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.