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Subtitles

On-screen text conveys dialogue, lyrics, and metadata to bridge language and accessibility gaps.


Invention and Standardisation

Intertitles served silent films; optical subtitle burning arrived with sound. Today, timed-text files like SRT and IMSC govern global delivery, while OTT services auto-detect user locale to surface the correct track.

Types

  • Verbatim Translation — mirrors dialogue closely.
  • Closed Captions — include speaker IDs and sound cues for Deaf viewers.
  • Forced Narratives — only translate foreign phrases in an otherwise domestic soundtrack.

Craft Ethics

Good subtitlers balance brevity (roughly 42 characters per line) with nuance, trimming idioms without flattening voice. K-drama literalism versus adaptive humor in Parasite’s Oscar-winning translation illustrates divergent schools.

Technological Evolution

AI speech-to-text accelerates subtitle generation, but human QC remains vital—errors such as “Jews” for “juice” in The Crown Season 4 prove automation’s limits. Real-time AR glasses hint at personal subtitle layers in theatres.


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