Using DeepL translator

[Night457]

This is the best translator I have found on the web. Much better than google.
I use the free version. To get around the limits, use the "private window" option in your browser.

There are a few other tricks to use with this translator, but I won't write about them for now because I don't know if anyone is interested.

Eeeeeck!! Thank you again!! I stopped using DeepL a year or so ago when I crashed up against the newly imposed limits. I am delighted that there is a trick to get around it. I know several people here are dedicated to DeepL and swear by it.

If you have a whole bunch of interesting DeepL tricks and you are motivated enough to write about them, then you can share them in a New Topic in the Hardware & Software subforum:
viewforum.php?f=4

[DreamScape]

Yeah, you can just delete your cookies for deepl to clear the limit (same idea as private browser window). It's a shame the desktop app isn't as easy to work around (that I know of). The limit is crazy low. I can hit it just by translating single sentences throughout the day like I imagine normal people would use it for.

[Night457]

The limit is crazy low. I can hit it just by translating single sentences throughout the day like I imagine normal people would use it for.

That would make translating a 1000+ line .srt crazy difficult!

[endurro]

Yeah, you can just delete your cookies for deepl to clear the limit (same idea as private browser window). It's a shame the desktop app isn't as easy to work around (that I know of). The limit is crazy low. I can hit it just by translating single sentences throughout the day like I imagine normal people would use it for.

I am not complaining about Deepl
There is a limit of 5,000 characters.
For me it's not a problem to translate subtitles in portions of 5000 characters.
The bigger problem is preparing the subtitles properly before translation.

1. you need to remove line breaks where the break occurs in the middle of a sentence. Without this, the translator distorts the meaning of the sentence. I do this using SubtitleEdit.

2. the translator does not recognise the language and does not translate sentences marked as italics. For this reason, italics should be replaced with another character before translation. For example, the character ♪.
Example:
<i> Help me </i>
Replace:
♪ Help me ♫

After translating all the subtitles, restore the italics.
I do this with the Notepad++ editor. It's quick and convenient.

For me, the biggest advantage of Deepl is the quite high quality of the translation into Polish.

[endurro]

The limit is crazy low. I can hit it just by translating single sentences throughout the day like I imagine normal people would use it for.

That would make translating a 1000+ line .srt crazy difficult!

On average, there are about 70-80 lines in a portion of 5,000 characters.
This means that 1000 lines have to be translated in 12-14 portions.

Not a big problem. You still have to check each line and possibly correct it manually if the translator has translated incorrectly.

[pillowbaker]

The bigger problem is preparing the subtitles properly before translation.

This. Despite my heavy use of google and deepL, I never really wrote about this. But endurro is exactly right with this.

1. you need to remove line breaks where the break occurs in the middle of a sentence. Without this, the translator distorts the meaning of the sentence. I do this using SubtitleEdit.

YES, you understand it! And thus, my pain. How much time I spent, gruelingly removing all formatting and combining sentences with line breaks. Also, I have found subtle changes deepL makes when further removing spaces and subtitle "time codes". Prepping every segment before copying it in to deepL. At first, I used to get fairly annoyed with deepL's issues with simple formatting and line breaks. Other translators don't get quite as hung up on these little issues. But then I pondered it more: I had heard that deepL uses a more context-based approach to its translations. This means that anything that disrupts the position of the phrases and their connection to each other may get misunderstood and altered by the program. I'd imagine it would be very difficult for programmers to resolve this issue. The program would both have to retain it's ability to translate with context clued in, but also be aware of formatting that ought not change meaning.

This fickleness of the program does have an advantage. I can tweak the sentences to potentially alter its translation to get other options, and sometimes tweaking a sentence nonsensically can help attain true meaning of what's being said. You get a feel for it after you do it for a while. Sometimes, all I have to do is spam-paste the same line in over and over and it occasionally comes up with a differently translated version. Other times, you break the sentence apart or try add in some formatting.

2. the translator does not recognise the language and does not translate sentences marked as italics. For this reason, italics should be replaced with another character before translation. For example, the character ♪.

I have seen the translator have difficulty with anything that separates the dialogue lines, even time codes and extra carriage-returns. I wonder if I just haven't had to deal with italicized text much yet. Thanks for the info about this.


Mr. endurro, some questions for you, please. You wrote this directly into Polish. What reason did you need to use deepL with this? Also, you mentioned that you were able to preparing the subtitles for deepL using SubtitleEdit. Me, I used notepad's find/replace feature, and then manually looked for mid-sentence line breaks, and it was a slog. Do you have a method to do this more speedily using Subtitle Edit?

You also mentioned some ideas for getting around deepL limitations. Please post your ideas in a new thread in the forum that Night linked. I am very interested in seeing what you have, even if you think it's obvious. Who knows, you may have discovered something no one else has mentioned. My methods currently use a lot of bruteforcing that I'd love to cut down on.

[Night457]

New thread just for DeepL!

...

Endurro, thank you for your tricks! I totally understand how line breaks (showing up as text) could seriously alter the meaning. And thanks for giving a real example of what "5000 characters" actually means.

[endurro]

Mr. endurro, some questions for you, please. You wrote this directly into Polish. What reason did you need to use deepL with this? Also, you mentioned that you were able to preparing the subtitles for deepL using SubtitleEdit. Me, I used notepad's find/replace feature, and then manually looked for mid-sentence line breaks, and it was a slog. Do you have a method to do this more speedily using Subtitle Edit?

You also mentioned some ideas for getting around deepL limitations. Please post your ideas in a new thread in the forum that Night linked. I am very interested in seeing what you have, even if you think it's obvious. Who knows, you may have discovered something no one else has mentioned. My methods currently use a lot of bruteforcing that I'd love to cut down on.

1. I made the subtitles for the film "Nie bede cie kochać" exclusively with SubtitleEdit. I did not need a translator. The film is in Polish. It's my language.

2 My way to translate subtitles from any language to Polish is:

Step 1.
The first step is to remove the break of all lines that contain a split sentence. I do this using SubtitleEdit. I use the "Undo line breaks" function.
I do not use this function for lines where there are dialogues or where there are two separate sentences.

Examples:
In the following lines I use the function "Undo line breaks"

Spoiler: 11 00:02:01,215 --> 00:02:05,828 To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without style. 12 00:02:07,531 --> 00:02:10,638 To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call "art". 30 00:03:16,778 --> 00:03:21,655 Style is a difference. The way of doing. The way of being done.

And here's an example where I don't use this function:

Spoiler: 35 00:05:33,758 --> 00:05:34,734 - You are real? - Aha 36 00:05:35,535 --> 00:05:38,834 I am a run away. And this is my bedroom.

It's a bit time-consuming, because you have to search through all the lines to make modifications. But once you've finished the translation, all you need to do is restore the breaks only in the previously modified lines.

Obviously it could be done quicker. Simply by selecting all lines in file and using the "Undo line breaks" function. But in that case, I would have to restore all deleted breaks after the translation is finished. Which would take a lot of time.

Step 2.
What I wrote about earlier. That is, removing all italic codes from the subtitle file and replacing them with some neutral characters for the translator. I use Notepad++ and the "find and replace all" function for this .

Spoiler: the translator does not recognise the language and does not translate sentences marked as italics. For this reason, italics should be replaced with another character before translation. For example, the character ♪. Example: <i> Help me </i> Replace: ♪ Help me ♫ After translating all the subtitles, restore the italics. I do this with the Notepad++ editor. It's quick and convenient.

Step 3.
After steps 1 and 2, I can finally start the translation.

I use Deepl and Notepad++ for this.
In Notepad++ I open my modified subtitle file.
I copy to the clipboard the part where there are no more than 5000 characters.
Notepad++ shows the number of characters copied .

Then I paste the clipboard contents into Deepl and do the translation. And when finished, I copy the translated part (5000 characters) to the subtitle file opened in Notepad++.

Step 4.
Once the translation of all subtitles is complete.
I restore the italic characters. I use Notepad++ and the "Find and replace all" function for this.

Step 5.
Now I load my subtitle file into OpenSubtitles and do the cosmetics. I restore the line breaks I removed earlier and correct the most common errors.

I have seen the translator have difficulty with anything that separates the dialogue lines, even time codes and extra carriage-returns. I wonder if I just haven't had to deal with italicized text much yet. Thanks for the info about this.

I have not noticed any problems with time codes in Deepl.

[Night457]

Once you confirmed that there IS an "Undo line breaks" function in SE, I looked and looked ... and finally figured out that when I highlight a line or lines, I can right-click and choose it from the "Selected lines" submenu. Aha! I always forget to look there for interesting stuff.

Thank you for the detailed explanation of your process.

[endurro]

Once you confirmed that there IS an "Undo line breaks" function in SE, I looked and looked ... and finally figured out that when I highlight a line or lines, I can right-click and choose it from the "Selected lines" submenu. Aha! I always forget to look there for interesting stuff.

Thank you for the detailed explanation of your process.

In SubtitleEdit you can remove line breaks in 2 ways.

1. by clicking on the [unbreak] button which is to the right of the editing window.

2. This is the way you write about.

Both ways can be done on a single line or on multiple selected lines.