Ask me anything about subtitling

Norfuer wrote:

Hi!

I basically got my first subtitling job (0 experience). It's monolingual ENG>ENG, and includes writing out a transcript for a series of lectures ranging from 45-70 minutes long, as well as timing them to the video. There are a few technical terms involved, but since the audience are layfolk, they're either easy enough to look up, or not all TOO technical.

To give you an idea, I've already done the first video. I managed to get the transcript done in less than an afternoon (inclusive of breaks and interruptions, I live in a noisy house). 8700 words in 50 minutes. Most of the timing was just a couple hours, though I'm ironing out a few kinks, as my transcript is imperfect and I misheard a few things.

I mean, it seems simple and straightforward enough. But the difficulty for me isn't so much the work. It's the rates. Aside from having no idea what the average rates are, there's also the fact that the client is a donation-funded ministry that I'm personally invested in. So I'm not viewing this so much as an actual job, but rather something of a... service to help them out. They're asking for my rate, and I have no idea what to give them. I do believe I should give them a discounted rate, though.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Max Deryagin wrote:



Hi Norfuer,

I'm not sure how the rates go in Philippines, but I think you should consider a rate between $1–2 per minute for discounted monolingual subtitling.

Norfuer wrote:

Hi, Max! Thanks for the suggestion! I actually forgot to say, the client is based in Canada. $1-2 does sound like a good ballpark for a discounted rate, though. Does the location change anything?

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

I don't do or know anything about subtitling work, and so I can't know whether Max's advice is helpful, but judging from his profile I'm sure it is, and he deserves a lot of praise. Not many Prozians offer free assistance in that way, and it's also a good marketer.

Well done, Max!

Max Deryagin wrote:



They might be based in Canada, but companies (almost) always map their rates geographically, so they won't offer you a rate they'd offer someone residing in Canada. This is because the cost of living differs from country to country, and for Philippines it's quite low, as far as I know.

I'd still suggest you charge around $1.5 a minute, although I'd like to stress that figuring the best rate is always the freelancer's job. You should charge as much as is reasonable for you: measure how many minutes of video you can do in one hour on average and then calculate how much you should charge per minute for a decent hourly rate.



Thank you, Mervyn

[Edited at 2016-07-12 07:01 GMT]

Michael Wetzel wrote:
I think the ministry will probably be expecting to pay what they would expect to pay a Canadian subtitler.

I would also say that the cost of living does not vary between countries as much as the quality of life: If you wanted to live a Canadian lifestyle in the Philippines (in terms of schools, health care, personal safety, etc.), then it would probably cost much more there than in Canada.

You can either search for the prices of similar services offered by Canada-based businesses or try to figure out what is a reasonable freelancer rate in Canada in general and then subtract some kind of discount from that figure to take into account the fact that this work is partially a donation and that the client has hired you with this in mind.

Michael Wetzel wrote:

I don't know which rate is relevant in that case: I guess the question is who is doing a favor for whom (are they mostly helping you to get by or are you mostly helping them to save money for what all of you agree is a good cause). It is also important to remember that a professional captioner is likely to produce better work at a much faster pace and that it will take time for you to approach that level of productivity. It's a complicated situation.

Michael Wetzel wrote:

My suggestion for trying to arrive at a price everyone is satisfied with in this very specific case:
I would calculate how many clock minutes you can realistically expect to need per minute of video to complete all of the work they are asking you to do and then add a buffer of maybe 25-35% for unexpected problems and communication and administrative aspects.

Then I would use that figure to calculate a minimum rate that you would not be willing to go below, because it would not make financial sense for you. Then I would keep all that to myself and talk about your issue to one of the Australians whom you know personally and ask if they can help you with a suggestion, possibly by going to the Canadians and asking them on your behalf.

That seems like the most likely way to end up with a rate that everyone is happy with. They are likely to offer more than the least amount you would have been willing to accept, and if they don't or you're otherwise unsatisfied with their offer (too low or too high), then you can try to negotiate with them.

Borianata wrote:

Hello there!

I have the following situation - I made subtitles for a cleint in srt, pac and stl formats.
When sending files to client I received the following comment:

"Everything seems good, there is italics and positioning. My only issue that I found was that the positioning is not in the first ten boxes."

Could you please explain to me what exactly the client means and how to fix it!!!
Thank you !!!!