Subtitling Tips
As you translate and transcribe talks, here are some things to keep in mind.
Subtitling is a unique skill set: volunteers must accurately convey meaning, despite time and space constraints.
To ensure viewers can read your subtitles with ease, stick to these guidelines:
- When a subtitle is longer than 42 characters, break it into two lines.
- Never use more than two lines per subtitle.
- Keep broken lines as close in length as possible.
- Keep 'linguistic wholes' together when breaking lines.
- Keep the subtitle reading speed at a maximum of 21 characters / second.
- Compress subtitles over 21 characters / second. Try to preserve as much meaning as possible.
Refer to this “Quick Tips” list as you’re subtitling to remind yourself of these points
Resources
TED Translators can use these resources to learn about our platform, subtitling best practices and more.
