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POLL -- Should DASH: Detailed have subtitles in different languages, translated by real humans?

amanda_b_johnson

Well-known member
Hi, all.

I'd like to determine whether funding should be requested and allocated for real humans to do multilingual translations of DASH: Detailed. Translations would then be posted as subtitles on videos.

BACKGROUND: We've been adding Google Translate-automated subtitles for ~25 different languages on all our videos from the very first episode, but native speakers have repeatedly told us that they're not very good.

So, should resources be allocated to remedying this, or not?

THE NUMBERS: In most minutes viewed, YouTube reports that countries tuning in are as follows:

  • United States______32%
  • Russia___________9%
  • United Kingdom____7%
  • Canada__________5%
  • Australia__________4%
  • Germany__________3%
  • Netherlands________3%
  • Brazil_____________2%
  • Ukraine___________2%
  • India_____________2%
  • Other countries_____31%
It seems like a lot of people think Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese are the four languages we should target (if they think we should target any at all). According to the numbers above, however, Spanish and Chinese speakers don't even make the viewer list. And Russian is perhaps more important than most realize.

With these stats in mind, kindly respond in a comment below to the following questions:

  1. Should DASH: Detailed be translated by real humans into other languages?
  2. If 'yes' to question 1, which languages should be done?
  3. Should a premium price be offered to get translations done by publishing time? (i.e. 24 hour turnaround time, assuming that the translator receives the unpublished video on Tuesday and it's then published [with his translation] on Wednesday)
  4. If "no" to question 3, what is an acceptable turnaround time after a video is live for translated subtitles to be completed? 48 hours? A week? Something else?
THANKS VERY MUCH for your feedback.
 
Hey Amanda! Good question. I feel that your show is the best thing we have to relate to the common person. It is a great way to draw people in to what we're doing, and I think investing in it would pay dividends. So, to answer your questions:

1) Yes. Getting a human touch on these translations would be beneficial, as the bots sometimes mess up the context.
2) Personally, I'm not looking at all of the markets you listed, as most of them are obviously English, and the other ones have far too low a percentage to be a factor (for me). So, I would target the major markets such as Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. We can then go after these markets through our channels here, or maybe through Wachsman PR. Then go after strong economies and colonial languages such as Portuguese, French and German.
3) No, it can be released in a timely manner afterward, 4) such as 48 hours, as you suggested.
 
I love your poll! This is the way polls should be, and the software of the forum and of the budget system should support that kind of tree like polls.
1. Should DASH: Detailed be translated by real humans into other languages?
yes
2. If 'yes' to question 1, which languages should be done?
Russian, German.
And then select just one of the Francais or Chinese or Spanish . You should target the people they dont listen to you, because it is wise to expand your "business" to new areas.
3.Should a premium price be offered to get translations done by publishing time? (i.e. 24 hour turnaround time, assuming that the translator receives the unpublished video on Tuesday and it's then published [with his translation] on Wednesday)
no, because if there is a race who translates first, the quality of translation turns bad. Unless you also pay someone else to judge the quality of the translation, in a later time. (this is a conditional vote, as an answer to this conditional poll, so let me express it formaly: If you pay someone in a later time to judge the quality, then yes, otherwise no)
If "no" to question 3, what is an acceptable turnaround time after a video is live for translated subtitles to be completed? 48 hours? A week? Something else?
48 hours
THANKS VERY MUCH for your feedback.
I thank you for posting such a clever poll and showing the correct way polls should be. Its up to the whales to support a system like that for the budget and up to the developers to develop a software that can implement such polls. TREE LIKE CONDITIONAL POLLS (and votes) IS THE SOLUTION, AND THESE POLLS SHOULD BE SUPPORTED INTO THE DASH FORUM AND THE DASH BUDGET SYSTEM IMMEDIATLY (not just immediatly now, they should already have been implemented yesterday!)
 
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Hi, all.

I'd like to determine whether funding should be requested and allocated for real humans to do multilingual translations of DASH: Detailed. Translations would then be posted as subtitles on videos.

BACKGROUND: We've been adding Google Translate-automated subtitles for ~25 different languages on all our videos from the very first episode, but native speakers have repeatedly told us that they're not very good.

So, should resources be allocated to remedying this, or not?

THE NUMBERS: In most minutes viewed, YouTube reports that countries tuning in are as follows:

  • United States______32%
  • Russia___________9%
  • United Kingdom____7%
  • Canada__________5%
  • Australia__________4%
  • Germany__________3%
  • Netherlands________3%
  • Brazil_____________2%
  • Ukraine___________2%
  • India_____________2%
  • Other countries_____31%
It seems like a lot of people think Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese are the four languages we should target (if they think we should target any at all). According to the numbers above, however, Spanish and Chinese speakers don't even make the viewer list. And Russian is perhaps more important than most realize.

With these stats in mind, kindly respond in a comment below to the following questions:

  1. Should DASH: Detailed be translated by real humans into other languages?
  2. If 'yes' to question 1, which languages should be done?
  3. Should a premium price be offered to get translations done by publishing time? (i.e. 24 hour turnaround time, assuming that the translator receives the unpublished video on Tuesday and it's then published [with his translation] on Wednesday)
  4. If "no" to question 3, what is an acceptable turnaround time after a video is live for translated subtitles to be completed? 48 hours? A week? Something else?
THANKS VERY MUCH for your feedback.

1. yes
2. China, India, Russia, Africa... and most developed nation which doesnt speak English fluently
3. no
4. 48 days
 

I'm here! (List. More to come.)

There's a problem. As far as I know, nothing distinguishes "hand-made" subs from the huge flow of crappy "bot-made" subs in YouTube. Non-English viewers might be interested to know that subs in their native language have been carefully, delicately translated for them…
 
My answer is:
1. Yes, even for those main languages/areas where Dash isn't very active now (at the current moment). We should accumulate our power not only for current activity, but for future promotion also (as most of DD videos will be actual and useful for many years...)
2. Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese. Other aren't so obvious on current stage IMO - translation is expensive and time-consuming process (and subtitles are not enough to get effect - it also requires efforts of local Dash enthusiasts to distribute-promote these videos, along with all other necessary local promo-activity to get results.
3. No, as it will increase expenses and efforts in several times. If we have some extra funds for this task - it's better to spend them to additional languages, not for urgent translations.
4. 1-2 weeks timeframe is OK in most cases, by my experience. The more urgent - the bigger price to pay.

As you know, we now human-translate subtitles for all DD videos and then distribute these videos in main russian media channels (Russian is not only for Russia - it's also main language in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belorussia, ... + many Russian people in other counries). Feel free to ask about our RU-experience in DD translation, editing and promotion.

P.S. 6 "Dash School" videos have to be translated to as many languages as possible - they are relatively short and very useful - will work for years...
 
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THE NUMBERS: In most minutes viewed, YouTube reports that countries tuning in are as follows:

  • Other countries_____31%
Devil is in the details, and it hides behind 31%.
Details always matter, in a way you are unable to understand if you are not a geek/nerd.
So please tell us exactly what the rest 31% of the countries are.
 
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  1. Should DASH: Detailed be translated by real humans into other languages?
  2. If 'yes' to question 1, which languages should be done?
  3. Should a premium price be offered to get translations done by publishing time? (i.e. 24 hour turnaround time, assuming that the translator receives the unpublished video on Tuesday and it's then published [with his translation] on Wednesday)
  4. If "no" to question 3, what is an acceptable turnaround time after a video is live for translated subtitles to be completed? 48 hours? A week? Something else?
THANKS VERY MUCH for your feedback.
1. yes
2. Portuguese
3. no
4. 48 hours

Thanks.
 
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1. yes
2. Mandarin (China, Taiwan, Singapore), Hindi (>75% of India), Spanish (Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, ++), Portuguese (Brazil/Portugal), Russian, German, French
3. no
4. 48 hours
 
There are other languages in western civilization that also include large numbers of people, such as Polish (around 50 million people), Dutch (around 25 million people), Romanian (around 24 million people), Swedish (around 9 million people), Finnish (around 6 million people), including Greek language (around 13 million people) on eastern mediterranean.

Languages of Asia and Middle East:
Korean language (around 75 million people);
Vietnamese language (around 75 million people);
Turkish language (around 88 million people);
Japanese language (around 125 million people);
Russian language (around 260 million people);
Arabic language (around 420 million people), with tremendous disparity of Arabic dialects in remote regions;
Chinese language (around 1 billion people), with tremendous disparity of Chinese dialects in remote regions.
 
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  • Russia___________9%
  • United Kingdom____7%
  • Canada__________5%
  • Australia__________4%
  • Germany__________3%
  • Netherlands________3%
  • Brazil_____________2%
  • Ukraine___________2%
  • India_____________2%
  • Other countries_____31%

To give a different opinion: I would start exactly with this numbers.

Why?

You won't get absolutely non-crypto people accidentally watching your videos. But you'll get people who already know something about crypto-currencies and your videos recommend those videos to friends, and those friends will feel much more comfortable to have all those new and unknown terms translated to their language.
 
Do we have any idea how much a translation costs? Once translated, does that create a different video on Youtube, or is it the same URL with options for subtitles? Thanks Amanda!
 
So, should resources be allocated to remedying this, or not?

It would seem to me the Youtube information you received tells the tale... as part of a business venture, this is Not required.

1. Yes, this should be done, if a localized interest group would be willing to provide the service.
2. They could do this by/or upon request where it may be suitable.
3. No.
4. That interest group could present a supplement any time, at their convenience.
....It occurs to me that a sync'ed audio track for simultaneous play could be quite effective.

I am very much interested in geographic expansion of the DASH service, yet the numbers do not show a great need, at this point in time, from a Youtube point of view.
Perhaps the question might be, what internet media concern is most popular in the other countries ?

Perhaps it should be noted quick research shows there are a large number of languages and dialects spoken within Russia...

It might be best to develop a framework for granting permission to translate to interest groups of enthusiasts in any particular locale ???

I enjoy the presentations by Amanda B. Johnson for a number of reasons.
These are most certainly influenced by learned standards present within my immediate social sphere.
It occurs to me that different standards most likely exists, elsewhere.
DASH interest groups outside our scope of general activity would best determine the suitable presentation within their locale.

Best
rc
 
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