Just when I thought technology couldn't hate me any more!

Part four has been hell for me. I think I've already posted a rant about finding bits hard to translate, and not liking the song but that is nothing compared to the technical problems I experienced.

Some subtitles simply refused to appear.

Some subtitles decided to appear in a totally different place to where they should have.

And then this happened. One line of subtitles which seemed to explode into a cloud of names.

Eventually, I managed to get things into some kind of order but it got to the stage where I couldn't actually get any of my edits to save either so there are still mistakes. I'm disappointed with this part, both with the translation and with the formatting, but I can't actually change anything even though I have noticed mistakes.

On the plus side, it's not really an important part for character development so there's no chance you miss out on anything.

Can I also say that the prostitutes' dancing, especially after Margrid's entrance, reminds me of how my late grandmother used to dance, if they're rather more sleazy!

Having 'fun' with part four

So, part three of Marie Antoinette finally made it online and I'm onto part four already.

I must admit that I'm finding this part really, really difficult for various reasons. Firstly, I've not really translated anything for six months now, and haven't even looked at German translation for at least three. That means that everything is going a lot, lot slower than normal. Then I have to come up against a song that includes proverbs, idioms, and euphemism. The icky things to translate! Not only are they often difficult for me to understand but they also are often impossible to correctly put into English. Add to this the lack of practice and I can imagine there are going to be some rather funny sounding translations in this part! Taking it slowly though so hopefully it'll turn out okay!

Then there's the fact that I just don't like this part. For those of you who haven't seen it on the facebook page, this part focuses on Margrid's meeting with Madame Lapin and on introducing Madame Lapin's brothel. I often joke with Nené that every good musical has a good prostitute song (seriously, think about it!) and this is not one of them. I find this song insipid, unnecessary and plain annoying.

So, add all that together and I am really not enjoying translating this part. On the plus side, it is only six minutes long or something.

Anyway, this all seems rather like bad news so I'll spill the better news now. The whole of act one is now split up into parts. I have also timed quite a lot of the subtitles for later parts (and am looking forward to translating those bits) so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Remind me why I subtitle stuff again?

My goodness, has this been a difficult part to complete. I can't remember if I had problems in the translation because it was so long ago! However, the technical aspects have plagued me completely.

I have ended up with this file as an mp3 (useful when it's got subtitles, I know!). I have ended up with it apparently in HD yet being so fuzzy as to be unreadable. I have ended up with files that have had a predicted save time of several days. I have had upload times that get stuck at three minutes. I hate technology.

As you're reading this, however, I've managed to get something bearable together. It's worth me saying that, having noticed that we were having some problems with them, I have removed all accents from the subtitles. I don't know what the issue is with accents right now but there is an issue! I may sort this for the next part or I may bury my head and cry about technology.

I couldn't up the quality as much as I would have liked so made the subtitles bigger, which is something I had wanted to do anyway, to make them legible.

Oh, and because someone will moan about my lack of translation of 'esprit': this word, despite being used in German is a French loan word and is used in England too. It means lively and witty and, well, spirited.

Anyway, talking about the part, it contains what is probably my favourite song from the musical "Still, Still". It's a beautiful song of hope and of love, made all the more poignant by the circumstances. What's not so clear in the video, Agnés is tending to the children of a dead woman at this point and it is this woman that Margrid doesn't want to end up like. It's a powerful scene.

I also LOVE Louis in this part. I just feel that the role is perfect. Marie Antoinette herself I'm not so keen on as I feel that she is always made into some evil person but oh well.