Suggestions for Subtitling

     It is very common to hear people (mostly students of English) complaining about movie subtitles.

     However, Brazil has an excellent tradition in the so called screen translation segment.

     While there is no universal standard followed by translators for this segment, some practices are recommended.

     Perhaps the most quoted advice among the professionals of this area is: “Shorten, shorten, and shorten.” That is what I intend to do regarding this subject today.

     Formerly, the translator had to work with other professionals to insert subtitles in a video; the subtitles were "stamped" on the films and the markings were made in inches.

     Because of that, the translators were limited to produce the texts and thus used to forward them to laboratories or editing stations afterwards, where the segment professionals were supposed to insert the subtitles.

     Today, however, with the ability provided by computers and software, the trend is to let the whole process concentrated in the hands of an only professional: the translator.

     This is good to get rid of mistakes and also favors the translator, even financially.

     The challenge in the screen translation industry is to be succinct, without, however, disregarding the dialogue essence.

     This is the major challenge for the translator, i.e., to translate emotion-laden dialogues into a two-line text in a succinct manner (two lines always, please, never, ever make a subtitle with three lines or more).

    Nowadays, the translation of subtitles is good, but we can observe, even on TV channels, perhaps because of the rush to put the news on the air, a great deal of phrases placed in a sequence without any concern regarding the size of the subtitles and with the correct sentence cutting.

     Although, as we mentioned, there is no universal standard for inserting subtitles, one of the most followed "golden rule" (and maybe the most overlooked one), is that an average reader can read a subtitle of two lines with 70 characters (including spaces and graphic symbols) in 6 seconds or a subtitle line with 35 characters in 3 and a half seconds.

     As we have seen, although there is not a universal standard for subtitling, many studies have been made taking into account, for example, the rate at which the human brain can process the information read on the screen.

     Certain suggestions, like the time of the subtitle on the screen, the geometric form of the subtitles (rectangular) were made by scholars for readability sake, therefore, disregarding such suggestions is a throwback and a detriment to the spectators, who will feel tired and have a visual discomfort not knowing whether they should watch the videos or read the subtitles.

     For the sake of time and space, I do not want to extend on this subject, mainly because many readers, who do not work with translations, but need to insert subtitles in their videos, can also benefit from our suggestions.

     For my fellow translators I recommend a link below, where you will be able to deepen more into the subject.

     Should there is any question or interest, and I am able to approach them, leave a note in the comment session and maybe we can talk more about this subject in another opportunity.

     The market for video subtitles is big and we cannot deem it as restricted only to the universe of TV and movies.

    Many companies need translation for promotions, marketing or training videos.  

    Usually, they are short videos the translators themselves can edit end insert the subtitles.

     As example, I inserted some subtitles in a short excerpt of a classic horror film in public domain, which I intend to display in next post.

1.       Watch the video several times. 2.       Make a research for words and expressions. 3.       Find out in which context the film was made: country, age, habits, accents, quirky expressions. 4.       Make a transcription (if you don't have the original script). Ask help from other colleagues, if that is the case. 5.       Translate the text and adapt it. 6.       New script (with 3 columns e.g.: English, Portuguese, subtitle and sufficient rows). 7.       Make a pre-division of the subtitles. 8.       Shorten the subtitles as much as you can. 9.       Insert the subtitles in video editing software (Windows Moviemaker for beginners). 10.   Place the subtitles at 1/12 of the screen. 11.   Only two-lines subtitle (no exception). 12.   Insert the subtitles at the top of the screen only in specific cases. 13.   If there is only one line, place it at the lower part of the screen. 14.   Center the text, except in the case of dialogues, which must begin with dashes and be placed at the left. 15.   Two lines only (maximum of 35 characters). 16.   Proper font (size and color): pale white (formerly yellow), with ghost box, simple, without serif; Arial or Helvetic. 17.   Time period on the screen (no less than a second, no more than 6 seconds); 3 ½ for one-line subtitle. 18.   Synchronize the subtitles properly with the TCR (Time Code Recorder). 19.   Use suspension marks between the subtitles according to your criterion or according to the criteria of your customer. Usually, they are not used by São Paulo translators, but are used by Rio de Janeiro translators. 20.   Cut the sentences in the right place by correctly following the syntactical "nodes" (this is one of the most ignored parts, however one of the most important to be followed). If you are not a professional translator and have difficulty with parsing, ask questions to the text. For example: “The vampire bit the maiden’s neck, turned into a bat and fled through the window of the castle”   The (who?) vampire (did what?) bit (what?) the neck (whose?) of the maiden (and what?) turned (into what?) into a bat and (what?) escaped (where through?) the window (where from?) of the castle.  21.   Convert all the measurements into the decimal metric system. 22.   Write out of scene voices and songs in italic. 23.   Get rid of all the words that are not necessary for the understanding, e.g.:  ok, hum, bla, bla, bla, er, I mean, you know, well… 24.   Shorten the text even if there is space left over. 25.   Write written words and phrases appearing in the scenes with capital letters, e.g.: newspaper headlines, phrases of a bill-board or an announcement-board, etc. 26.   Place dashes before dialogs.

Tips to get started:

·        Start with small movies, songs or cartoons.

·        Begin with Windows Moviemaker and then move to a more professional software.

·        Proofread, proofread, proofread many times and then proofread once more before editing.

·        Synchronize the subtitles perfectly.

·        Put yourself in the place of the reader.

·        Save the video in a format more suitable to your needs.

Click here for an excellent paper by Dr. Fotios Karamitroglou.

I intend to keep on writing   about subtitles and post a short video with  examples, stay tuned!

Feel free to use our text, but, please don´t forget to provide the 
necessary credits and quotes.

Gilson Marcon de Souza

amazon.com/author/gilsonsouza