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Behind the puns: the long nights of Indonesian subtitle translators
From vintage operas to K-drama, subtitles bridge the language gap for entertainment seekers. But the profession is increasingly getting challenged by the rise of A.I. translations.
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Long nights: Santy has to endure countless sleepless nights due to the nature of her work, but she enjoys it nevertheless. (Courtesy of Santy Sianturi) (Personal collection/Courtesy of Santy Sianturi)
F
rom vintage operas to K-drama, subtitles bridge the language gap for entertainment seekers. But the profession is increasingly challenged by the rise of AI translations.
Subtitles are said to be the successor of intertitles. While its predecessor was acknowledged briefly at the Oscars, the subtitling industry, small in numbers, remains behind the scenes.
"[The association] encompasses around 4,100 translators," said Indra Listyo, president of the Association of Indonesian Translators. "The number [of subtitle translators] is indeed fewer than that of document translators or book translators."
Daniel Laksono, an English Literature graduate from Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, had his first encounter with subtitling in 2018 for his personal YouTube channel. Although Daniel regularly translates news in his full-time job as an analyst at a media monitoring company in Semarang, Central Java, he found extra challenges in subtitle translation.
"It turns out that it's not only about translation, but also related to sentence length, readership and vocabulary. [For example], if the reader segment is lower middle class, the choice of words needs to be [simplified]."
On the other hand, Santy Sianturi, a 33-year-old freelancer in Denpasar, Bali, who has been translating since 2008, typed in her first subtitle two years after starting her career.
"I remember [the first subtitle I ever translated] clearly. [It was Style Network's 2010] Jerseylicious. It is almost impossible to forget because the pay was very low and [I had to do it] with a complicated-to-use app that [made the work even harder]. "
