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[How to approve]
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Approval is the last task
before publishing.
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It is carried out
by the Language Coordinators,
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who verify the quality of the subtitles.
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Once taken,
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ideally, approval tasks
should be completed within a week,
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even though Amara
gives each task a 30-day limit.
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Leaving approval tasks in the dashboard
for longer periods of time
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can demotivate the volunteers
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and even potentially lead them
to abandon the Project.
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Here are a few easy steps
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for performing approvals
quickly and efficiently.
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The Amara editor
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marks reading-speed
and line and subtitle-length issues
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with a red exclamation mark.
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By using your browser's search function,
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you can easily locate
all exclamation marks
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and swiftly decide
if you should send the task back
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with notes on how to correct these issues
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or correct them yourself,
if there are very few of them.
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Don't forget to check
the title and description
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and edit them according to the TED, TED-Ed
or TEDx title and description formats,
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as appropriate.
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Next, watch the talk with the subtitles on
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to see whether the synchronization
of the subtitles is correct.
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In the meantime,
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you can scan the subtitles for accuracy,
grammar, spelling and punctuation.
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Once you are done with the first pass,
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decide whether you can complete
the task as it is,
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or whether the subtitles need to be
sent back for further corrections.
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The approval task should not take
too much of your time.
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For example,
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the approval of a standard
18-minute TED talk
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should not take more
than 30 minutes to complete.
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If more time is required,
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you should consider
returning the task to the reviewer
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with instructions
on how to improve the subtitles.
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Before sending the subtitles back,
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it's a good idea to make
the necessary changes
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at least in the first minute or two,
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to give the reviewer an example
of what you mean.
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In your comments, you can include
links to guidelines and tutorials,
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examples of mistakes,
language resources, tips and tricks,
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and anything that you feel
will help the volunteer improve.
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Make sure you refer to objective standards
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from reputable resources
by a language authority in your culture
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so the volunteers will feel
that the level of skill
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necessary to be good
at translating and reviewing
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is fully accessible to them,
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provided that they base their decisions
on more careful research.
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Remember to phrase your feedback
in a polite and constructive manner.
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Only comment on the work,
and not the contributor.
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Be objective, and make sure to point out
not only the mistakes,
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but also what worked in the subtitles,
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to encourage the volunteer.
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You can write feedback templates
for the most common comments
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and share them with the other
Language Coordinators in your language.
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This will reduce the time
needed for approvals even more.
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In OTPedia, you can read more
about how to tackle an approval task
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and also find a huge library
with useful resources
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you can share with the translators.
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And for now, happy approving!