Unannounced Hiatus Is Over

So that’s a weird title, right? But it’s accurate. The upfront tl;dr is that my schedule is back to normal, which means episode 10 will be done in a week at most, hopefully a few days sooner. So if that’s all you care to know, feel free to ignore the rest of the post. It isn’t the slightest bit relevant to So Young.

The basic situation is that I signed up for a summer class. I thought to myself, “Yeah, I can juggle work, one class, and subtitles. I should have 2-3 hours of spare time a day!” The answer is no, I cannot do all three. Frankly, it was a struggle just to keep up with two. I’ve known people who can balance jobs, school and family caretaking, and I always thought that was impressive, but now they’re practically superheroes in my eyes. Just how. How do they do it. I wish I was like them, but I’m not.

I realized this within three days. So then the logical question you might pose is, “Why not declare a hiatus, Astra? After all, your new commitment has a clear timeframe and you can just inform everyone of this. I’ve been frustrated by the lack of news and maybe even worried that you’re dropping the show. You’re not ghosting, are you?” The explanation, excuse, whatever you want to call it, is a mixture of foolish naivety and pride. I kept deciding that today’s the day where I will magically have the energy and brainpower to do at least a little subbing. I didn’t see it as a hiatus but as a slowdown. But in the end, that day didn’t happen, and not officially posting the word “hiatus” didn’t prevent it from becoming just that.

I know this isn’t a huge situation, but I still feel I should own up and apologize. Not for taking a break -as long as subbing isn’t paying the bills, it will not be a top priority- but for not recognizing the truth of the situation and not communicating better about it. I thought, well, probably hardly anyone cares about this show anyway. But even if it’s only one person who cares, I should respect them enough to not leave them hanging. I’m sorry for failing on that front.

The good news is that my class is now over and my work schedule has smoothed out. I will be going back to finishing at least one episode a week. If I want to keep to my personal deadline of completing So Young before the end of 2019, I will have to average slightly better than that, so I’ll aim for every five days. That won’t always happen, but it’s the goal. I hope you’ll join me on the ride. I’m watching the show along with you all, so I’m looking forward to experiencing what happens in future episodes of So Young. 🙂

So Young Episode 9 Eng Sub

So Young summary and information

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So much for going quicker. I’m trying, I promise! I had some unexpected extra shifts at work. We’re really understaffed right now… anyone need a job? Just kidding.

Zhu Bajie is a character from one of the most famous Chinese novels of all time, Journey to the West. I couldn’t easily find the exact quote Zheng Wei is referencing, so I used an approximate English equivalent. But anyway, it’s one of the books on my bucket list and should be a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese culture.

Apart from that, I feel like there wasn’t much of note this episode. I don’t think my boi even had any scenes this episode?? The injustice just grows deeper and deeper.

Feel free to leave translation feedback or general impressions of the drama in the comments! Please do not spoil past the episode listed in this post.

Enjoy!

How to do Timing for Subtitles (Tutorial)

I’ve had a few people ask me how to time, so I figured I might as well publicly share the tutorial I typed up. Note that this isn’t the only way to do it, just the way that works best for me! I hope a few people out there find this useful.

The only things you need are the raw video files and Subtitle Workshop. The easiest way to get raws (for So Young) is by using a Youtube downloader and this Youtube playlist. I personally like https://www.flvto.biz, but if you use another site that’s fine too. You need to download the file as an .mp4 to be compatible with Workshop.

Download Subtitle Workshop, the newest version (6.0b) here. Make sure you right-click and run as administrator when you install it or the installation will fail.

After opening Subtitle Workshop, go to Movie -> Open to load the video. If the video plays audio but not video, right click the video and go to video renderer -> VMR9. If it still isn’t working, try installing the Coda Codec Pack.

Then click File -> New subtitle to start an episode. When returning to a project you’ve previously saved, you can easily load the video and subs together with File -> Recent files.
(This is optional, but I also go to View -> uncheck Show left panel. The information there is just unnecessary clutter.)

Then for the actual timing part. Instead of adding each line individually, I find it easier to create a batch of ~100 lines and then edit them as I go. You can do this by pressing Alt+Z, then holding Alt+X for a few seconds.

There are only a few buttons on the GUI you need to use, so I put them in a screenshot.

So when a character starts to speak, pause the video with 1. Set the start time with 2. Unless you have lightning-fast reflexes, the timing will be slightly late, so you can click 4’s down arrow a few times to make it slightly earlier. (I’m usually off by 0.2 or 0.3 seconds, so I click twice.) Next, double-click the line you’re working on, which sets the video to the start time of the sub, to check the timing. Play it. You want it to start right when they start speaking, so sometimes I have to fiddle a few times, pausing and going up and down by .1 seconds.

Once that’s good, play the video until an appropriate end point. Some examples are the end of a sentence, a pause, or a different character talking, but a quick shortcut is to just copy when the Chinese captions switch to a new line. So to set the end time, pause and press 3. The end time doesn’t matter nearly as much, and I often have to extend it a few tenths of a second to give viewers enough time to read it, so just move on without being exact.

One small tip is that there are a lot of short lines that just say “Okay”, “Weiwei”, etc. I try to make each line at least 0.7 or 0.8 sec long so it doesn’t just flash on screen. So if I end it and notice the duration is only .459 sec long or whatever, I increase it to be over 0.7 sec.

*These two steps are really important! Make sure you do it before you close the program or you will lose all your progress!*
First, delete any extra lines you didn’t time. You can do this by clicking the first unused line, going to the bottom, and shift+click the last one to select them all. Then right click -> Remove selected.
Then, you must put text in each line you timed because the program doesn’t save empty lines. One you’ve selected the first line, you can go to the next with shift+enter. So an easy way to fill them all is to hold shift down, then alternate pressing enter with your right hand and a random letter (like s or d) with your left hand. As long as something’s in the text box it will be fine.

The first time saving your file, you want to select the “SubRip” format. This makes it an .srt file. After that, you can save normally.

I’m not exactly a technology expert, but I know enough to get by, so I’m happy to help if anyone has questions or problems with timing after using this tutorial.

(In case you were wondering, episode 9 should be finished in the next 24 hours.)

So Young Episode 8 Eng Sub

So Young summary and information

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I took longer than I wanted again… sorry about that. Hopefully it was worth the wait and I can be quicker again on episode 9.

This show sure loves poetry! At least it was contemporary poetry this time, so it was more straightforward. Apparently it’s an excerpt from Feng Tang’s “36 Big“. I see it translated as “36 Biggies of Life”, but I don’t like that because 1) the original doesn’t say life and 2) “biggies” sounds childish to me, not like a piece of art.

Yes, Xiaobei does literally say, “Chicken Soup for the Soul“. I was shocked that this franchise not only exists in China, but is popular enough to be a pop culture reference. I guess some (young) Chinese people see it more as hollow or even fake treacle than actual feel-good motivational stories.

Wei Jin style is more than just a form of dress; it was a culture that celebrated a certain lifestyle of artistic intellectualism and philosophy (see specifically the section on mingshi here). I think you’ll recognize the type if you read up about it.

Here’s your cute Gong Cheng of the hour.

While I was uploading these screenshots, I remembered that I use a screen display tint at night (to reduce eyestrain) that would discolor them. I’m sure at least some of the previous posts here have tinted screenshots, but it’s not worth it to go back and change them all. I felt like a total dunce when I realized it…

Feel free to leave translation feedback or general impressions of the drama in the comments! Please do not spoil past the episode listed in this post.

Enjoy!

So Young Episode 7 Eng Sub

So Young summary and information

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Thanks to the large amounts of English and song lyrics, I was able to finish this episode quickly!

The only cultural note in this episode is the yangko dance Xiaobei mentions. It’s a folk performance from Northern China which combines dance, percussion, and silk ribbons. There are different kinds of yangko, but this is my guess of what Xiaobei meant given the twisting. I get the sense this particular performance was a fusion of tradition and comedy, but nevertheless, I have to admit watching it was a completely unique experience to me. I’m glad to know about it!

If anyone knows Italian, I would be very grateful if they could help me out with what Lin Jing says at around 31:54. It sounds like a famous quote, especially since he says it in Italian rather than English, but googling in English didn’t get me anywhere. I feel my translation is missing like 5% of the meaning that would make it more profound. If I’m able to perfect it, I’ll reupload the episode with that segment edited!

Is the pilot in Shi Jie’s story dead or just disappeared? She says “died” in English, but the language in Chinese is more ambiguous. I tried to keep it that way in English just in case he makes a surprise reappearance in episode 27 or something.

More generally, Shi Jie’s English is… less fluent than Lin Jing’s. Her Chinese subtitles contain a bunch of information missing in her speech, so I’m glad I decided last episode not to literally transcribe the spoken English. I still don’t understand most of her English in one particular line, the one where she uses binge eating to feel something.

Here are the cultural performance songs for the curious: The Trio’s “Hot Desert”, Zheng Wei’s “Goodbye”, and the poor Vice-President’s missed opportunity. I actually quite like that last one, despite sounding a bit dated.

Speaking of which, even this MC girl be disrespecting my man Gong Cheng (and Dalong)! “Zhang Kai and his classmates”?! C’mon, you couldn’t take the extra three seconds to say the other names? How insulting, how rude!

Feel free to leave translation feedback or general impressions of the drama in the comments! Please do not spoil past the episode listed in this post.

Enjoy!

So Young Episode 6 Eng Sub

So Young summary and information

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Wow, a speedy update to make up for ep 5 taking so long! Or at least, I tried to be speedy, but it still took five days??? Where did the time go?

Some translation notes for this one! Zheng Wei calls herself Pan An, who was a Jin dynasty poet better-known for his beauty than his actual poetry. So much so that his name is slang for a good-looking man! I had fun reading up on him and other pretty men of Chinese history in this article.

So these triangels in the Italy segments have an interesting story. They’re presented as traditional lucky Italian dolls, but according to this discussion, they’re just jester dolls that were given a greater cultural significance (and a made-up name) in a Hong Kong movie. The big twist is that some Chinese people pay a lot of money for these handmade Italian dolls, but they’re (allegedly) made in China and sold with inflated prices as tourist goods! I decided to keep the triangel name, even though it’s a bit goofy and looks like a triangle typo, because it more accurately reflects their name and meaning in Chinese culture.

I went back and forth on whether to keep the spoken English parts or edit them for fluency. I’ve seen professional subbers do the latter so that’s what I decided on, especially after the “gluttony” line. Calling gluttony an illness in English sounds weird; it’s a vice, not a medical diagnosis. Binge eating just makes more sense.

Also, I have no idea why Ruan Guan calls Lao Zhang a pig. She literally does, but the context makes it sound like a compliment, and she isn’t the randomly insulting type? I don’t know, you tell me. Oh wait, I’m the translator here. …Shoot.

Feel free to leave translation feedback or general impressions of the drama in the comments! Please do not spoil past the episode listed in this post.

Enjoy!

So Young Episode 5 Eng Sub

So Young summary and information

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Sorry that this episode took so long! It wasn’t even a hard episode, just had some trouble finding the time to work on it. I already started working on episode 6 while uploading and plan to get as much done today as possible to make up for lost time.

To my surprise, one of my favorite characters is quickly becoming Gong Cheng, quite possibly the least important of the named students? I have to start and pause the video a lot while timing, and I’ve come to appreciate his facial expressions and overall sense of humor. Plus, he’s just kind of adorable?

Does anyone else want the show to give this guy a bigger role? Just me? Okay.

I’ve been considering making a seperate impressions post for each episode, because I have a lot of thoughts on this drama but I don’t want to reveal any episode information on the release posts. And I’d just like someone to talk with!

Feel free to leave translation feedback or general impressions of the drama in the comments! Please do not spoil past the episode listed in this post.

Enjoy!

Quick status update

So on Monday I started having issues with my laptop not registering the AC cord… kind of a big problem! I was able to back up my files just in case, including my progress on ep 5, but I spent all my free time the last few days panicking and trying to solve it. I finally got it working again (for now, hopefully forever) so I’ll be resuming my subbing now.

But while I’m attempting to work at a brisk pace, there may be times like this where there’s no progress for days at a time. This is a one-woman production, so when that one woman goes down, the whole show has to be put on pause. Hopefully you can understand and be patient! Believe me, I feel frustrated when nothing is getting done too.

That’s why I added progress bars on the side- if you’re heavily invested in the show, you can see when an episode is close to completion and when it’ll still be a while. Let me know if you like to hear details like this post or if I should just keep my head down and post when the episode is done. I’m just so happy I can use my laptop again, seriously!

So Young Ep 4- Full Confession Letter

(Text not translated in the episode is in bold)

An Open Letter for Civil Engineering Department’s Zheng Wei

Zheng Wei, who is like family to me, has always protected her fellow
female students like a proud lion. In her single-mindminded benevolence, she was given the nickname, “Lady of Honor and Pride”. She had her passionate heart completely broken, her light stifled, her blood drained by a mosquito, become completely and utterly dispirited, so I am writing this letter of love.

In Chinese tradition, a gifted scholar and a beauty are matched. Although I am not gifted, you are indeed a modern-day beauty. Normally I would not be so bold as to trouble you, but I reflect, as I am still young, perhaps I can become gifted scholar unawares, so for the time being, I might as well present myself to you as a scholar. Besides, I believe that a scholar pursuing a such a beauty cannot be considered reprehensible. As our ancestors said, “A lovely noble maiden is a befitting bride for a noble man.” You are a noble maiden, and lovely as well, and I consider myself a gentleman. So naturally, I beseech you. Our ancestors’ words cannot be unconditionally adhered, yet also not unconditionally disregarded.

-Chen Xiaozheng

So Young Episode 4 Eng Sub

So Young summary and information

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Not all of the “confession letter” was spoken aloud but it did flash on-screen, so I translated it in full here. It’s… quite the letter.

This episode was unexpectedly challenging to translate! The “confession” was written in flowery literary language, and then Zheng Wei has to go and full-on quote a traditional poem. Chinese poetry is dense and complex; each character is very deliberate and rich in meaning. I did my best… but almost definitely missed some of the nuances. There’s a second stanza that Zheng Wei doesn’t say, but hopefully it’s understandable that I’m not translating it… Here’s the original poem for the curious.

I actually didn’t realize that “Under Heaven 3” is a real game until I looked up the items Kaiyang sent. I should’ve known it’s PPL… I’m still not sure what the exact English name should be since 天下 can mean a lot of things, but Under Heaven seems to suit the wuxia theme better than Domination. This is the crabapple dress, btw. Very pretty!

Feel free to leave translation feedback or general impressions of the drama in the comments! Please do not spoil past the episode listed in this post.

Enjoy!