Tag Archive for: localisation

Ghent University adopts SubtitleNEXT to equip students for the future

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For immediate release – 19 May 2022, Ghent, Belgium – Europe’s prestigious Belgian Ghent University has invested in the SubtitleNEXT platform for the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication to further empower students.

After carefully reviewing a number of subtitling software systems, including free cloud-based programmes, the university’s Language and Translation Technology team chose SubtitleNEXT as system of choice to replace their previous subtitling tool.

Ghent University is a major public research institution, currently ranked within the top one hundred World University Rankings. With a total of 36,000 students and 9,000 staff, the University of Ghent has over eleven faculties offering more than two hundred courses that conduct in-depth research within a wide range of scientific disciplines, while its research investment averages around £180 million annually.

Within the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Multilingual Communication, students are being trained as language and language technology specialists, which offers them career perspectives in the translation and interpreting industry, including marketing and communications, education, natural language processing (NLP), and so forth.

For many years, subtitling has been part of the curriculum at Bachelor, Master, and Postgraduate level, and constitutes an important internship program thanks to collaborations with The International Film Fest Gent.

Ghent University’s Language Technology Lecturer Cynthia Van Hee says, “SubtitleNEXT stood out from the other systems due to many factors such as its intuitive interface and the large number of functionalities it offers. The versatile licensing schemes, including PBT EU’s dedicated technical support and maintenance options also appealed to us, as they give us flexibility to request specific functionalities for our purposes.”

Expanding on the key elements that attracted the department to invest in SubtitleNEXT, Cynthia outlines further details, “With teaching purposes in mind, our decision was mainly based on the technical advantages that SubtitleNEXT offers, outlined in my summary as follows:

Firstly, SubtitleNEXT’s intuitive interface works for us. Basic functionalities for loading a video, such as, spotting, adding, removing, and editing subtitles are all straightforward in the system. This is a major requirement for us, given that teachers and students with different backgrounds would be working with SubtitleNEXT.

Secondly, we were very impressed with the multitude of functionalities SubtitleNEXT has to offer and that they are also relevant to a range of other courses in our department. SubtitleNEXT provides invaluable respeaking and live subtitling options for candidates in our Interpreting Master’s programme too, including automatic translation plugin possibilities for the courses on Translation, displaying different interface layouts that allow easy comparison of subtitle files and so on.

Thirdly, given our yearly collaborations with different film festivals, SubtitleNEXT also delivers in this important area for us, with the types of video formats the system supports and the number of export possibilities.

Finally, the SubtitleNEXT floating licensing option that PBT EU offers is a considerable advantage when working with many groups of students.”

In addition, Cynthia reveals a few of her favourite features in SubtitleNEXT, “We really like the logical and clear layout design with limitless options for subtitle layout and editing. The various interface layouts, such as the side-by-side view for correcting purposes are useful, as well as the support for different video and export formats. It’s also great that we have the opportunity in SubtitleNEXT to create different subtitling profiles, each with their own set of properties.”

Looking ahead to what’s next, she adds, “We are also eager to learn more about the live subtitling option in the future. We are truly satisfied with SubtitleNEXT as our new subtitling software, and so are our students. The software appears to be very intuitive to them and provides all necessary options to allow them to successfully embark on their subtitling adventure.

We are also really happy with and grateful for the customer support we received so far. Switching software always implies many changes and a steep learning curve, but we can always address our concerns and questions, which are responded quickly and efficiently.”

CEO and Managing Partner of PBT EU, Ivanka Vassileva concludes, “We are delighted to welcome Ghent University to the growing community of SubtitleNEXT professionals. We feel immensely proud that the university’s dynamic Language and Translation Technology team invested in SubtitleNEXT for its various language and translation programmes, arming a future generation with key skills within a fast-paced global market. As a team that places our customers as first priority, we deeply value the relationship we have with the university, and we very much look forward to working with Cynthia and her outstanding team as they continue to transfer excellent subtitling skills to the next generation in an evolving digital world.”

The SubtitleNEXT platform is used for both offline and real-time captioning for all kinds of media formats. Some of the many organisations, including universities that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include EMG, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Warsaw, European School of Translation, Max Live Media Access, Biovisjon, IT Pros Subtitles, Doli Media Studio, Cube Cinema Technologies, Tring TV, Bulgarian National Television, Canal Plus Myanmar, AMC, HD Media, Hellenic American College of Greece, European School of Translation, the Complutense University of Madrid, and many others.

Find out more about SubtitleNEXT at www.SubtitleNEXT.com

For more about Ghent University’s Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, visit https://www.ugent.be/lw/vtc/nl. Further information about the Department’s Translation and Language Technology research can be found here https://lt3.ugent.be/

 

Media Information


About PBT EU

PBT EU develops and provides performance-leading solutions and customisable engineering system integration to empower content providers, broadcast, production, and post-production professionals to operate efficiently at the forefront of an ever-evolving digital environment. PBT EU’s primary focus is flexibility, futureproof customer-driven product innovation, fast deployment, teamwork, perseverance, openness, speed, high quality work, as well as dedicated support of its products, solutions and services, which include – PlayBox Technology Neo product suite, EXEcutor™ broadcast servers and software applications, advanced captioning and subtitling software platform SubtitleNEXT, as well as Profuz Digital’s powerful business process and information management system LAPIS designed to efficiently centralise processes and data all under one roof. PBT EU collaborates with worldwide renowned technology partners across distribution and system integration projects. Headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a global outreach including centres outside the country where sales, support, manufacturing, and R&D operations take place. www.pbteu.com

 

About SubtitleNEXT

SubtitleNEXT is a user-friendly, innovative, customisable, intuitive, and affordable timed-text software platform. Already adopted across various multimedia industries, it is designed for personal and professional use. It easily adapts to any settings, resolutions, and formats such as AR, MR, VR, 8K, 4K, 2K, HD, SD, 3D, UHD across online video, TV, film, theatre, concerts, festivals, conferences, and events. It can be applied throughout the entire video production process from concept to distribution. SubtitleNEXT already has a proven track record of success and continued to support customers throughout the entire pandemic, owing to its flexibility and remote capabilities. Visit www.SubtitleNEXT.com

 

About Ghent University

To find out more, visit the Language and Translation Department website (in Dutch): https://www.ugent.be/lw/vtc/nl

The website of the research group Language and Translation Technology: https://lt3.ugent.be/

Socials:
www.vtc.ugent.be
www.facebook.com/ugent.vtc
www.instagram.com/ugent.vtc

 

London-based Titles-On embraces NEXT-TT to fully optimise global localisation efficiency

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NEXT-TT penetrates the UK market as technology partner at London’s Titles-On

For immediate release – 25 May 2022, London, UK – Broadcast media and localisation specialists PBT EU announced today that London-based company Titles-On has invested in the NEXT-TT localisation workflow management technology platform to bolster the company’s infrastructure. NEXT-TT’s wide-ranging functionality has provided Titles-On with a powerful backbone designed to further support the whole organisation, in one single efficient system.

The NEXT-TT and SubtitleNEXT editors system which has been deployed at Titles-On, provides the organisation with dependable support for all subtitling management workflow processes which include closed captions, and subtitles creation, editing, correction, delivery, and in other crucial areas, such as freelance orders, financial and media asset management, purchase order management, automatic pricing calculations, income, and expenses breakdown reports and much more. NEXT-TT is also being used to support clients, in-house project management and professional teams of freelance subtitlers and translators, through to accounting staff and owners.

PBT EU installed a complete NEXT-TT management solution to integrate seamlessly within the organisation as a whole. Titles-On now makes full use of the CRM and commercials management modules within NEXT-TT. The platform’s consistent capabilities encompass every aspect of the business, irrespective of the complexity or simplicity of the tasks at hand.

UK-based Titles-On is a global company with an expanding presence in Asia. The company provides quality subtitling and audio services, such as dubbing and audio description and comprised of talented professionals from around the world to provide subtitling and localisation services. The team is set up to work remotely via cloud technologies, connectivity, and the best industry software. The company has established a reputation for consistency and has acquired exceptional recognition worldwide.

Titles-On is passionate about accessibility and believe that everybody should be able to enjoy the world of media. They also recognise that captions can be instrumental in supporting literacy, and they feel strongly that there is a special place in their hearts for independent film makers to reach audiences across borders and get their films distributed on streaming platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon. Titles-On is affiliated to a number of organisations that work with them to provide the best services for their clients such as The American Translators Association, Media & Entertainment Media Alliance, Entertainment Globalization Association, and the Raindance Film Festival.

“Titles-On is a tech-enabled player at the forefront of utilising the smartest technology to automate parts of our workflow. When choosing our technology partner, the deciding factor was the flexible approach of the team at NEXT-TT, creating a solution for us to meet our specific preferences today as well as facilitating adaptation of the system to meet future requirements. It is like having bespoke technology at retail prices.” Stated CEO of Titles-On, Bente Ottersen.

“We are thrilled to support Titles-On as a fully-fledged cloud facility, which has always been at the core of NEXT-TT’s strategy, long before the pandemic arose. Our aim is to best help companies manage security and complexity across projects, global offices, staff, and freelancers,” noted PBT EU’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov. “The partnership with Titles-On demonstrates how NEXT-TT’s platform allows global firms to access projects at any given time, from anywhere, and facilitate collaboration among staff.”

“We are immensely proud to be Titles-On technology partner, and it’s rewarding to see them embracing NEXT-TT as their platform of choice for their production pipeline for media localisation workflows, and much more,” PBT EU’s CEO and Managing Partner Ivanka Vassileva said, “Titles-On has an excellent reputation for delivering high-calibre services. They are a dynamic company that continually revises and works with the latest technology to stay ahead of change within our industry, ensuring best practice and adapting to emerging technologies in order to benefit their clients and wider community. We admire their outlook and are very pleased to be providing the NEXT-TT platform from which they can continue to deliver great work. We look forward to a long partnership with them.”

PBT EU specialises in the broadcast and media market with a host of hardware and software solutions for digital asset management and localisation services, which includes the SubtitleNEXT and NEXT-TT platforms.

NEXT-TT is a hybrid software platform for managing timed-text, dubbing and localisation services for all types of content. It includes functionality for managing translation teams, audiovisual professionals, creative freelancers, while providing users with powerful toolsets in a secure workspace enabling accelerated workflows with quality results.

The SubtitleNEXT platform is used for both offline and real-time captioning for all kinds of media formats. Some of the many organisations, that have already adopted SubtitleNEXT include EMG, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, University of Rome Tor Vergata, the University of Warsaw, University of Ghent, European School of Translation, Max Live Media Access, Biovisjon, IT Pros Subtitles, Doli Media Studio, Cube Cinema Technologies, Tring TV, Bulgarian National Television, Canal Plus Myanmar, AMC, HD Media, Hellenic American College of Greece, European School of Translation, the Complutense University of Madrid, and many others.

Find out more about NEXT-TT at https://pbteu.com/products/next-tt/

For more about Titles-On, visit www.titles-on.com

Multilingual Film Productions rely on efficient Subtitling

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SubtitleNEXT creator Kamen Ferdinandov talks through “what’s NEXT-TT in subtitling software to equip subtitlers”

Subtitles support upcoming filmmakers by providing accuracy and fluency. They play a vital role in ensuring that directors receive the recognition they deserve on the regional and international stage.

Subtitles are beginning to feature in international films. They help movie makers gain global recognition and even win awards.

Now in 2021, subtitles are a hugely important topic more than ever before. Subtitles recently hit the radar again with Minari receiving the Golden Globes award for best “Foreign language film”. The multi-Oscar award-winning South Korean black comedy thriller Parasite made history by winning best picture, a feat that no other subtitled film achieved in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards. The film’s director Bong Joon-ho used his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes to champion subtitles and encouraged audiences not to be put off by international films. He said that once audiences “overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” they will be introduced to so many amazing films, further noting that we use only one language: “the cinema.”

This outlook reflects the mindset of Profuz Digital’s CTO Kamen Ferdinandov, a passionate and inspiring developer who also believes in opening audiences up to a whole new world. By creating a subtitling application to help surpass language barriers, he hopes to make subtitling more widely accessible and user friendly.

SubtitleNEXT creator Kamen Ferdinandov discusses what’s next in subtitling software to equip subtitlers with efficient toolsets and achieve results that filmmakers require.

From the very beginning, Kamen wanted to make a platform available to everyone at every level. This meant it had to be equipped with familiar text-editing application tools. He set out to make the subtitling software-only platform SubtitleNEXT to achieve just this.

Kamen notes, “No longer are subtitles only deemed necessary for those with impaired hearing but are perceived as imperative to anyone wanting to watch content when in noisy places or with the sound off.”

He points out, “When conducting timed text representations of the spoken text in another language, in other words, translating spoken text from one language into written text into another language, especially in the audio-visual field, you need to pay attention to the time restrictions and cultural differences. Therefore subtitling is never pure text translation, as there should always be some adaptation involved in order to transmit the message of the speaker. However, localisation is key to account for the viewer’s cultural references. The SubtitleNEXT system we have created, offers many helpful tools to assist the translation and interpretation processes incorporated into the new Smart Text Assist features for example. The software offers alternatives and suggestions when preparing subtitles which facilitates translation and adaptation processes, but it also provides additional visual materials such as emojis and a variety of text formatting and styling features which are really useful when interpreting.”

 

Kamen established Profuz Digital back in 2014 with his colleague Ivanka Vassileva to develop software solutions for the digital media industry. With headquarters based in Toronto, they use their R&D Centre in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia as a technology hub. Ivanka is CEO of systems integration firm PBT EU in Bulgaria and naturally took the position of CEO of Profuz Digital as well.

Profuz Digital and its SubtitleNEXT team are constantly evolving to meet the needs of subtitlers. Kamen expands further, “SubtitleNEXT stems from a proven and well-established 30-year legacy based on world-wide renowned subtitling tool for broadcasters “SubtitlePlus”, which originally evolved from “Subtitle”, one of the first file-based subtitling tools. 2016 marked the year that SubtitlePlus quickly migrated to the fully-fledged product SubtitleNEXT that is used today by many subtitling professionals. By referencing a system as “legacy” means that it paved the way for the standards that would follow and that it is tried and tested, solid, trusted and a reliable product that has had time to prove itself to the market.”

SubtitleNEXT is used by the likes of the University of Warsaw, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Polsat, Doli Media Studio, The European School of Translation and Europe’s largest Belgium-based production company Videohouse, where it was used on well-known TV series such as Big Little Lies, Sirens, Vikings and many more. In addition, the Hellenic American College of Greece invested in SubtitleNEXT to equip Masters in Translation students with key localization skills to prepare future subtitlers with a definitive career path to face the pace of demand in the translation and creative industries.

Defined as reliable timed-text subtitling software, it is no surprise why SubtitleNEXT is referred to by many professionals today as the “subtitler’s lifesaver”. Delivering to high industry standards, the system has an array of immediate resourceful tools and features. Available in a single compact application, it punches above its weight and can be put to work on heavy deadline-driven workloads.

Primarily aimed at audio-visual translation freelance professionals, through to Language Services Providers, production, post-production companies and broadcasters, SubtitleNEXT has proven itself as a time-saving, but also a productive profit-making product to media organisations worldwide.

Another exciting offering on the market is the localisation platform NEXT-TT – Profuz Digital’s complete cloud solution that combines SubtitleNEXT with Profuz LAPIS – already adopted by the likes of Canal + Myanmar FG, Linxstream Media, Doli Media Studios and IT Pros Subtitles.

“NEXT-TT can be configured to work in a “hybrid” way.” Kamen adds, “ Profuz LAPIS is our dedicated business management system that ties all business processes under one roof and adds an additional layer of security and creates a single environment to control the management, usage, structure, storage of business data and audiovisual processes. We want our customers to enjoy a user-friendly interface that anyone in their organisation can understand, and NEXT-TT is designed to be convenient and easy to use.”

Kamen continues, “SubtitleNEXT’s impact on Profuz Digital due to its historical role has been a positive one. To have an established product that the market already believes in, provides a great foundation to build further features that can bring efficiency speed and proficiency to users in a busy environment. In essence, the Profuz Digital outlook has always been fully committed to deliver simpler and versatile solutions without compromising functionality and performance.”

Kamen concludes, “Our secret is that even if we have a lot of experience we listen carefully to what everyone has to say, and we genuinely care about the challenges the industry faces. As a team, we take an interest. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we have ensured that our systems can be used remotely where required to serve our clients. We encourage feedback and use it to implement positive changes, develop new capabilities to deliver ground-breaking functionalities that benefit users more than ever before. We never stop evolving, learning, and growing on this exciting journey, and we want to make subtitling fun for everyone to enjoy, across various genres, appealing to the novice and the pro!”

Further information and a free trial, visit www.subtitleNEXT.com and  https://profuzdigital.com/about-us/