Quality Control for Foreign Subtitles and Translation

by JodeneAntoniou January 15, 2020 in Subtitles and captioning, Translation foreign subtitles, quality control, subtitle translation, Translate your subtitles 0

Making the decision to translate your subtitles into different languages can be the best decision you could make in terms of widening your audience. Subtitle translation ensures accessibility for all audiences, improved SEO, better reach across social media and overall better online engagement. There are a number of different approaches that can be taken to translating subtitles, but to ensure the best results, we would always recommend working with a professional subtitling company when you have foreign subtitles and translation work.

However, if you choose to take a DIY approach to subtitle translation, we can provide services to quality check, convert and edit your translations. To summarise, some aspects of Capital Captions’ foreign subtitle QC process can be found below.

Subtitle Translation Proof Reading

At Capital Captions, our ethos is working with professional subtitlers and linguists, and never automation. For subtitles that have been created using automatic translations, we recommend starting from scratch on translation. However, we can provide services to proofread and edit pre-translated text. In addition to this, we offer services working with translated text, converting it into subtitles for foreign viewers.

Foreign Subtitle Optimisation

Foreign audiences and viewers who rely on subtitles can be almost entirely dependent on subtitle quality for an adequate video experience. For example, reading speeds, line splits and synchronicity can have a huge impact on your audience. Consequently, at Capital Captions, we use thorough quality control processes to work on the following aspects:

Reading speed checks take into account the ‘wordiness’ of one language as compared to another. This ensures that viewers have time to read foreign subtitles during the time of them appearing and disappearing from the screen. This can be especially important when translating from English to Spanish, Russian or German subtitles which tend to run longer. Similarly, it’s important to take steps to ensure subtitles don’t linger too long and interrupt the flow of a video.
Sensible line splits are a big part of what makes the difference between automated and professionally created subtitles. At Capital Captions, we ensure that your foreign subtitles read in rhythm with your video, taking grammar into account. For example, we avoid starting sentences mid-subtitle and aim to split lines in sensible places, e.g. after commas or before conjunctions.
Synchronicity is incredibly important when working with video translation services. Different languages have different structures, and often in subtitles, words may remain recognisable between languages in terms of audio and text. For this reason, we take steps to ensure that sentences are translated in such a way as to ensure foreign viewers feel confident they are not watching out of step or missing anything.

Subtitle Troubleshooting

Capital Captions work with troubleshooting for closed captions and subtitles with formatting or technical errors. There are a number of issues which may occur in terms of subtitle compatibility and functionality. For this reason, our quality checks can include but are not limited to:

Subtitle encoding and character checks for foreign languages.
Platform compatibility checks and necessary conversions for online, broadcast and VoD.
Guideline quality checking against guidelines and specifications, including grammatical rules, character limits, line limits, reading speeds, spacing issues, shot changes and more.

So there you have it, Capital Captions comprehensive guide to quality control for foreign subtitles and translation. If you would like to know more about any of our services including foreign translation services, subtitle services or closed captioning you can visit our website. However if you all ready know what you require you can drop us an e-mail or get a quote using the button below from one of our friendly staff members.

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