I filled out your survey. Chinese TV dramas have become the favorite form of entertainment for me and my husband. I never thought it would be possible that anything could overtake American movies, which are so well done and which used to be our favorite form of entertainment.
First, have you tried asking people on Chinese-forums.com to complete your survey? It has a cross-section of people from all over the world. A large number of them watch Chinese TV dramas. People there tend to be much more helpful than people on other websites, too. So, you might get more responses from there than here.
I think you could have asked some other questions. Your questions seem to be geared towards assuming that people think lesser of China in almost every way. I may be wrong, but it just seems that way to me. There are plenty of people who think lesser of China, like its government. But, in other ways, they may learn things, like Chinese people being more filial and respectful of elders than Americans by default. This is just an example and may not be an aspect that everyone agrees with. So, don’t get angry with me!
A better example might be the great Chinese food. There are hot-pot restaurants in America that are far better than fast-food Chinese restaurants in America. So, an example question might be, “Is there anything about Chinese culture that you’ve learned that might be better than your culture?” (American food pales in comparison with Chinese food, as well as French food, Italian food, etc.)
Another question that might be insightful is “Why do you like Chinese TV dramas? For me, it’s more wholesome. There’s more “feel good” in Chinese TV dramas than American movies. There are more “good people” in Chinese TV dramas than American movies.
One of the survey’s questions is “Which aspect do you think C-dramas can improve? (choose one or more).” I chose two: Subtitles and Special Effects, By special effects, I mean blood and bruises. It isn't hard to make them look more realistic, is it?
For subtitles, it isn’t all that hard to upgrade subtitles. Just improving the timing alone would go a long way. And, it’s fairly quick and easy to do, especially using software, such as the free Subtitle Edit software.
Chinese TV companies simply start a subtitle when a person starts talking and then stop the subtitle when the person stops talking. This works for Chinese subtitles. But, in general, this is too fast for comfortably reading English words in subtitles. More time needs to be given. There are documents available online that talk about basing timing on English characters per second.
You can find Netflix’s guideline for subtitles online. You can also look around Viki and find their approach. In general, their subtitles are a minimum of 1 second, and they add at least 1 sec after a person stops talking. It’s a simple and easy approach. Netflix has a better approach that takes longer to complete. But, in the grand scheme of subtitling, it’s a drop in the bucket of effort, especially with good software.
Beyond that, translators try to come up with concise translations to fit timing that is based on people starting-and-stopping talking. It takes time to think of concise translations. It’s much easier to just write accurate translations and use longer timing based on English characters per second! Maybe a young Chinese entrepreneur can start a business that does something like this. I’d be happy to give them my scheme for free. I’m retired and translate subtitles as a hobby.
MTH123:
