Russian rock video caption bank now available

[Richard Robin]

Dear SEELANGers,

Over the last few years, I have written about 60 SRT caption files to
accompany various Russian rock videos, film trailers, and in one case a full
film (the trashy, wonderfully badly acted Коснуться неба, whose script is so
terribly redundant that the entire movie looks like an учебный фильм for
Golosa II).

SRT caption files are minuscule text files (1 to 5 Kb) that add captions to
video that is played in any number of computer based media players. These
include VLC (all platforms, free from videolan.org), Media Player Classic HC
(free for Windows), RealPlayer, and DIVX Player, both free in their basic
versions. The captions do not work out of the box with QuickTime or Windows
Media Player.

To learn how to download and make these captions work, go to the *Google Doc
Caption directory*<https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_VJr7H8vNdAMjM2YmVkYjItZDg1Zi00Njc3LWIwNDYtYzIxZWE2YTg5NDhm&hl=en>
(no
login required) at
*
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_VJr7H8vNdAMjM2YmVkYjItZDg1Zi00Njc3LWIwNDYtYzIxZWE2YTg5NDhm&hl=en
*

Make sure to read the READ ME file.

Please keep in mind, that while I'm sharing the captions with the world,
this is a classroom sideline of mine, not a major grant-supported project.
That means that other than correcting inaccuracies in the READ ME file, I
can't provide a whole bunch of tech support. The READ ME file covers the
basics of SRT captioning. But you may have to Google "SRT captions" plus the
name of your player if you have individual difficulties. However, if you
cannot get access to the *Caption
directory*<https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_VJr7H8vNdAMjM2YmVkYjItZDg1Zi00Njc3LWIwNDYtYzIxZWE2YTg5NDhm&hl=en>
at
all, please let me know.

Lack of real support also applies to typos in the actual captions, which I
am sure are numerous. I'll be glad to hear from you to learn where the typos
are. But I probably won't enter corrections except maybe every few months.
So proof before you show! Keep in mind that in many cases, these are
"targeted" captions - aimed at a class with a particular proficiency level.
You can easily edit the captions to suit your own needs. See the READ ME
file for a description of what these captions look like (English, Russian,
mixed, dual, glossed, etc.).

Copyright info: Obviously, the lyrics are copyrighted, almost always by the
song's authors (indicated in the filename). However, posting lyrics of
Russian songs on the Internet has never been prosecuted. Th actual video is
a different matter. Finding and downloading the matching videos for the SRT
caption files is up to you. See the advice in the READ ME file. True, no one
gets dragged into court for posting Russian videos all over the web. But
despite my "copyleft" proclivities, I'm not willing to infringe to that
degree! So you'll have to find the videoclips yourself.

Happy watching!

Rich Robin

-- 
Richard M. Robin
Director Russian Language Program
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
202-994-7081

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