The TED Translators program is about teamwork,
and reviewers play a crucial role.
Reviewers collaborate with volunteers to improve the quality of subtitles,
so TED viewers can connect with speakers’ ideas.
Here are five tips for reviewers:
1 . Be qualified!
You need five sets of published subtitles before you can review.
This ensures you’re familiar with
and can advise others on subtitling best practices.
2. Watch the talk first!
Before making changes,
watch the entire talk with subtitles to identify areas where you should focus.
Look out for common mistakes,
like overly-literal translations,
grammatical errors,
and timing issues.
3. Give useful feedback!
Good feedback is constructive and actionable.
It includes specific examples of what you should change and why.
Link to resources so volunteers can learn
to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
To motivate volunteers, highlight what they did well.
4. Send it back!
If you notice too many mistakes,
send the subtitles back to the original volunteer.
Reviewers don’t need to correct every error.
Instead, point out recurring issues and offer an example correction.
5. Work as a team!
TED Translators are volunteers united by the mission to spread great ideas.
Always be respectful,
and think of reviewing as a conversation with a teammate
about how to best communicate the speaker’s idea in your language.
Remember these five tips when you review subtitles
and work with fellow volunteers to make big ideas globally accessible.