You have decided to become a fan sub editor. So, where do you begin? Let's start with the new guide you'll have to follow along with the one you've already seen.

Requirements

An editing program - This one is obvious. I hope you know how to use the one you're using. Otherwise, get someone to teach you.

A second editor and more likely a third one - You can and will miss a mistake or two. This is why a second editor is big. Besides, more editors means a better presentation, right?

Now that you got the new subjects, it's time to edit. I hope you are ready to do so many steps as well as knowing tips. It's not a task you can do in an instant. Anyone who says he or she can properly edit the script of a 25-minute episode in under an hour for example is either flat out stubborn or a person who doesn't care about editing execution at all and I'll show you why.

Oh. Since I only worked with the first two episodes of "Moeyo Ken", I'll use them for my examples. Would I edit the scripts again? Of course!

The steps on editing an anime subject's script

1. The first task you have to do is editing the script you received from IRC or the place you get your scripts without worrying about the subject. Yes, it seems tempting to either watch or hear the raw and edit the script at the same time. Don't do it. If you try to do two tasks at the same time, you will easily miss mistakes and you're more likely going to mess up during your first checkup, causing you to lose your rhythm early on. Oh and don't forget to check with the translator often if some scenario doesn't look right.

2. The second task to do is doing the task I asked you to not do in the first step: working with the script and the raw. Between hearing the raw and watching it, it's best if I do the latter and it's best if you do that too for two reasons. The first reason is, remember when I said that I recommend that you either attend a class of the language you're working with or be fluent in the language you're working with? The hard work/blessing will definitely show here. The other reason is that you can do role-play. I'll get into role-play when I mention the tricks, but for now, look at the image shown below.

That sentence makes sense, right? Right? Right?

Normally, if my translator can't figure what in the world is the character saying or what have you, I try to make my scripts to be dead-on in terms of translation, but the drawback obviously is that in some cases, I end up with Engrish sentences. In this example, I believe Kaoru said, "Kuku o shiro," which roughly means "Bundle up together!" or close to it. Since I didn't want a good amount of people to say "Ara?" to their monitors, I had to put in a better choice of words. I like "Divine shikigami, hear my call!" because I wanted the characters involved here to feel important to each other and I felt that the batch of words seemed to fit. A side note I want to bring out is that before anyone says that "shikigami" should have been capitalized here, "shikigami" is a common noun. It is like saying, "Holy magicians, please come forth!" or any other statement like that. Adding on, I know that Kaoru didn't say "shikigami" here, but remember that the Japanese omit certain parts in sentences like the "Watashi wa" in "Watashi wa 'Eria 88' o asobu".

Was this the best way? No. While I may have helped people understand the sentence better, I made an error also. I should have said "Come shikigami!" I'll mention why later.

The lesson to learn here is that sometimes, the most literal translation isn't the best one to show. There are cases when you need to alter the words. As long as you can find more fitting words, you'll be fine.

3. The third task I will mention is what else? Another checkup. Yes, I know that you will do checkups again and again, but chances are that you made a mistake during your checkup when you worked with the raw.

4. After you have done your third checkup, give the script to another editor or two. Despite what I may have said up to this point, there's a chance that you may have missed an error. It wouldn't hurt to have another editor look at it, right?

5. Plan two necessary editors discussions. (If you need a third one or more, that's fine.) In your first one, discuss on whether or not the script works because chances are that you editors may not agree with the script in the end. Believe me. A good amount of scripts will have some sort of argument. While we're at it, edit the script together.

6. Hand the script over to the type setter. The type setter will insert all the subs into the correct places and select a nice and suitable style of text for the subtitles. Sometimes, the timer will do this pair of tasks.

7. Watch the result of your subject. You may think of statements along the lines of, "Wai! I'll be able to see the result we all have worked on; thus we're done!" That's not why I want you to look at the result.

When you're watching, look at the form of all of the translated text you have worked on. This includes the script itself, the signs and any other subjects not mentioned here. If this sounds Greek to you, go to "Pass 2 - After the subtitle typesetting" in NNL's editor section and read every matter from that point on in that part of their site.

8. Have your second (or last) necessary editors discussion. Not only is this a good time to look over the script again, but this is the time to discuss how the text should be like. Make the best out of it.

9. Give the edited script to the type setter (or timer). Since we're on the subject of giving, give the type setter (or timer) notes. Touch on subjects like the text style used in the script. I recommend having a discussion with the type setter (or timer) and bringing in another editor and a translator with you helps.

10. Do one last checkup. Make sure that everyone is on the same page. Once you have done that, you're all set.

Tips

* Never ever end a Japanese word with an "s", unless it is after an apostrophe and the case itself is a possessive one. A lot of groups do this mistake, including the high quality ones, but I don't want you to copy them. If you add an "s" without an apostrophe or you add it carelessly, I'll just say that you don't fully know the language. I don't care if you're just started out or if you're fluent or if Japanese is your native language. I don't recognize you as a master of the language if you add an "s" after a Japanese noun if it's not after an apostrophe or if you add it carelessly. A mediocre edited script is a much better sight to see than seeing a Japanese noun ending with "s" without an apostrophe or a Japanese noun ending with "s" and with a careless apostrophe, but of course it doesn't mean that you can get away with either mistake. While I'm at it, watch how you pluralize words when you're working with other langauges also.

* Never do three-line translations. Four-liners are worse. I doubt that there are a lot of people that can read faster than I can. (Sorry that it looks like I'm bragging here, but I want to make a point out of this.) The point is that not a lot of people can read so many lines and catch what's being said in a snap. Please keep this in mind.

* NNL says that you should always work with the spelling checker. The spelling checker is a double-edged tool. Yeah, this will catch most spelling errors except for the ones misspelled into correct words, but if you make one correction mistake, you're in trouble. Don't act like it's your savior. Act like it's your assistant partner and check with your partner.

* Try not to use the grammar checker. I've had so many instances in which the sentences don't make sense in the end once I run it. If you must use it, make sure that it's like the spelling checker.

* Capitalization and punctuation: I see that a lot of groups don't take time to work on this. Polish these two matters up. Do you notice the subtitles of the commercial releases of anime? When a second batch of words come in for one character's speech, the first word is not capitalized unless the first one ended with a punctuation mark. Also, they take time to deal with punctuation marks. While we're on the subject of punctuation marks, don't overlook the semicolon. I encourage you to use it often.

* If there's one rule in English grammar you can bend, it's the number rule. I assume that you don't know the number rule; so I might as well tell you. Normally, if the number has more than three syllables, it is okay if you write the number out itself. If it has three or less, you must spell it out. It is okay to write down "953", but you must spell out "seventeen" always. In the fan sub world, the number rule is different and NNL has a good way to explain it.

* NNL says that you should not always begin sentences with "then", "so", "and" and "now". For the most part, they're right. You can say, "The wind now has a beautiful feeling" and that's fine by me. The one word or batch of words rather I don't encourage you to start your sentences is "and" and "but" as well as "because". That's how I was taught back in elementary and I still keep that principle to this day. Unless you have to start your sentences with one of these words, there are ways to get around these cases.

* As for the "because" issue, it is said that the word comes in the middle of the sentence or towards the end. Keep that in mind. While we're on this matter, the same can be said for its related phrases.

* If there is one point I fully disagree with NNL and while we're at it, English grammar, it's the passive voice. (I do loathe this issue with a passion!) By that, I mean redundant sentences to an extent. Yes, it's boring to see passive sentences, but there are people who speak with a passive voice. By reading a translation from someone feeble that happens to sound aggressive when it wasn't in the first place, it feels weird. For the most part, sentences should sound bold and be going straight to the point, but once in a while, experiment with the passive voice.

* I like my subtitles with honorable suffixes. NNL likes them too, but although they don't want to see too much in one line, honestly, this is all up to you.

* The intro splash is the way to go if you plan on putting in so many notes. I regret on not being able to do this because I didn't know how to do one and I still don’t. If you don't plan on doing one, you should have like 4 or so at the most in one 25-minute episode. Find alternatives if you can’t do this.

* To me, sign translations don't go towards the note limit. If you must translate a sign with small text, put a note up telling what the sign says.

* Don't insert a naughty word in your translation unless the character is actually saying it. For words that are between acceptable and naughty (and yes, there are words such as these), do role-play. You wouldn't believe how many times I went on to shake my head in disappointment because of groups making the mistake.

* Use world-wide English or the world-wide dialect of your own language. This is not just for myself. This is for people all over the world. Not many people outside of America will be familiar with the dialect from the south for example. For a southern character, you’re on your own, but if the character is not from the southern part of the United States of America, don't put down the southern dialect.

* Don't overlook the little stuff. This means stuff like the kawaii catch calls. If the character says his or her catch call like "Fumiyn", put down the call!

Notice how I place in the little details here.

* Be creative. If you are doing English translations and someone says "Thank you," in any language other than Japanese, especially English, put down "Arigat" once in a while because not only does it get rid of the repetitiveness of you putting down "Thank you", it can make the flow of a translation feel better. Plus, tasks like these can make the viewer amused. An old fan sub group (named Fansubs Anime I think) did this for Keisuke in the fourth episode of "Initial D" and a lot of people, including myself, laughed in a good way.

* Be consistent on name placement. If you go the traditional route, which is what I do all the time, make sure that the last name goes first for characters of the Asian groups that go by this format. That means if Neya Michiko-san is in the anime you're translating, I should see "Neya Michiko", not "Michiko Neya". If you go the way a lot of Hong Kong actors go when they want to be recognized by people that are not Chinese, keep it that way.

* A lesson to remember regarding that first picture I placed up: time each line. In the first example, you're more likely going to finish hearing Kaoru's line than reading the line. I should have said, "Come shikigami!" It may sound weird, but editing is like replacing your favorite voice actor or actress for a dub. You want to match syllable for syllable or better yet, have each translated line be read quicker than the speech being said. (Both sentences have five syllables if I gave out the new sentence.)

Tricks

* Role-play can either be an easy process or a daunting one. If you can emit different personalities, this should be no problem. If you have trouble doing this, pray to Kami-sama that you edited properly. Oh and if you have had some acting experience, it'll be a big help to you.

Role-play will have you be every single character of the subject that speaks, including the minor ones. You have to keep in mind many matters about the characters. What is his or her personality like? What is his or her nationality? What is his or her favorite color? Yes, you have to even answer questions like that last one and while we are at it, you have to know the voice actor. Though this doesn't work all the time, one voice actor you’ll most likely be comfortable with for example is Ueda Yji-san, as his characters tend to be easy-going and they don't become angry easily. Chances are that the Yji-san character you're working with fits here and that means the speech should be formal or close to it. I should not see so many cussing words in the translation of the character's speech.

Oh yeah. Please watch the scenario while you're at it. You can't forget that.

* If there is one task I hate about working with fan subs, it's dealing with the period ellipses or marks with three periods. Why? I tend to stay away from them because they confuse me. I sometimes don't know if I should add a fourth period or stop at three. Come to think of it, even though it is said that it is better to follow up two periods with a question mark or exclamation point than three, I still don't know if that's fully true or not. That is why I tend to stay away from them. If they irritate you also, stay away from them.

I don't know if I should be happy with this result or not. That’s it! I’m not using period ellipses to end sentences anymore!

* When working with questions that are asked with lots of feeling, in the end, I just put in a question mark, followed by an exclamation point. Some people do it the other way around, but it's better if you do it my way because the statement was a question to begin with.

* I try not to make it a habit to put in more than one exclamation point for exciting statements. If you do this often, put in three of them at the most.

* One of the tasks I regret doing is not using the tilde. If you don't know what it is, you know the curvy line you see above the "n" in some Spanish words? That's a tilde. The tilde expands the sound of the vowel. Try doing it. You can also use a macron or use the vowel so many times, but if you do the latter, make sure that you put in three of the same vowel at most.

* If all else fails for the script, mix a literal translation with some better fitting words.

Last update - 11/28/04

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