New Validators in Subtitle Editor

As of April 2024, MediaCAT's subtitle editor includes eight additional validators, enhancing the ability for users to validate files for potential errors. Let us detail the individual validation features recently introduced.

Note that all the validation features can be enabled/disabled in Settings > Validation.

Term Mismatch

The Term Mismatch feature works by comparing the terms in your subtitles with those in the applied Glossaries to spot any discrepancies. Here’s how it works: if a term from the subtitles appears in the Glossary, the system checks whether the corresponding translation is present in the target language subtitles. If the expected translation from the Glossary isn’t found in the target subtitles, the system flags this as a "Term Mismatch," alerting the user to the inconsistency.

Translation Mismatch

The Translation Mismatch function identifies when the exact same subtitle contents in the source language appear more than once in the same editing session. After spotting these identical subtitle events, it checks their corresponding translations in the target language. If the translations don't match each other, it flags this as a "Translation Mismatch," alerting the user to the inconsistency.

Numerals Mismatch

The Numerals Mismatch feature checks for consistency between numerical entries in the source and target columns. The system intelligently accounts for variations in number formatting—such as commas, periods, and spaces—to ensure that numbers match across both columns. This means '1,000' in an English source won't be marked as incorrect when compared to '1 000' in a French target. If it detects discrepancies in the numerical data, it will flag this as a "Numerals Mismatch," notifying the user of the inconsistency.

Partially Applied Italics

The Partially Applied Italics feature is designed to identify instances where italics are partially applied within a word. Upon detecting any words with incomplete italicization, the system will alert the user, allowing for quick and easy corrections.

Uppercase After Comma

The Uppercase After Comma feature identifies instances where uppercase letters incorrectly follow commas, with an exception for standard capitalizations such as "I," "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Dr.," etc. This ensures proper punctuation and capitalization rules are followed. The system alerts users to these instances, allowing for quick correction while intelligently recognizing and allowing appropriate exceptions.

Lowercase After Period

The Lowercase After Period feature works similarly to the Uppercase After Comma feature, targeting the incorrect use of lowercase letters immediately following ending punctuation marks like periods (.), exclamation points (!), and question marks (?). This functionality helps ensure that sentences begin with uppercase letters after such punctuation, maintaining proper grammar and readability in subtitles.

Dash in a Single Line

Dash in a Single Line feature is designed to detect the incorrect use of dashes (-) in single-lined subtitles specifically targeting instances where a single-lined subtitle event begins with a dash. This functionality helps maintain the clarity of subtitle formatting by flagging such occurrences, ensuring subtitles adhere to standard formatting guidelines.

Missing Space

The Missing Space feature identifies occurrences where spaces are absent after punctuation marks. This functionality enhances the readability of subtitles and ensures subtitle contents adhere to basic grammar.