Is this why the subtitles never match for English to English for hearing impaired?
this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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Not necessarily, well done subtitles and closed captions have different goals and each have separate reasons they may not exactly match the audio track. There’s a technology connections video with details if you’re curious.
This crunchyroll stuff may just be pure slop though.
I know a voice artist who works for crunchyroll, he said the company has been using AI for subtitles since atleast mid-2022 (right around the time when ChatGPT became available for public use).
Edit: seems like there's more to the job than I thought, TIL
~~Sorry, but why is this bad? Translating is drudge work, like data entry, that should be done by a machine so humans can go do other more interesting stuff. I'd argue that if nobody knew before now, the generated subtitles are good enough; I'd also point out that automatic CC/subtitling has been around and in use a lot longer than ChatGPT and nobody batted an eye until recently.~~
I think with Crunchyroll as a paid service, people were just disappointed before in the mediocre subs they were getting. To find out it's not even done by people paid to do the translation is just another slap in the face.
Now, a good translation is much more than rote drudge work. It requires understanding of nuance and cultural differences. There are different schools of thought in how literal or interpretive the translation should be. It's very much an art form and should be respected as such.
Hmm. Those are good points, particularly if people were expecting human-translated subs when they subscribed. If they're gonna use AI it should be clearly marked on their site. I appreciate the breakdown; I wasn't aware of the intricacies involved in translating foreign works.