How to Find Subtitles and add them to a Video file

                                                        

As a human being we all love the entertainment of watching television shows and movies by ourselves or with friends and family. As Deaf people, we heavily rely on subtitles understand and interpret speech dialogue that we miss verbally through sound. What we really hate is when we have a movie or TV show file on our computer that we really want to watch but we keep putting it off because we know that it won’t contain subtitles. It’s the season finale of Game of Thrones yet you loathe thinking about watching it, not consuming the whole storyline, plot and of course, hearing, seeing and understanding all the jokes! Its just not the same for us without subtitles. It’s like a day without a sun for us, something that we have to inform our hearing counterparts of our need for subtitles so that we can experience the same level of enjoyment and satisfaction. I mean, who wants to witness the majestic scene of Leonidas from 300 bellowing mighty words that we cant understand or us mis-hearing what was said and interpreting it to be something totally out of context. THIS IS ARTHUR!!!!! Oh that’s why he kicked him down the well, his name was Arthur, totally makes sense. Maybe that was a bad example but you get what I mean, if you’re up for it and remember some embarrassing and funny phrases in movies or television shows that you totally got wrong because you couldn’t hear or couldn’t use subtitles, comment below for everyone to see. 

Thankfully a few years ago I learnt how to get subtitles and add them to video files of movies and TV shows that I had and I was amazed at how easy it was. A friend explained it to me over facebook chat and at the time I thought, oh no here we go again another tech thing that I won’t be able to to do because I’m not Steve Jobs. Ever since I learnt how to add and sync subtitles to files, I have used it ever since, much to my extreme enjoyment and pleasure. So I want to pass this knowledge onto you and to do this I have created a very simple step by step guide. 

1. First up, we need a media platform to run the multimedia file that you plan to watch. The best program on the planet for this is a nifty free to download program called VLC Player. This media player can play nearly every file type so it doesn’t matter if your file is MPEG-2, DivX, WMV, this program will play it! It can be downloaded at: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html and has a mac and window version. Follow the prompts and install the program on you computer.

2. Once VLC player has downloaded and is open ready for use, all you have to do is click hold and drag the multimedia file onto the VLC Playlist which is the massive empty grey screen with the Drop media button in the middle.

3. Once you have dropped the file onto the playlist it will start to play automatically. Awesome! Now to get some subtitles for the movie. Pause the movie and open up a web browser and go to http://www.subscene.com. Since I decided to watch Gravity, type the name of the movie in the search bar and click enter.

4. What the search has returned is a list of possible subtitles of films and television series that correspond with the searched phrase ‘Gravity’. Click on the relevant title which in this case is the first on the list.

This will now take you to another page with a massive list of subtitle files. Firstly on the left is the language the subtitles are for. Since we are looking for english, scroll down until we hit the english section. Great! So now what do we do? There’s so many to choose from! 

5. I will explain to you the best way to choose and appropriate subtitle file to use. The Green icon at the front of the language means that the subtitles have been rated as good and light grey means that they haven’t been rated yet. This could mean that there could be content missing, it could be un-synced or it might not work. The ear icon with a line going through it states that the subtitle is catered for hearing impaired people. This means that not only the subtitles are included but other relevant information required for people who can’t hear to know, in order to help follow the story. This includes, song lyrics, different coloured text for when different people talk and also important noises such as; Door opens, Phone rings etc. The far right column are comments by the user who uploaded the file, usually used to advertise the sub.

My advice to choosing a subtitle track? scroll down and select the first relevant file that  has a green icon and has your desired file type. Hearing impaired or not. Click on this link. Great, so this link takes you to another window where you can select to finally download the file. Also on this page may be comments that others have left either saying thanks or suggesting improvements or telling others how much they enjoyed it.

6. Now click Download English Subtitles. What you need to do now is unzip the file that you have downloaded off the net. So the file will be in downloads folder. Double click the file and it will automatically unzip. Click and drag this file onto the VLC player, just like we did with the movie file. Awesome! You’re all set. Click play and if you have done it right the subtitles should be playing through your movie.

My Tips and Advice:

• If the Multimedia file that you have is BluRay and nearly all high resolution movie files are these days, look for subtitles that are specifically for Bluray. If it doesn’t state in the description then look for the letters BR in the file name. Download these subtitles as they snap straight in sync without need for adjustment.
• If the subtitles are too early or too late, they can be adjusted whilst you are watching the movie using the H and J keys on the keyboard. The reason this happens is that some subtitle files are created to sync with different versions of the movie or TV show. Also advertisements take up time that isn’t accounted for. But don’t worry it is very easy to fix.
• Not all Movies and TV shows have subtitles. the more popular the show the more likely there will be a subtitle file. I have never had a movie with no subtitle files that I couldn’t find. Another website that acts in a similar way is www.opensubtitles.org
• Also, as some of you may know VLC has the option under the VLC tab > Extensions > VLsub. Through this you can set up an account and make VLC find the subtitle files for you via open subtitles however I prefer to search for my own subtitles so that I can choose from HI subtitles or normal ones.

I hope this step by step procedure helps you understand how easy it is to access subtitles on any multimedia file. If you have any questions feel free to comment or message me. Now time for me to catch up on the latest episode of Suits 😉

 

Acceptance

In year eleven and twelve, my senior years of high school english for the HSC (High School Certificate) we studied the subject of belonging, the dense meaning of it and its importance to individuals. The subject I found was a heavy one to understand as throughout the schooling years we uncovered many different interpretations, perceptions and judgements surrounding the matter. Over the past three years since leaving high school this subject of belonging, attachment, inclusion, association, affinity has really become evident to myself as I embarked on the next phase in my life. And yes as you can see above my teacher made sure that we knew many synonyms for the word belonging for our essays on the subject. Out of the many different expressions that I learnt in those years, I think that the most prominent word that has stood out to myself in my time in school and since then is the simple idiom, acceptance. 

I want to give you all a very brief overlook of us deaf people today and depending on who you are, you will have different interpretations and perspectives of who we are, why we are and how. Once again, I remind you this is a blog and it is subjective on myself, my upbringing, experience, knowledge and understanding. Before you go on, I have to warn you that this is a very touchy subject and sometimes can be taken the wrong way so I will hold back my opinions for the next few paragraphs and present my thoughts. Again I remind you, I am deaf and for people who have no association with being deaf, don’t worry, we don’t bite.

Let me start with acknowledging Auslan. Auslan is an acronym for Australian sign language and is the communication form for those who are deaf here in Australia. Auslan is a language in itself and is not English where it is universal in America, England and other english speaking countries. Here in Australia we have developed slight variations through different states  and communities. For non-deaf people I suppose you could relate it to as different meanings for words such as Jam for the sandwich spread or jelly as they call it in America. So the way someone from Victoria expresses the word train in Auslan may be different from the way another person expresses it in Perth. However the bulk of the language for Auslan is consistent, again subject to interpretation. For Deaf people who do not communicate orally, this is how they communicate between fellow Deaf people in the community and also those who are oral and have learnt or picked up Auslan. 

You may notice that sometimes I have spelt the word deaf with a capital D and this because it is the way used to refer to people who are considered as in the Deaf community. What this means is Deaf people like to be referred to as this way because of their passion of their background and the deaf history behind it. The distinction may seem minor to people who don’t know the difference however it holds huge importance and identity for those that are part of the Deaf community. 

Along with this there is the hard of hearing, which refers to people who have little hearing ability left in their ears or only hear certain frequencies or sound. Most of these people use various technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and other various aids. This group usually pick up speech and can communicate depending on their upbringing, orally with others. They usually develop the skill of lipreading which helps them track what is being said in conversations along with their technological aids. Hard of hearing also caters for people who slowly lose their hearing as they get older which is getting increasingly common. It must be stressed that sometimes people who are hard of hearing also learn sign language and communicate with the Deaf community as well. There is no fine line between the two groups. Despite all of this, there is a slight conflict with Deaf people who reject technological advancements of cochlear implants and other accessories as they believe that Deaf children should grow up deaf, not orally through the help of technology. This is most evident in Deaf families as they are proud of their culture and of course, want it to continue and they tend to view cochlear implants negatively, mainly as they are devices that are implanted to bring some hearing senses back to the ear to people who are profoundly deaf. This means that the baby will most likely grow up in a hearing world and not learn sign language. It is said that due to the rise of deaf babies being implanted that the Deaf community is suffering as more people are growing up orally and not learning to sign as they probably would had this technology not been available. This has been alluded to as the main reason for the slow decline in sign language all over the world.

Cochlear implants for deaf children are most effective when implanted at a young age where the developing brain has plasticity and is learning to interpret sound. As a result the decision needs to be made before the infant can decide for themselves if they wish to be implanted. This largely comes down to the parents who ultimately make the decision.

That was a brief rundown and not too much detail of but what needs to be understood is that there is no right or wrong decision and in most cases, it is hard to even make one in the first place. As a deaf individual who has been implanted and grown up in a hearing world, I still consider myself deaf. I hate the term hard of hearing and even though I have never fully learnt sign language due to being raised orally, I have massive respect for its culture and place in the world today. In my time growing up, I have had the privilege of meeting so many amazing people whose life has been touched through their experiences of being deaf and I merely wish to help bring the acceptance of Deaf people who use either signed language, oral language or both together as a community and to the fore of the general population today.

I think that we should all accept people for who they are regardless of what community that they feel close to regardless of other peoples opinions and beliefs. We are all born differently and are blessed with many different God given gifts and talents so we should solider on with what decisions are made for us whether we feel that they are right or not. I am of course referring to the much debated implantation decision for babies made by the parents. I will touch on this further in the next post and offer my personal opinions that I have refrained from doing as to inform you more simply for your understanding. 

Welcome to DeafDaily

My name is Samuel Cartledge and this is my very stereotypical first blog, not that I want it to be. Let me get the stereotypical things for a first blog out of the way to start off with, the all important who, what, why, where and when? Well other than my name which i’ve already disclosed, I was born profoundly deaf in December 1993 and was implanted with a cochlear implant on my left ear when I was two years old. In my pre-school years I went to the Shepherd Centre which is an early intervention program agency who specialize in enabling children who are deaf and hearing impaired to develop spoken language. Technically speaking due to my two infant years before implantation, I was 2 years behind everyone else with my language and speech development. So fast forward a bit and thanks to the amazing work of the Shepherd Centre, by the time I was due to hit school for Kindergarten, I had age appropriate speech and language. Sounds good right? So thats a bit about my childhood. I go through primary school and high school, graduated and now I’m in the middle of studying a bachelor of Arts in Architecture at the University of Canberra.

I know I’m flying through this all very briefly but hopefully you’ll understand why at the end of this blog. So as for what, like I said I’m deaf, studying a bachelor, living away from home, trying to earn money and playing basketball. What is this blog? Well to be honest, I don’t completely know all the fine details yet but I have a vision of what I want to do. Growing up deaf in a hearing world, I’ve been exposed to many different situations where I’ve felt uncomfortable, exposed, unaware, left out and misunderstood. Just to make myself clear, I’m not asking for you to feel sorry for us deaf people or if you are deaf I know  for sure that you can relate to what I am saying. I want to write to not only express on behalf of what we go through daily but to inform people in need of crucial information that they may not be aware of for deaf students, children, newly borns or even adults. Information is so important yet it is so hard to find the right information, the right people to confide in, pathways to plan ahead for our future and technology that can assist. 

Why am I doing this? Because I want to, and I believe that there is a vital need for this information. I am 20 years old and I believe that through my experiences growing up my parents, the guardian angels that they are have sourced as much information as they could for my wellbeing, future and ambitions that we don’t want others to waste as much time as we did, looking for information where it should be easily found, known and passed on. Sure, you guys have the internet, a vital tool that I didn’t have as much when I was younger, you can find information yourself but your bypassing someone who tells of their experience, thoughts and opinion. That, I believe is a vital tool in itself. Now of course I’m not the know it all, no one is, but growing up I have made plenty of contacts, connections and relationships with people who have gone through and are still going through the same situations as myself or even you. I want to help the deaf youth of today, advocate for them and let them know that they are not in it alone. People have gone through it all before, survived and become successful in todays world. It’s all about setting goals and going out and achieving them.

So the final two W’s, where and when? Well this is a blog so obviously I will be posting here as much as I can and it will take time for me to write as much as I would like and when I do I want to put as much detail into it as I can so that you reading can benefit from the information. Even if its just for light reading or your reading this because I have linked you to it on social media, I want to raise awareness and this of course is the best way to do it today so bear with me, I’m not trying to hassle you and if I am, please understand my passion from where you stand in the world today.

So that you don’t think that I’m a bit crazy or unschooled, yes the five W’s are mainly used for writing narratives throughout primary school, but I used them so that you all get an understanding of what I want this blog to go, stand for and be. Also because I thought it would be the easiest way to attempt to explain my ideas for this blog. 

To explain and clarify the name for this blog, DeafDaily. I want to do something captivating to prove that Deaf people have no limitations, that they have the ability to do anything provided that appropriate cooperation is provided with all parties. This reminded me about a trend on facebook, instagram and twitter that I have seen over the past year called 100happydays or perhaps better know as #100happydays. It involves people taking a picture each day, 100 days in a row with a small caption explaining why it makes them happy and so on. I want to emulate that however instead of happy posts as posts about anything relating to Deaf people. I aim to try and post something each day, however I acknowledge that there may be some days where I can’t access the internet or find the time (I am a uni student!) but in order to help myself in this matter sometimes I will publish twitter like posts with links to external websites with a short explanation. This way you can get information, the ball keeps rolling and I can move onto new resources to share. Thus the name DeafDaily. In the future I look to the name further but for now this a start. At the moment I am gathering enough information and write up a few articles to further explain and clarify some issues that deaf people face so that I can attempt to clear the foggy air before I start posting daily. So give me a week or two to prepare before I put the show on the road.

If you want to contact me for any reason related to my posts or request any information find below my email address or comment on the blog. I may not have the information or knowledge but I am certain that I know people who do who also want to help.

Samcartledge1@gmail.com