Aegisub

Today I want to tell you about one of my hobbies: making subtitles :)
There are many softwares to do so, but most of them are not worth using. They are very simple and literally you can do nothing on them: there is only one font, no karaoke effect, no movement… Fortunately, there is Aegisub :)

However, let’s start from the beginning. How to make subtitles? There are a few steps to take:

1. Choose a video

It seems obvious, but you have to think about it. Make sure that the video you have chosen is at the appropriate level for you. If you do not understand many lines, look for transcripts or choose a different video.

For example, I have chosen this one:

2. Make a transcription & translate
Making a transcription is not necessary, but it helps a lot. So if you have not found a transcripion, you can write it down. Obviously, if you do not have energy/time, omit this part and just translate your video.
It can look like this:

3. In Aegisub, open the raw video
Raw video means no subtitles are here, just the "pure" video.

4. Import your translation
If your translation is in Poland, make sure to select „Windows-1250 Central Europe” - otherwise there will be no Polish diacritics (such as ę, ą, ł, ń, etc.)

5. Make the timing
For me, it is the most boring and exhausting part :( Can you see the dark window on the right side of the picture below? You have to move it in order to establish the length of the dialogue. You have to be careful when a sentence starts and when it ends, and when another person starts speaking.
A little gif I created to show you how it works:

6. Make some changes in subtitles

I mean, improve some lines, such as name of title, place, hour, etc.

7. Save!

Is it the end? Wrong! ;)

8. Make hardsubs

You just created softsubs you can see only on your computer. That means it is all for nothing if you want to share your work with others. That is why you have to merge the video and the subtitles into one file. You can use AVI ReComp, for example.

9. Upload your video

YouTube, Google Drive, MediaFire… Wherever you want to :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WOSYVpS1ASor-WzE3WT_i8IvK44junSp/view?usp=sharing

This is a video I created with my friend: she did the transcription and the proofreading, I translated and made the subtitles.

I am kind of proud of our work ;)

I strongly recommend you a software Aegisub, making subtitles here is so nice!

Great Polish music

I don't like people complaining: "nowadays Polish music is bad, nowadays there are no great artists"... If you think like this, you are completely wrong, because there are plenty of them.

Power of Trinity
My favourite Polish band from Łódź. In the previous month PoT released a new CD, Ultramagnetic.

My favourite track is the last one, "Prywatny raj" ("The Private Paradise"). It is powerful, yet so sad. I would say this song is bitter-sweet. You can not forget about their most recognizable song from Ultramagnetic, "Telefon" ("Telephone"), which promote the album. You can see it here:

Ocean (OCN)
I also like Ocean. Such a pity OCN broke up the band in 2016... The lyrics are meaningful and thought-provoking - you can hear it in the song "Dom". What is more, it is quite unique to see a Polish band very popular outside Poland. That is the case :) A few songs are in English (for example, "Waterfall").

Riverside
Have I said a Polish band very popular outside Poland? Riverside is an extreme example of it - literally no one in Poland knows it. For comparison, whenever they put on a concert abroad, there is always a big crowd.
Unfortunately, one of their guitarist, Piotr Grudziński, died in February 2016 :(
As far as I know, all the songs are in English - and that is the reason why it is so popular abroad.
Just see how professional, beautiful and heart-warming its songs are:
(Plus, look at the breathtaking Polish scenery in the clip!)

LemON

It is a band that made its debut in a talent show at the initiative of Igor Herbut. A very interesting is the fact that the band's name, "lemon", does not refer to the fruit, but it consists of two words: Lemkivshchyna, a place of singer's origins ("lem" also means "only"), and English word on.
My favourite songs: "Będę z tobą" ("I Will Be With You") and "Scarlett"

Bracia

I think you've heard about Krzysztof Cugowski. His sons, Wojciech Cugowski and Piotr Cugowski, formed a band in 1997. Bracia has four albums so far.

Nowadays there are a lot of great bands. That is why you should not generalise and say they are nonexistent - they are here, but you should look for them very well ;)

Baseball

Today I want to tell you a little about the sport discipline which soon will be in the Olympic Games: baseball!

It is definitely underappreciated in Poland. For example: there are about 600k habitants in Poznań and there are still any baseball stadium… That is why the matches are played in Cytadela with its uneven terrain… However, most of Polish cities has a baseball stadium.

Fun fact: you can find a stadium in some small Polish villages, like Miejska Górka - a village with mere 4k habitants ;) I was personally only in Osielsko, which is close to Bydgoszcz. Some photos you can see below:

Now, a little about rules. I am not going to lie to you: the rules are very complicated. In general, there are two teams who play by turns without time limit. Fortunately, you can find some tutorials on the Internet, like this one:

The interesting is the case of terminology. In Polish, there are only the most important words translated into Polish, like hitter/batter - pałkarz, pitcher - miotacz, catcher - łapacz, mound - górka, to pitch - narzucać. Even the name of this sport, baseball, is not translated. The same goes with the rest: strikes, fouls, balls, home runs, etc. That is why you can read/watch an English tutorial and understand it without problems ;)

I played in baseball for a few years and it gave me so much fun :) Such a pity this sport is not more popular in Poland… You can’t forget that Polish game palant gave rise to American baseball! ;)

Touch typing

Touch typing is, according to Wikipedia, "typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys". In other words, it is an ability to use a computer and write without looking at your fingers.

There are many positive effects of touch typing. For me, the most important are:
- You can rewrite a text from a book, tracking the sentences all the time (I mean, you don't have to move your head up and down),
- You can connect the computer to the TV and look at the big screen without worrying about looking down at the keyboard,
- Looking only at the screen, you can keep track of whether mistakes/typos you are making.

Some other advantages you can see in this video:

https://videos.typing.com/student/en/1-welcome.webm

My opinion about touch typing? When I started doing it, it was very frustrating. Writing just one word took me forever, because at first I had to think, where a key is and which finger I have to use to press it.

Do you want to start touch typing? I have two advice for you:
1. Try exercises on the Internet
Typing.com is a useful website where you can practice your typing skill. There are a few lessons, divided into levels of difficulty. In the first lesson, you learn how to use the most basic keys: F, J and space, and end up learning Z and Q.
You can do it here:

https://www.typing.com/student/start

2. I can also recommend you rewriting any text you like, especially in your native language. In your mother language you will probably write the most, that is why it is SO important. What is more, I trained with words like szczekać or chrząszcz: you have to use your ring fingers and small fingers a lot, which are the weakest ones.

As for me, I still can't write smoothly without looking at the keys, but I do exercise and I hope one day I'll achieve a good level in it :)
For everyone who wants to start touch typing, I wish you good luck!

PS. If you can't do it no matter what, you can try these amazing keyboards. Unfortunately, the price is also amazing...

HP translation

I think a person who does not heard about Harry Potter does not exist. It is one of the most popular book series in the world and it deserves its fame since it's great.
In this post I don't want to write about the plot, but something different. HP translation is a popular subject - to the extent that I heard students in my university can not write their BA work about HP translation, because there are already plenty of works about that :D (the same goes with Shrek movies).

In HP there are a lot of names, that's why a translator has a very difficult task to do. In my opinion, Polish translation is great - some names were translated, some not (I think it should have been hard to decide what to rest in original version!). In French version, however, literally everything is translated. The main character goes to Poudlard, not Hogwart, which is close to Pré-au-lard, not Hogsmeade. In the school there are four houses: Serdaigle (Ravenclaw), Serpentard (Slytherin), Poufsouffle (Hufflepuff) and Gyffondor (Gryffindor). Harry makes friends with Neville Londubat (Longbottom) and Olivier Dubois (Wood),  but he does not like Drago Malefoy (Draco Malfoy). His less favourite teachers are Ombrage (Umbridge) and Rouge (Snape). 

Aaand there's one thing that makes me laugh everytime I think about it - Lord Voldemort. If you read or watched "The Chamber of Secrets", you would probably remember that the sentence "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT" consists of the same letters as in the name TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE, Voldemort's real name. To make the same effect in a sentence "JE SUIS VOLDEMORT", it was decided to change his name into "TOM ELVIS JEDUSOR"... A name Elvis makes me think about Elvis Presley :D

In spite of all, French translation is not bad. For me, it is nice to read Harry Potter in three language versions to see the differences between them ;)

Students' problems

I don't think that being a student is a piece of cake. Very often I hear: 'Studying is easy, you do nothing but sleep in lecture rooms and learn for the exams twice a year'...
That's why I'm happy that there are people who think the same as me and who joke of the students' life, it is so comforting ;)
On the Internet you can find a lot of memes. After all, students all over the world have the same problems! :)

And, my favourite one:

There are also jokes connected to a field of study, like medical or psychological one. As a language lover, I'm interested in a linguistic one. For example, 'I want to be a schwa, it's never stressed' or 'The past, the present and the future walked into a bar. It was tense' :D

Also, one of the Polish memes:

In my opinion, you shouldn't trait your university too serious. Even if you get a bad grade, the world won't collapse.
On the other hand, I hate people who are not willing to study and do nothing but complain. Every time I ask these people: 'If you don't like it so much, why do you study?'. One of my friend answered me: 'Because my mom made me to'...
Anyway, you should remember that you study for yourself. Not for grades, future work, parents. It is a great opportunity to build your knowledge and to learn more than what is written in books.
Even though I'm bad at studying, even though I get bad marks so often, I still love studying, it's just amazing.
So, everyone:
Good luck with your studies!

Merry Christmas!

A lot of people complain: "I don't feel the mood of the Christmas"... Nowadays the Christmas is worse because there is no snow, people are in hurry, the technology is so developed, there is absolutely no traditional values...
The mood of the Christmas depends on you! You won't see the magic of Christmas until you stop complaining.
If you still don't believe me that Christmas can be magical even nowadays, see this short video. It's a story of the Nativity... but in the XXI century. On one hand it's for fun and, on the other hand, it's exactly the same story.

I want to wish you Merry Christmas!