Jeff McLean

Writer/Editor

I'm an American freelance translator living in Northern Norway and/or Southern California depending on the time of year and the prevailing weather. I'm really excited about becoming a TED Translator and have already captioned my first three TEDx Talks in English. I'm also happy to help with subtitling Norwegian-language TED or TEDx Talks into English. In a pinch, I can also subtitle Talks from Danish or Swedish into English...but only if you provide me with a complete transcript in the original language. In my day job, I translate and subtitle Norwegian feature films and all kinds of short films and basically any video that has dialog or song lyrics. I find it extremely rewarding to help TED and organizations such as Amara.org to make content more accessible to viewers around the world by creating English captions - including subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired (SDH). It's cool to think that the captions and subtitles I create might also serve as a template on which other translators can prepare subtitles in a wide variety of other languages. My personal background includes two years of study abroad through the UC Education Abroad Program; one year in Bergen, Norway, and the other year in Pau/Paris, France. It was a wonderful experience and may partly explain how I ended up living on a tiny island in Northern Norway, just above the Arctic Circle. The island of Bolga makes an excellent base from which to do translation and captioning work. As a relatively new TED Translator, I'm learning a lot with each new task that I complete. All the approvers who have reviewed my work have been very helpful and provided lots of useful tips. Feel free to message me if you need assistance with your English transcription or just want to have a chat about the captioning process. I've been a big fan and viewer of TED and TEDx Talks for years. And I would encourage anyone with good writing skills to volunteer as a TED Translator and help us create subtitles for these enjoyable and informative Talks in your language(s) too.

Translation, subtitling and captioning...

Subtitling and captioning are not just tasks that I do as part of my job as a freelance translator who specializes in audio-visual translation work. These are highly technical processes that require a good deal of practice in order to really "get the hang" of how it all works. I was fortunate enough to have a mentor who taught me the basic techniques after I kept on bugging her. "I don't want to just translate!" as I told her. I wanted her to teach me how the subtitles and captions actually appear on the screen. And I especially wanted to learn the art of cueing the subtitles to that the text on the screen would be perfectly synchronized with the dialog being heard. In Norway, where I have lived since 1996, viewers of TV programs and feature films are accustomed to the presence of subtitles or captions in just about everything they watch. Not surprisingly, almost everyone in Norway speaks English. Norwegians have also been quick to embrace the ability to stream media content onto their smartphones. As a big supporter of providing subtitles or captions for virtually all streamed content, I was quite happy to learn that Netflix had decided to provide this service for all of its programming. Growing up in Southern California, I was already accustomed to seeing the captions that were available on most of the TV shows that aired on PBS (i.e. the Public Broadcasting Service). Most of my fellow Americans used to think of subtitles as something you might have to "deal with" if you went to see a foreign film. Captions were looked upon as something only needed by the deaf or hearing-impaired. However, I would argue that there is much to be gained by watching a language in your native tongue while the captions are turned on and giving you lots of extra details about the content. In fact, the presence of subtitles or captions can truly enhance the viewing experience in important ways. For example, if a person is mumbling or otherwise speaking in an inaudible or unintelligible manner. The technical process of subtitling or captioning a film offes a variety of challenges. There is often no "single, correct way" to convey the spoken dialog. Depending on the style and rate of speaking, the words and sentences being uttered by the speaker can either appear verbatim - just as they are being spoken - or they may need to be compressed slightly. This is not only due to a speaker having a lot on their mind and using a lot of words. It can also be necessary to omit certain words when a speaker talks very, very fast! It's important to point out that most humans can process what they hear faster than what they read. And this is a big part of why captioning a program - even in the original language of the Talk - can be quite challenging. It's also the reason why I am also so grateful to speakers who are good about taking an occasional pause while speaking. Not only does this allow the audience and viewers a chance to digest the message the speaker seeks to convey, it also makes my job a lot easier by giving me enough time to display their words. I sincerely hope that producers and directors of feature-length and short films will also "get the message" that subtitles and captions are important to the viewing audience. Jump cuts and frequent scene changes which occur while dialog is being spoken makes a subtitler's job nearly impossible. The resulting visual spectacle being viewed may be fun to watch, but it doesn't mix well with conveying spoken dialog using on-screen texting. So, what is the idea I consider worth spreading about subtitles and captions? In brief, support your local translator, subtitler and captioner. This is important work that benefits millions of viewers around the world.

EN>EN Captioning, NO>EN Subtitling

Where do I start? I'm a long-time TED Talk viewer who dreamed of becoming a TED Translator one day. And, now that dream has come true as I've just started doing transcription tasks on TEDx Talks. I really enjoy doing this work on a volunteer basis. No pressure. No deadlines. Just taking my time to do a good job while creating English captions of high quality. I'm glad that someone on the TED Translators Facebook page recently encouraged all of us to share our location. I really enjoy connecting with my fellow TED Translators and hope I will be able to attend one of the upcoming gatherings. I wish you all Happy Translating, Subtitling, and Captioning! :-) Jeff

Sailing