I suspect that the software you used tried to be smart and converted "--" to "—" for you, but the SRT file format actually needs "--". Example, in your file:
Should actually be:
Notice the "-->"?
What software are you using?
Thank you,
A.
10 Posted by magda rittenhouse on 02 Jun, 2009 04:56 PM
Oh -- I see!
Thanks for figuring it out.
I normally use MS word (for Mac) but it was not able to cooperate with
dotSUB... So got OpenOffice (free software you can download from the
internet).
I guess I probably should convert all m-dashes manually (rather than
hitting "replace all")?
MR
Support Staff 11 Posted by adam on 02 Jun, 2009 04:59 PM
Well, you should replace all on the first go around then manually correct the real em-dashes to —. Be very careful when using software such as Word, Office, Pages, etc; as they often change things without telling you.
A.
adam closed this discussion on 02 Jun, 2009 04:59 PM.