A Guide to Reviewing with TED Translators

A tutorial on the five most important tips for reviewing with TED Translators.

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.