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The easy way to become an effective TV subtitler

Is subtitling in South Africa well done?  Most of us in South Africa can understand two or more languages, so we should be able to judge whether or not the subtitles convey the meaning of the dialogue.

Subtitles can never be a transcription. They have to be an equivalent written form of the dialogue, where everything is translated including sound effects, mood, character, dialects, slang and idiomatic speech.  Subtitles translate not only the words, but also the culture and meaning.

Just look at a few programmes that are subtitled, and ask yourself:

  1. Can I read the subtitles?

  2. Are they too small, too fast, or too crowded?

  3. Do they mean the same as the original?

  4. If I can’t read them, will deaf people be able to read them?

  5. If I can’t read them, why are they there?

The fact is that subtitling in South Africa is not well done.  It should be better done since we have 11 official languages. We could do better, but how can we learn and practice?

Learning subtitling is easy.  Doing them is hard.  It’s like playing a guitar.  The chords look easy. Actually being able to play and make beautiful music is very hard.  But we always have to master the tools before we can become an artist.  The artist is always a master craftsman.  Subtitles are highly creative, and as much an art form as directing.

Subtitlers can learn subtitling in three days. The mechanics of it, anyway.  Whether you learn in three or six days, it will still take you a year to subtitle well.

We subtitle because:

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We want people who understand another language to also enjoy our programme.
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We want deaf people to also understand the programme.  "Deaf" also includes "hard of hearing" who, between them number over 10% of the TV viewers.

Subtitlers are always translators.  Even if you’re doing same language subtitling (such as English dialogue in to English subtitles for the deaf), you are still translating.  The answer lies in the first of the only TEN rules that subtitlers have to know.

Rule One

Subtitles are a translation.  They are also a rewrite, so that they can reflect all the original dialogue into the space allowed. Subtitles are the EQUIVALENT to the original dialogue.  They are not a transcription.

Translate all jokes, sayings, idioms, dialect in the source language into the EQUIVALENT jokes, sayings, idioms, dialect of the target language.

Rule Two

The subtitler’s home and first language must be the target language (the language the subtitles are written in).  The translator’s second language must be the source language (the language of the original dialogue.)

When you are translating, you always have time to find out, ask an expert or look in a dictionary for the meaning of the original dialogue.  The audience doesn’t have that luxury.  They have to understand the subtitles at the speed displayed to them.  The translator will therefore be better at designing and writing subtitles where her home language is the target language

Rule Three

You can never make a transcription of the source language work as subtitles.  We read, if we read well, about 130 words a minute.  The speech rate in drama can be 200 to 250 words a minute, and the dialogue is often full of expressions and words known only to the people from that specific culture.

In subtitling, to make the lettering big enough so viewers van read it, you will hardly ever get in more than 130 words a minute.  (These are not accurate figures, as it depends on the words. “A” is only one letter long. “Eavesdropper” is 12 letters. Which is why a subtitler may subtitle it as “snoop” or “spy”.

Rule Four

Subtitles start as the person on the screen starts speaking, and the subtitles come out when the person stops speaking.

This is sometimes possible, often it is not possible.  But it is one of those rules you try to stick to.

Subtitle sound effects that are crucial to the action.

Rule Five

Try and get subtitles into one line.  If you can’t, you can use two lines.  Three lines are OUT. They take up too much of the picture area.  Viewers use facial expressions to get clues as to hidden meanings, so you have to leave as much as possible of the picture area clear of subtitles

Rule Six

If two people are speaking at the same time, design subtitles that best convey the meaning of what is being said.  Subtitlers are extremely creative.  That is why subtitlers are classified as creative writing, and the subtitlers is the author and thus original owner on the copyright on subtitles.

Rule Seven

Subtitles are 26 TV lines high.  This means that lower case letters are 4.5% of the screen height.  Capitals and letters like b, g, l, and p are 5% of the height of the screen.

Because of the height restriction, and the restriction that subtitles must be within safe title area, you cannot have more than 38 characters, including blank spaces, across the screen.

Rule Eight

Each line of subtitling must be on the screen for no less than 1.8 seconds.  This makes allowance for the fact that most viewers can speak their own language faster than they can read it.

Rule Nine

Keep subtitles in white lettering with a black shadow around them, or within a black box.  This keeps the contrast ratio at its highest.  Coloured subtitles reduce the contrast ratio, and are the same as subtitling in grey.

Rule Ten

Assume that the average viewer does not yet have a matric.  People who have university degrees want very little TV.  TV is for the masses, just ordinary people.

 

You have just read Ten rules.  Those are all the rules you need to know.

(Note: When digital TV comes to South Africa, subtitles will also be known as captions.)

How to teach yourself subtitling

  1. Download a very good subtitling software programme, Subtitle Workshop, FREE from the Internet.  You can find it at http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Other-VIDEO-Tools/Subtitle-Workshop.shtml, or Google "Subtitle Workshop" and download it from a variety of mirror sites.

  2. Install the programme. Go to the help file and familiarise yourself with the workings and instructions.  They are very easy to read.  You can also Google “subtitle workshop tutorial”, and you will find a few.

  3. Download a clip in English from a movie from Youtube, or use any clip you may be able to find as long as it is in a common format.

  4. Go through the HELP file very carefully, and in the same sequence as it is presented.  Make sure you understand all the features and tools.

  5. If you can use WORD or EXCEL well, you should be able to learning subtitling software in 8-10 hours.

  6. Download some fun TV commercials and practice on them.

  7. Allow yourself at least 40 hours of practice before you start with serious dramas and documentaries.

  8. If you find films and dramas very difficult at first, that's a good sign. It means you know how difficult it is, to, at the same time:
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    Translate the words.
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    Shorten the text to subtitling constraints.
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    Find the equivalent jokes, figures of speech, metaphors and sayings.
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    Convey the emotions, mood and intentions behind the dialogue.

  9. Now start practicing so that you can develop your creativity and gain speed.  To be a reasonably well-paid subtitler, you will have to subtitle a half-hour soap opera in less than day.

 

 

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