[How to review]
So, you've translated or transcribed at least 90 minutes of talks,
you've studied the other reviewers' and LCs' edits
and feedback on your subtitles,
you've read all the guidelines and watched all the tutorials...
Welcome to reviewing!
The peer review stage is crucial to the Open Translation Project.
Without you, subtitles couldn't be published
and set free into the world.
Reviewers edit the subtitles to make sure they're accurate
and up to our quality standards.
They also provide useful, courteous feedback
to the transcriber or translator.
Collaboration is an essential part of the process,
and reviewers must be open to discussing their edits
and cooperating on further improvements.
When you review subtitles, follow this simple checklist.
One: Technical style.
Make sure that all of the subtitles conform to TED's standards.
Check that grammatical units
aren't split up between two lines or subtitles.
A single subtitle should never contain
both the end of one subtitle and the beginning of another.
There are several techniques you can use to adjust subtitles for technical style.
You can compress or reduce text, edit the timing,
break lines,
redistribute text between lines or subtitles,
and split or merge subtitles.
Let me give you a hint.
To split a subtitle, shorten the subtitle's duration,
and then paste some of the text into another subtitle,
created in the resulting time gap.
To merge subtitles,
first copy and paste the text of one subtitle into another.
And then, delete the original subtitle,
and extend the duration of the combined subtitle
over the resulting time gap.
Number two on your checklist is...
Accuracy.
Make sure that translations
express the original meaning in the target language naturally,
and modify subtitles which are too literal.
Verify that the equivalents of specialist terms in your language
are consistent with those used by professionals in that field.
And don't forget to check the title and description of the talk.
For transcripts, check the subtitles while listening to the talk,
to make sure that words haven't been misheard
or unintentionally left out.
Always review subtitles against TED's style guidelines on TED.com
and the style resources in your language's section on OTPedia.
And for the third item on your checklist,
review the subtitles for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
To spot spelling mistakes, use a spellchecker in your browser,
but look out for misspelled words that the spellchecker wouldn't detect.
Also, check for proper punctuation,
especially at the end of a line or a subtitle.
Pay close attention to sentences which span across multiple subtitles.
Is the word order correct in your language
or does it follow the original language too closely?
Does the sentence make sense as a whole?
Finally, proceed to the last item on the reviewer's checklist...
Follow up!
After making your edits,
re-watch the talk with the subtitles on to make sure that everything is correct.
Communicate your edits
by sending a direct message to the translator or transcriber
via Amara or their TED Profile.
Give them a deadline to respond by,
leaving both of you enough time to discuss and make further edits
before your review task has expired.
Remember that as a reviewer, you're also a mentor.
Always give feedback on your review.
Be specific, encouraging, constructive and positive.
Share advice and links
that will allow the translator or transcriber to learn and improve,
and point out what worked in the subtitles,
not only what needed to be fixed.
Consider sending back subtitles which contain a lot of errors,
like typos, which can be easily fixed.
Remember to always include a note explaining what needs to be corrected
and how to fix it.
And try to make the necessary changes at least in the first few minutes,
to demonstrate what you meant.
And finally, bear in mind
that before the reviewed subtitles get published,
they will need to get approved by a Language Coordinator.
Follow up on the feedback
that you get from Language Coordinators on your reviews
and react if they send the subtitles back to you for further edits.
And most of all remember that your reviews are the only way
that the other volunteers' work can get published,
so your role is very important.
And for now, happy transcribing and translating!
And reviewing!