I have been chatting with deaf folks in the Washington DC area for a few years now, thanks to my rather humble grasp of American sign language.
They can’t find enough captioners because the deaf community has strongly embraced cell phones, leading to a huge need for relay services to translate between textual and aural speech. They can’t find enough people to fill these jobs, either.
I honestly wish I spoke sign language better, for there is apparently a need for technical sign language translators, too.
Yes, you can work at home in your pajamas, making money in the lucrative field of captioning. If you live in those parts of Europe where they translate foreign TV shows all the time using subtitles instead of dubbing, there’s even more money to be made – and how! Watching soap operas and violent grade-B action movies all day, typing in captions – what could be more exciting!
For those of you who are really into computers, the localization business provides similar opportunities, except that it gets even better. A lot of localization work ends up being outsourced through a number of middlemen to freelance translators in their respective countries around the world. As a freelance software translator, you too can make money working at home in your pajamas. Imagine that!
And therein lies the catch. I have been in the localization business for several years and I’m going to quit pretty darn soon. It’s the most boring job on the planet, and all of my colleagues agree. Several of my friends (who used to study English with me) are in the captioning/subtitling field, and from what I’ve heard, that’s even more boring than working as a software localizer.
The gist of the matter is that working at home truly sucks, even if the money is good. Heed my advice, kids. Or, to put it another way: don’t try this at home. Literally.
Scandinavian wrote: "The gist of the matter is that working at home truly sucks, even if the money is good. Heed my advice, kids. Or, to put it another way: don’t try this at home. Literally."
Eh, Scandinavian: I find that is this advice of yours, not working from home, that sucks. :-) I’m a very satisfied programmer working from home for the past 5 years, and all my colleagues are work-from-home programmers, who I think are satisfied themselves.
The key issue is having a large enough home with enough room for your work life as well as your free time, and of course keeping just the right balance between work and non-work distractions.
I’m a happy work-from-home programmer. :)
Maybe it’s the type of work that makes one’s life less boring. :)
At least it’s an actual job, instead of the typical "Business Opportunity!" we get in our inbox.
And by the way, there are things even more boring than this work-at-home job. Like being stuk at home with NO job. Think about all the mothers with pre-schoolers out there. If you don’t have a relative to provide free babysitting, most jobs don’t pay enough to offset your expenses. This is exactly the sort of thing many people need.
I believe working at home is good for some people and not for others. Everyone is different and needs a different level of social interaction. A lot of programmers only get it at the office. I personally believe the healthiest is somewhere in between: work 2-3 days a home and the rest at the office. Again, that could be only me and everyone is different.
Having tried my hand at captioning (actually doing a transcript for Channel 9), I can definetely concur with the comments.
However, I’d take subtitles *any time* over dubbed TV! I even used to watch some of the more adult-oriented cartoons on telly when they weren’t dubbed. The dubs they have for every cartoon now are just horrible with only 1-2 exceptions.
How can that be made possible? I think MS should go into this business and free the world of dubbed TV by making a program that does speech-to-text (so it works for tv shows too) even if it’s just for english speech.
This task could be made easier if every voice on the show was provided on it’s own channel for the program, so it wouldn’t so easily get confused by overlapping voices and music.
I have not listened to the audio, but is there an online resource to find these work-at-home jobs?
I’m already doing transcription on the side to earn some extra money, but I have to actually go to the facility. Instead of spending an hour travelling there and back, I could do an extra hour of transcription or I could just have more free time, if I could work from home.
"And by the way, there are things even more boring than this work-at-home job. Like being stuk at home with NO job. Think about all the mothers with pre-schoolers out there."
Ahem. It appears to me that you don’t have a preschooler, because in my experience, staying home with one is the precise opposite of boring. Frustrating? Sometimes. Exhausting? You bet. But hardly boring.
I have been chatting with deaf folks in the Washington DC area for a few years now, thanks to my rather humble grasp of American sign language.
They can’t find enough captioners because the deaf community has strongly embraced cell phones, leading to a huge need for relay services to translate between textual and aural speech. They can’t find enough people to fill these jobs, either.
I honestly wish I spoke sign language better, for there is apparently a need for technical sign language translators, too.
Yes, you can work at home in your pajamas, making money in the lucrative field of captioning. If you live in those parts of Europe where they translate foreign TV shows all the time using subtitles instead of dubbing, there’s even more money to be made – and how! Watching soap operas and violent grade-B action movies all day, typing in captions – what could be more exciting!
For those of you who are really into computers, the localization business provides similar opportunities, except that it gets even better. A lot of localization work ends up being outsourced through a number of middlemen to freelance translators in their respective countries around the world. As a freelance software translator, you too can make money working at home in your pajamas. Imagine that!
And therein lies the catch. I have been in the localization business for several years and I’m going to quit pretty darn soon. It’s the most boring job on the planet, and all of my colleagues agree. Several of my friends (who used to study English with me) are in the captioning/subtitling field, and from what I’ve heard, that’s even more boring than working as a software localizer.
The gist of the matter is that working at home truly sucks, even if the money is good. Heed my advice, kids. Or, to put it another way: don’t try this at home. Literally.
Scandinavian wrote: "The gist of the matter is that working at home truly sucks, even if the money is good. Heed my advice, kids. Or, to put it another way: don’t try this at home. Literally."
Eh, Scandinavian: I find that is this advice of yours, not working from home, that sucks. :-) I’m a very satisfied programmer working from home for the past 5 years, and all my colleagues are work-from-home programmers, who I think are satisfied themselves.
The key issue is having a large enough home with enough room for your work life as well as your free time, and of course keeping just the right balance between work and non-work distractions.
I’m a happy work-from-home programmer. :)
Maybe it’s the type of work that makes one’s life less boring. :)
At least it’s an actual job, instead of the typical "Business Opportunity!" we get in our inbox.
And by the way, there are things even more boring than this work-at-home job. Like being stuk at home with NO job. Think about all the mothers with pre-schoolers out there. If you don’t have a relative to provide free babysitting, most jobs don’t pay enough to offset your expenses. This is exactly the sort of thing many people need.
Captioning…television…cause…pain…
I found it vaguely funny that there’s a "listen to this story" link.
Vorn
I believe working at home is good for some people and not for others. Everyone is different and needs a different level of social interaction. A lot of programmers only get it at the office. I personally believe the healthiest is somewhere in between: work 2-3 days a home and the rest at the office. Again, that could be only me and everyone is different.
I think there is an even bigger lack of technical stenographers. It was entertaining to watch the captions at the PDC with stuff like zamel, etc.
Having tried my hand at captioning (actually doing a transcript for Channel 9), I can definetely concur with the comments.
However, I’d take subtitles *any time* over dubbed TV! I even used to watch some of the more adult-oriented cartoons on telly when they weren’t dubbed. The dubs they have for every cartoon now are just horrible with only 1-2 exceptions.
How can that be made possible? I think MS should go into this business and free the world of dubbed TV by making a program that does speech-to-text (so it works for tv shows too) even if it’s just for english speech.
This task could be made easier if every voice on the show was provided on it’s own channel for the program, so it wouldn’t so easily get confused by overlapping voices and music.
And Bill was really happy about the greater "cash" at one point.
I have not listened to the audio, but is there an online resource to find these work-at-home jobs?
I’m already doing transcription on the side to earn some extra money, but I have to actually go to the facility. Instead of spending an hour travelling there and back, I could do an extra hour of transcription or I could just have more free time, if I could work from home.
"And by the way, there are things even more boring than this work-at-home job. Like being stuk at home with NO job. Think about all the mothers with pre-schoolers out there."
Ahem. It appears to me that you don’t have a preschooler, because in my experience, staying home with one is the precise opposite of boring. Frustrating? Sometimes. Exhausting? You bet. But hardly boring.
Can anybody give some light on how I can get some work on transcript, home job or captioning?
As everybody here seems to be very much aware of these topics. Please that will be very helpful.