Subtitling is considered one of the most important types of translation nowadays with the spread of visual content and digital orientation all over the world. Subtitling falls under the field of audiovisual translation. Subtitling is all forms of language transfer that appear within the screen content. Language is the medium for the transmission of culture and knowledge that is embodied on the screen.
Types of subtitling:
- Script translation
- Subtitling in the same language
- Subtitling between two or more languages
- Dubbing
- Simultaneous translation
- Voice-over
- Metadata
- Visible translation
- Audio description
- Live translation
This type of translation faces many challenges. Its task is not only to translate the language, but also to adapt and localize the language to suit the culture of the target audience. Subtitling also goes through several stages that are necessary in order for the translated text to come out with the quality and smoothness of the original text.
Subtitling steps:
- Audio transcription:
It is the conversion of spoken audio content into text written in the same language.
- Fragmentation:
At this stage, each sentence is divided according to its chronological timing in the visual content in the same language as the spoken content. Each sentence appears on the screen for only about 6 seconds. Sometimes the videos stop at this point and show the subtitle tape in the same spoken language, this is called same language subtitling and is used to explain and clarify spoken audio content or for educational purposes such as language learning.
- Text translation:
Here, the text translation process is done for each sentence, taking into account the time factor of its appearance on the screen, which does not exceed 6 seconds.
- Subtitling:
Eventually, subtitling appears, which is all forms of translation on the screen, and is used to facilitate the understanding of content and linguistic transmission between two or more languages. It includes all forms of linguistic transmission, whether written language, sign language for the deaf and dumb, audio description for the blind, dubbing and voiceover.