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uberscheisse
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 94
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 Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:54 am Post subject: downloading japanese subtitles for US tv shows |
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i've been downloading all my favorite western tv shows since i've been abroad.
but now i've got my lady living with me and she wants to get in on the daily flood of pure joy that is western television.
has anyone noticed a good source for japanese subtitles? .sfv files, i'm assuming, are the standard for most downloaded .avi, .divx or .mpeg files, as they're the only ones i've seen. |
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Hoser
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 694
Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Sorry can't help you there-why don't you ask some of your Japanese friends? Surely they must have a Japanese bittorent site on the internet somewhere. |
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markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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get cable.
teach her English. |
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mc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Posts: 90
Location: Aichi, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| Why not rent the DVDs? Most shops have a huge selection of American TV programs available. |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:26 am Post subject: |
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| mc wrote: |
| Why not rent the DVDs? Most shops have a huge selection of American TV programs available. |
yeah, they do. that is the most convenient option - but if it is something that was cancelled, or some obscure british miniseries, not even tsutaya carries it. the torrents are highly available all over the internet, but not the subtitles. often the files themselves are lower quality DVDrips, therefore having only a video and audio track - none of the subs that were on the original DVD. or, they were ripped straight off of TV or Tevo. no subs there either.
most of the TV i download is off of TVtorrents.com and it gets uploaded a few minutes after the show airs back home. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:41 am Post subject: |
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You realize, don't you, that your favorites may not even be subtitled because they may not be shown in Japan. I don't think there is any magical software or site that takes an un-subtitled video and creates subtitles.
If there is, cool.
If not, there's a plan for some software geek, but it'll involve a heckuva lot of work and some live translators instead of crummy software translation programs. If you've ever corrected a foreign student's writing, you'll know why. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:40 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
You realize, don't you, that your favorites may not even be subtitled because they may not be shown in Japan. I don't think there is any magical software or site that takes an un-subtitled video and creates subtitles.
If there is, cool.
If not, there's a plan for some software geek, but it'll involve a heckuva lot of work and some live translators instead of crummy software translation programs. If you've ever corrected a foreign student's writing, you'll know why. |
I highly doubt that such software exists. If it did, what it would mean would be that it was subtitles alone. So you would need to have a window open for your TV show, and then beneath it would be a second (very narrow window) with subtitles. Both windows would have to be sync'd so that the subtitles ran at the same pace as the video (essencially doing the same thing that they do when they make surtitles for opera [you see a running script of what is being said above the stage when you see an opera through a major company-- in Montreal they are in BOTH English AND French, in Toronto surtitles are in English only-- opera is usually in Italian or German)]. The difference is that opera is a musical form and so it is timed out in the sheet music- it tells you exactly when the line will be spoken and how fast it will be spoken (they have to be VERY careful about tempo- no '120bpm is about like this...' business or else the surtitles will end up out of sync).
To make something like that for regular TV shows, where pauses in speech and between speakers are the choice of the actor(s) (and/or director, sometimes), you would have to have somebody actually make subtitles for each episode individually just like they do when making Japanese editions of shows, and market that alone. Or else they would have to have software that would recognize the spoke vocal line seperated from all other ambient background noises (and soundtrack if there was one and the two tracks couldn't be seperated) and line it up that way.
I think the only really marketable possiblility would be for a company to make software that basically takes subtitles from shows that are ALREADY available in Japan and create a link program so that people who watch downloaded North American versions could also download the subtitles from the Japanese version (or the Thai version or subtitles in any other language that have already been done by someone else) and have that sync with the show. But this would be far harder than simply having a company in which you hire people to go out and upload entire Japanese versions from Japan, Thai versions from Thailand, Korean versions from Korea etc, send them to you and then you market them- except that that would almost definately be a copywrite violation, and the 'subtitle software' probably would be as well). And even when you do that, then really your target market is only going to be people downloading in that country (and I'm not sure, but probably there are already sites in Japanese that allow you to download Japanese TV shows and so possibly you can already download Japanese dubbed or subtitled versions of shows form there) or in tiny little areas of other countries with large numbers of immigrants who haven't learned English (so maybe like for Japanese people who have moved to Korea, but haven't learned Korean, and yet want to watch American TV shows, or Japanese people who have moved to America, but haven't yet learned English).
Something that would be more useful (ie would have a bigger market for)would be for a company to create subtitles in English for Japanese movies, English stubititles for Korean movies in Korea etc, because that is by far the most common foreign language L1 (or L2) in Asian countries.
(I agree with Markle- Get cable. And teach her English). |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:21 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| You realize, don't you, that your favorites may not even be subtitled because they may not be shown in Japan. I don't think there is any magical software or site that takes an un-subtitled video and creates subtitles. |
there are a lot of people who work on subtitling pirated video. it's easy to find user-created subtitles in hebrew or danish. just not japanese.
i'm just operating with the idea that, like many hundreds of other borrowed subcultures in japan there may be that one dude who loves that certain show and has gone to the trouble of subtitling it. tons of people have done that for japanese comedy stuff on youtube, just wondering if anyone is vigilant enough to do some of the better TV out there. |
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Angelfish
Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 131
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| uberscheisse wrote: |
| Glenski wrote: |
| You realize, don't you, that your favorites may not even be subtitled because they may not be shown in Japan. I don't think there is any magical software or site that takes an un-subtitled video and creates subtitles. |
there are a lot of people who work on subtitling pirated video. it's easy to find user-created subtitles in hebrew or danish. just not japanese.
i'm just operating with the idea that, like many hundreds of other borrowed subcultures in japan there may be that one dude who loves that certain show and has gone to the trouble of subtitling it. tons of people have done that for japanese comedy stuff on youtube, just wondering if anyone is vigilant enough to do some of the better TV out there. |
That does happen, and I think a lot of the Japanese movies and shows you can get, in GEO and other such places, have been subtitled by a fanboy somewhere in Tokyo. TBH they are truly appalling examples of subtitling. Even basic spelling and grammar (which most fanboy eikaiwa teachers should know) is sometimes wrong. The translations are often taken litterally, rather than adapting to the different speech and contextual situation. Shot changes are not adhered to. Subtitle screen times are either not long enough or they hang on the screen too long.And many other issues. The UK/US based shows and films usually get bought in with their own subtitles attached (probably subtitles for the Deaf/Hard of hearing audience).
It takes 9 months to properly train a non-translation subtitler. A translation-subtitler even longer. Just because someone can speak the two languages, doesn't mean they know how to subtitle.
There are three main types of software one can use for subtitling. The first is your basic subtitler listens then types up the subtitles, adjusts them, times them in and out, colour, spell check type. Second is re-speak software. Subtitler listens to the audio and respeaks the line, speaking the punctuation, edits, and line breaks, e.g.
FILM (Buffy): I, for one, am giddy and up. There's a kinda hush all over Sunnydale. No demons or vampires to slay, I'm here with my friends... So, how does the water buffalo fit in again?
Subtitler: capital I am giddy and up stop capital there's a hush over capital sunnydale stop no demons to slay comma capital I'm with my friends triple stop break capital How does the water buffalo fit in question mark
Subtitle comes out like this:
I am giddy and up. There's a hush over Sunnydale. No demons to slay, I'm with my friends...
How does the water buffalo fit in?
Third way is your basic crappy computer automated subtitles (used a lot in the US). It's speech recognition but gets a lot wrong due to words sounding the same, e.g. "Peter" becomes "pizza".
It's quite easy to load readymade subtitles onto the internet but you need the original file and a program that will play both simultaneously unless the subtitles are embedded into the film, in which case people who don't want them can't switch them off. The problem with the downloaded ones is the format the film is in. Some places will edit scenes out, or cut down long scenic sections to make a show "fit" but don't do the same to the subtitles, so at some point in the film they go out of sync. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:12 am Post subject: |
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| uberscheisse wrote: |
| i'm just operating with the idea that, like many hundreds of other borrowed subcultures in japan there may be that one dude who loves that certain show and has gone to the trouble of subtitling it. tons of people have done that for japanese comedy stuff on youtube, just wondering if anyone is vigilant enough to do some of the better TV out there. |
Well, you're hitting a narrow window of chance by asking here, and an even narrower window by not even telling us the name of your favorite programs. Good luck. |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:28 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| Well, you're hitting a narrow window of chance by asking here. |
is website this not a resource for expats living in japan? in my mind there are few better places. . . |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:59 am Post subject: |
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| Your girlfriend would probably have a better chance checking Japanese forums for this sort of thing - e.g. 2ch. I don't know if there actually is one, but I can imagine there being some sort of group or community where Japanese otaku make Japanese fansubs of tv shows in English. After all, there are dozens (hundreds?) of English-speaking otaku fansub groups that make English fansubs of Japanese animation/drama, so it could go the other way as well. |
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wintersweet
Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 345
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, mixi would probably be a good place to ask. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| uberscheisse wrote: |
| Glenski wrote: |
| Well, you're hitting a narrow window of chance by asking here. |
is website this not a resource for expats living in japan? in my mind there are few better places. . . |
I'm not saying teachers don't pirate Internet stuff. I'm saying that you might have better luck if you hit expat sites where there is a geek corner of computer specialist types. Post at GaijinPot and see how many more relevant posts you get in reply. JapanToday used to have a good site until a recent change (so I left), but if it's still there, it also has a good reference forum for computer issues. You might also want to fish around the Yahoo listserv groups for something. |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 94
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| uberscheisse wrote: |
| Glenski wrote: |
| Well, you're hitting a narrow window of chance by asking here. |
is website this not a resource for expats living in japan? in my mind there are few better places. . . |
I'm not saying teachers don't pirate Internet stuff. I'm saying that you might have better luck if you hit expat sites where there is a geek corner of computer specialist types. Post at GaijinPot and see how many more relevant posts you get in reply. JapanToday used to have a good site until a recent change (so I left), but if it's still there, it also has a good reference forum for computer issues. You might also want to fish around the Yahoo listserv groups for something. |
understood. i forgot about gaijinpot forums. . . i stopped going to GJP after i got my job. cheers |
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