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# Editing Guidelines

Editing is one of the most important aspects of fansubbing,
and helps make the original text more accessible and better convey the intended message
This may involve various changes, from domestication, rewriting jokes, and making dialogue flow more naturally.
and helps make the original text more accessible and better convey the intended message.
This may involve various changes,
from domestication,
rewriting jokes,
and making dialogue flow more naturally.
There are many different opinions on what makes for good editing,
and many different editing styles to choose from.

This document is a styleguide most Kaleido projects follow,
This document is a style guide most Kaleido projects follow,
and is intended to provide a consistent style and quality of editing to the group's releases.
None of these are hard rules,
and deviations from these guidelines are often intentional,
to help give a subtitle more character or to fit the style of the original.

## Basic Use of English
## Grammar and Punctuation

- Grammar and punctuation
- Overuse of ellipses
- Japanese punctuation
- Sentence structure and clarity
- Common mistakes to avoid
Using proper grammar and punctuation is crucial for creating clear and engaging subtitles.
But there are also some other things to keep in mind,
such as the dialect of English to use.
In the subtitling community,
American English is the standard,
but some groups such as Kaleido use British English for its subtitles.

!!! Warning "Consistency"
British English is more flexible in which spellings you can use,
as it's not uncommon for both spellings to be accepted.
However,
you should strive to keep your spelling consistent throughout the project.

Below is a quick overview of some common differences between British and American English.

=== "-ise/-ize"

British English spellings often end in "-ise"[^endings] while American English uses "-ize":

- Fantasise / Fantasize
- Apologise / Apologize
- Recognise / Recognize
- Realise, Realisation / Realize, Realization
- Organise, Organisation / Organize, Organization
- Customise, Customisation / Customize, Customization

=== "ou/o"

British English often uses "ou" where American English uses "o":

- Colour / Color
- Favourite / Favorite
- Rumour / Rumor
- Neighbour / Neighbor
- Labour / Labor

=== "-re/-er"

British English often ends words with "-re" while American English uses "-er":

- Centre / Center
- Theatre / Theater[^theatre]
- Metre / Meter
- Calibre / Caliber
- Fibre / Fiber
- Litre / Liter

=== "ll/l"

British English often doubles the "l" where American English uses a single "l":

- Travelling / Traveling
- Fuelling / Fueling
- Cancelled / Canceled
- Marvelling / Marveling
- Signalling / Signaling
- Labelling / Labeling

=== "-ce/-se"

British English often uses "-ce" where American English uses "-se":

- Defence / Defense
- Offence / Offense
- Licence / License
- Pretence / Pretense
- Practise (verb), Practice (noun) / Practice (both verb and noun)
- Advice (noun), Advise (verb) / Advice (noun), Advise (verb)

=== "-ogue/-og"

British English often ends words with "-ogue" while American English uses "-og":

- Analogue / Analog
- Dialogue / Dialog
- Prologue / Prolog
- Catalogue / Catalog
- Monologue / Monolog
- Pedagogue / Pedagog

=== "Other words"

Other spelling differences:

- Enrol / Enroll
- Programme (TV and radio), Program (computer) / Program (all uses)
- Jewellery / Jewelry
- Plough / Plow
- Aluminium / Aluminum
- Draught / Draft
- Tyre / Tire
- Sceptical / Skeptical
- Ageing / Aging
- Cosy / Cozy
- Maths / Math
- Lorry / Truck
- Lift / Elevator

Besides dialect differences,
there are a couple other spelling rules that are worth noting:

- "Alright" should always be spelled as "all right".
This is because "alright" is only correct in specific cases,
while "all right" is always correct.
- "OK" and "Ok" should always be fully spelled out as "okay".

### Punctuation

Proper use of punctuation is almost always required.
Do not rely on punctuation used in the original Japanese script,
as punctuation rules and styles vary greatly between languages.

- Avoid comma splices.
This is when multiple independent clauses are joined together with commas,
without any other punctuation to separate them.
These often result in run-on sentences,
which can be more difficult to read.
- Use the Oxford comma.
This is the comma before the "and" in a list of three or more items,
and reduces ambiguity.
- Use em dashes (—) for interruptions or abrupt changes in thought,
not hyphens (-) or double hyphens (--).
- Avoid ellipses like the plague.
They are almost always unnecessary,
annoying to read,
and can often be replaced with different punctuation.
The viewer can easily infer that information from the audio.
- Do not make use of the four-dotted ellipsis.
- Interrobangs are always written as "?!" in English,
never as "!?".
The latter is the Japanese punctuation.
- Brackets should be avoided as much as possible,
but can be used to better convey the intended meaning when necessary.

### Quotation Marks

The use of quotation marks varies between British and American English,

=== "British English"

- Double quotation marks are used when quoting,
and single marks are used when quoting within quotes.
- If the punctuation is part of the quoted material,
it goes inside the quotation marks.
If not,
it goes outside.
- Exclamation and question marks are placed inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material,
otherwise they are placed outside.

=== "American English"

- Double quotation marks are used when quoting,
and single marks are used when quoting within quotes.
- Periods and commas are always placed inside the quotation marks,
even if they are not part of the original quoted material.
- Exclamation and question marks are placed inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material,
otherwise they are placed outside.

### Abbreviated titles

While Kaleido typically sticks to British English rules,
there is one notable exception: abbreviated titles.
We follow the American English convention,
and use a full stop after the abbreviation.

| British English | American English |
| --------------- | ---------------- |
| Mr | Mr. |
| Dr | Dr. |
| Mrs | Mrs. |
| Ms | Ms. |

However,
do keep the difference between "Ms.",
"Miss",
and "Ms" in mind.
"Miss" is a respectful way to refer to an unmarried woman,
"Mrs." is used for a married woman,
and "Ms." is when you're unsure,
and generally the safest choice.
If a common joke is that a female teacher is unmarried,
you should refer to her as "Miss" rather than "Ms.".
If it's unknown to some characters and they wouldn't reasonably assume,
they should use "Ms." and switch to "Mrs." if they find out later.

### Numbers

Numbers should be spelled out whenever reasonably possible,
and if the characters-per-second (CPS) allows for it.

| Number | Spelled Out |
| ------ | ------------------------ |
| 36 | Thirty-six |
| 100 | One hundred / A hundreds |
| 991 | Nine hundred ninety-one |

In certain cases,
certain numbers appear often in a show.
These should ideally be handled consistently throughout the project.

| Original | Avoid |
| -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| "Stop right there, Misaka 9982!" | "Stop right there, Misaka nine-thousand-nine-hundred-eighty-two! |

Dates are an exception to this rule,
and should always be written in numeric form.

| Date | Avoid |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| 1st of January | First of January |
| Oct. 2 | October Second |
| The 25th of December, 1998 | The twenty-fifth of December, nineteen-ninety-eight |

### Sentence structure

Dialogue flow is one of the core things that Kaleido editors focus on.
Subtitles are timed to fit the dialogue,
and as such,
it's important to make it as easy as possible for the viewer to understand in a short amount of time.
Dialogue should also be easy to follow and sound natural.

Sentences should be broken up into smaller clauses where possible,
and given to the viewer in a clear and concise manner.
Ambiguity should be avoided,
unless the original script is ambiguous on purpose,
and may require some rewriting to make it clearer.

Japanese grammar is different from English,
so it may be necessary to change the order of information in a sentence to make it sound more natural in English.
The target audience's experience trumps all else,
even if it comes at the cost of minor information loss.

Try to avoid run-on sentences,
as they are difficult to read and understand.
If a sentence is too long,
try to break it up into two shorter sentences.
Exceptions may apply,
such as when a character is speaking very quickly,
or otherwise stumbling over their words.

### Garden-pathing

Garden-pathing is when a sentence is easy to misinterpret when parsed sequentially,
and require you to refer back to an earlier part of the sentence to understand it.
This is a common mistake made by English learners,
and should be avoided.

Below are a few examples of garden-pathing,
and how you may go about rewriting them[^gardenpath].

=== "Example A"

!!! quote Example
"The horse raced past the barn fell."

**Explanation:** The reader initially assumes the horse is "racing past the barn",
but the sentence actually means that the horse _was_ raced past the barn,
and then it fell.

**Rewritten:** "The horse that was raced past the barn fell."

**Why it's better:** Adding "that was" clarifies the relationship between the horse and the action of falling.

=== "Example B"

!!! quote Example
"The man who hunts ducks out on weekends."

**Explanation:** The reader initially assumes the sentence means that the old man "hunts ducks (the birds) out on weekends",
but "ducks out" is actually the verb "to duck out" (i.e. leave or avoid something).

**Rewritten:** "The man who hunts hides out on weekends."

**Why it's better:** Changing the verb to "hides" makes it clear that the old man is trying to avoid something
while avoiding the misunderstanding that he's hunting a specific animal on weekends.

=== "Example C"

!!! quote Example
"The prime number few."

**Explanation**: The reader initially assumes that "the prime number" is the subject of the sentence,
as in discussing a specific number (maths),
but the sentence is actually referring to a small number of prime people.
The "few" does not logically connect to "the prime number" when read sequentially.

**Rewritten:** "The few prime individuals." or "The number of prime individuals is few."

**Why it's better:** Adding "individuals" makes it clear that the sentence is referring to a group of people.

=== "Example D"

!!! quote Example
"While the girl sang the song pleased everyone."

**Explanation:** The reader initially assumes that "the girl sang the song",
but the sentence is actually saying that the song pleased everyone while the girl sang.

**Rewritten:** "The song pleased everyone while the girl sang." or "As the girl was singing, the song pleased everyone." or "While the girl sang, the song pleased everyone."

**Why it's better:**<br>
⠀⠀⠀⠀- The first sentence clarifies that the song is the subject that pleased everyone<br>
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀and that the girl was singing during that time.<br>
⠀⠀⠀⠀- The second makes the timing clearer by indicating an ongoing action.<br>
⠀⠀⠀⠀- The third splits the clauses, separating "sang" and "the song".<br>

As illustrated above,
there are a variety of ways to rewrite sentences to avoid garden-pathing:

- Adding clarifying information
- "That", "which", or "who"
- Changing the verb
- Adding additional information
- Splitting the sentence

## Characterisation

- Maintaining character voice and personality
- Handling honorifics and name suffixes
- Proper use of profanity and explicit language
- Regional dialects and accents, and the dangers thereof
- Age-appropriate language
- Maintaining character voice and personality
- Handling honorifics and name suffixes
- Proper use of profanity and explicit language
- Regional dialects and accents, and the dangers thereof
- Age-appropriate language

## Domestication vs. Foreignisation

- Adapting cultural references for the target audience
- Preserving the original cultural context
- When to use each approach
- Translating or adapting idioms and proverbs
- Dealing with wordplay and puns
- Adapting cultural references for the target audience
- Preserving the original cultural context
- When to use each approach
- Translating or adapting idioms and proverbs
- Dealing with wordplay and puns

## Formatting

- Line breaks and readability
- Italics and emphasis
- Off-screen dialogue
- "Safe" tags
- Etc.
- Line breaks and readability
- Italics and emphasis
- Off-screen dialogue
- "Safe" tags
- Etc.

## Other Things of Note

[^endings]: "-ize" is also often accepted in British English, but required in American English.
[^theatre]: In some cases, "theatre" may still be used in American English, where a "theat*er*" is a venue you visit to watch plays, and "theat*re*" is the performance-driven art form.
[^gardenpath]: Most of these examples are taken from [this paper](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/260d/3b53b1376b5cd30881bbd3ce2472af507adc.pdf).

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