Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles) — Page 16

Version 8.1 is now on MySpleen.  Remaining to-do list for 8.2 (and really, this one should be timed to match Despecialized ROTJ 2.0):

- Completing Operation Eyestrain--getting full Japanese subtitles for ROTJ in text format.

- DeEdv2-specific "matching" subtitles for ROTJ.

- Some fairly minor problems with layout, involving subtitles shifted to the top of the screen.  The most noticeable issue is one subtitle at just over the one-hour mark in both SW and ESB which gets erroneously shifted (bad logic in my shifting script), and the other more minor issue is that top-shifted subtitles don't always line up along the bottom of the top line, making it look like the lines shift slightly up and down (they line up along the top of the top line, which is usually good enough for English, but often not good enough for other languages).

- There's always the possibility for more languages!  At the moment, I have leads on two more, and one more fansub I could maybe convert myself with some difficulty.

At this point, I should also mention that I don't plan to convert any more SE fansubs myself if they are mutually intelligible with another language I already have good-quality subtitles for.  Examples: Macedonian (because we have Bulgarian), Serbian (because we have Croatian), and Malay (because we have Indonesian).  Of the full-trilogy SE fansubs I have access to, this leaves only Farsi and Estonian--and I already have a lead on a Farsi-speaker willing to help us with a better translation.  Of course, I'd be happy to accept trilogy-complete GOUT-timed subtitles in any language at all, but since I can't verify the quality of the fansubs myself, and I can't tell how much I might be damaging them in the SE-to-GOUT conversion process, I'm leaving that job to people who actually know the language in question.  I certainly don't want to do anything that might unnecessarily dilute the already good quality we've worked so hard to achieve.

You're welcome--and remember, it's unlikely any of these translations are ever going to be absolutely perfect, even if they are based on the official sources--so if you spot a poor translation, typo, awkward phrase, or some other problem, just let me know.  I just got a small batch of improvements for the Spanish subtitles (thanks to Hostmaster and Leoj), for example, so now we're going to be better than the official translations for those as well!

EDIT: While I am interested in improving the translations, I am not interested in changing subtitles to match a particular foreign dub (except in cases where that dub simply provides a better translation for a given line).  I can understand why people may be interested in having subtitles that match their favorite dubs, but this project is for subtitles to accompany the English audio, not the dubs.

PM sent.

PM sent.

PM sent.

PM sent--sorry it's such a big download for two SRT files.  Thank you for the compliment, though!

PM sent.

PM sent.  Lots of requests for Portuguese lately!

PM sent.

PM's sent.  Regarding Operation Eyestrain, I'll keep your offer of help in mind for emergencies, but I'd like to keep following our existing process right now.

The reason is that the Japanese conversion has a lot more artistry in it than the other conversions, and I'd like to keep the same person doing it if at all possible.  For example, Furigana just doesn't work in SRT files, so sometimes a different translation is preferable, that sort of thing.  Plus the Japanese subs still say "Revenge of the Jedi" I think, and that's historically cool but not the best translation ;)

I'm sure we'll have the Japanese ROTJ in text form soon enough; in the meantime the graphical ones are actually very solid, just not as flexible as I'd like.

PM's sent.

And FYI, I already kinda knew this but now it's confirmed--the Hebrew and Arabic SRT files aren't terribly usable right now for people who use software playback--but I think the graphical subs are fine.  The problem is that none of the major video players really supports RTL very well, and you kindof have to mangle the SRT file to get things like punctuation appearing on the correct side of the text.  I'm working on this.

Thanks, it's always good to get confirmation we're doing a good job.

I do accept corrections, if you want to make them.  Making intentional stylistic mistakes like that is beyond my abilities, but if you explain the changes you made, I'll incorporate them in future versions ;)