seoulscribe

name

seoulscribe

description

Use this skill whenever the user asks to translate, subtitle, hardsub, softsub, polish, QC, or localize Korean videos into Traditional Chinese, especially K-pop idols, Korean artists, YouTube interviews, fan content, music-show clips, behind-the-scenes videos, or Korean variety shows. This skill should trigger even if the user only says 韓文字幕、韓國綜藝、KPOP、偶像訪談、重新上字幕、字幕組、翻譯影片, or provides a Korean/YouTube video link.

SeoulScribe

Turn Korean/K-pop video material into Taiwan Traditional Chinese subtitles with a fansub-team workflow: context research, term consistency, subtitle translation, ASS styling, hardsub/softsub output, and QC.

Read First

• For K-pop and variety translation choices, read references/translation-guide.md.
• For current artist/show research sources, read references/research-sources.md.
• For deterministic subtitle checks or ASS generation, use scripts/subtitle_tools.js.

Default Output

Deliver these files when media processing is requested:

• [video-id].zh-Hant.kpop.srt
• [video-id].zh-Hant.kpop.ass
• [video-id].zh-Hant.hardsub.1080p.mp4 when hardsub is requested
• research-brief.md when the clip depends on current K-pop, artist, fandom, or show context

Do not call the job done until ffprobe can read the final video and at least 2 screenshots confirm subtitle placement.

Workflow

1. Confirm the right source.

   • If a URL is provided, download the best available quality for personal/local use only.
   • Prefer official subtitles/transcripts over ASR.
   • If yt-dlp -F only shows low quality for YouTube, update yt-dlp and retry with YouTube JS extraction before accepting 360p.
   • Check disk space before rendering: final hardsubs need source size plus output size.

2. Build a short research brief before translating.

   • Identify show/channel, episode title, date, guests, agency, group, fandom name, current comeback/activity, and relevant running jokes.
   • Verify names from official sources first: agency pages, artist channels, show pages, official YouTube descriptions.
   • Use fan wikis, Reddit, or social posts only as fallback, and label them unofficial.
   • Date-stamp current facts because K-pop rosters and activity status drift quickly.

3. Translate like a Taiwan K-pop subtitle team.

   • Use natural Taiwan Traditional Chinese.
   • Preserve K-pop terms fans expect: comeback, stage, ending fairy, dance challenge, lightstick, fan chant, bias, maknae/忙內 when context needs fandom flavor.
   • Translate honorifics by relationship and scene: 선배 as 前輩, 오빠/형/언니/누나 as 哥/姐/歐巴/姊姊 only when that is how the Taiwan audience would hear the joke.
   • Keep official artist/group/fandom names consistent. Do not invent Chinese names.
   • Preserve jokes, teasing, hierarchy, awkwardness, and variety-show punchline timing over literal word order.
   • Keep on-screen editorial captions in brackets when useful: [字幕] 台詞.

4. QC subtitles before rendering.

   • Prefer 1-2 lines.
   • For Traditional Chinese, target readable density around 9 chars/sec for polished output; variety clips can exceed slightly only when the original is intentionally rapid.
   • Avoid overlong lines; split by phrase, punctuation, punchline, or speaker shift.
   • Remove duplicate filler when it hurts readability, but keep repeated words when repetition is the joke.
   • Run:

node scripts/subtitle_tools.js qc input.srt

5. Render with readable ASS defaults.
   • For 1080p K-pop/variety hardsubs, default to bottom-centered white text with black opaque box.
   • Default style: PingFang TC, size 66, BorderStyle 3, Outline 14, Alignment 2, MarginV 74.
   • If the original video already has important lower-third Korean text, choose the easier-to-read position and mention the tradeoff.
   • Generate ASS:

node scripts/subtitle_tools.js ass input.srt output.ass --width 1920 --height 1080 --font-size 66 --margin 74

6. Render and verify.

ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -i source.mp4 -vf "ass=output.ass" -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -crf 21 -c:a copy final.mp4
ffprobe -hide_banner -v error -show_entries format=duration,size:stream=codec_type,codec_name,width,height -of json final.mp4
ffmpeg -hide_banner -v error -ss 00:00:10 -i final.mp4 -frames:v 1 qa-001.jpg

Use -movflags +faststart only when there is enough free disk for the second pass.

Translation Passes

Use three passes unless the clip is tiny:

1. Draft: translate every cue with names and terms preserved.
2. Context pass: fix jokes, honorifics, K-pop terms, speaker relationships, and current activity references.
3. Subtitle pass: shorten for reading speed and line breaks while keeping the punchline.

Research Brief Template

# Research Brief
- Source:
- Date checked:
- Show/channel:
- Guests/cast:
- Agencies/groups/fandoms:
- Current activity/comeback context:
- Name/term table:
- Variety-show running jokes or callbacks:
- Source links:

Red Flags

• Do not ship 360p if a higher YouTube format is recoverable.
• Do not translate idol/group names from scratch.
• Do not flatten 선배/후배 or 반말/존댓말 jokes into generic speech.
• Do not over-polish variety captions until the joke sounds like a textbook.
• Do not claim final output is done without video readback and screenshots.