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Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language - with or without added information intended to help viewers who are deaf and hard–of–hearing to follow the dialog. Sometimes, mainly at film festivals, subtitles may be shown on a separate display below the screen, thus saving the film-maker from creating a subtitled copy for perhaps just one showing. In the United States, television subtitling for the deaf and hard–of–hearing is closed captioning.
TranslationSubtitles can be used to translate dialog from a foreign language to the native language of the audience. It is the quickest and the cheapest method of translating content, and is usually praised for the possibility to hear the original dialog and voices of the actors.
Especially in fansubs, the subtitler may translate both form and meaning. The subtitler may also choose to display a note in the subtitles, usually in parentheses (). This allows the subtitler to preserve form and achieve an acceptable reading speed, by leaving the note on the screen, even after the character has finished speaking, to both preserve form and allow for understanding. For example, the Japanese language has multiple first-person pronouns (see Japanese pronouns), and using one instead of another implies a different degree of politeness. In order to compensate, when translating to English, the subtitler may reformulate the sentence, add appropriate words and/or use notes. See closed captioning for differences between 'subtitles' and 'captions. Image:Untertitel.jpg A subtitler uses a computer to produce teletext subtitles. Subtitles vs. dubbing and lectoringThe two alternative methods of 'translating' films in a foreign language are dubbing, in which other actors record over the voices of the original actors in a different language, and lectoring, a form of voice-over for fiction material where a narrator tells the audience what the actors are saying while their voices can be heard in the background. Lectoring is common for television in Russia, Poland, and a few other East European countries, while cinemas in these countries show films dubbed or subtitled. The preference for dubbing or subtitling in various countries is largely based on decisions taken in the late 1920s and early 1930s. With the arrival of sound film, the film importers in Germany, Italy, France and Spain decided to dub the foreign voices, while the rest of Europe elected to display the dialog as translated subtitles. The choice was largely due to financial reasons (subtitling is inexpensive and quick, while dubbing is very expensive and thus requires a very large audience to justify the cost), but during the 1930s it also became a political preference in Germany, Italy and Spain; an expedient form of censorship that ensured that foreign views and ideas could be stopped from reaching the local audience, as dubbing makes it possible to create a dialogue which is totally different from the original.
In many Latin American countries, local network television will show dubbed versions of English-language programs and movies, while cable stations (often international) more commonly broadcast subtitled material. Preference for subtitles or dubbing varies according to individual taste and reading ability, and theaters may order two prints of the most popular films, allowing moviegoers to chose between dubbing or subtitles. Animation and children's programming, however, is nearly universally dubbed, as in other regions. In the traditional subtitling countries, dubbing is generally regarded as something very strange and unnatural and is only used for animated films and TV programs intended for pre-school children. As animated films are "dubbed" even in their original language and ambient noise and effects are usually recorded on a separate sound track, dubbing a low quality production into a second language produces little or no noticeable effect on the viewing experience. In dubbed live-action television or film, or in high quality animation, however, viewers are often distracted by the fact that the audio does not match the actors' lip movements; that the dubbed voices seem detached, inappropriate for the character, or overly expressive; and that ambient sounds are usually lost in the dubbing. Subtitling as a practiceIn several countries or regions nearly all foreign language TV programs are subtitled, instead of dubbed, notably in:
In Wales channel S4C provides subtitles in English for Welsh language programs as well as subtitles in Welsh for people who are deaf and hard–of–hearing. Similarly, in Ireland, RTE One and Irish language channel TG4 provide English subtitles for Irish language programs. In Wallonia (Belgium) films are usually dubbed, but sometimes they are played on two channels at the same time: one dubbed (on La Une) and the other subtitled (on La Deux), but due to low ratings not much anymore. In Australia, one FTA network, SBS airs its foreign-language shows subtitled in English. Same language captionsSame language captions, i.e., without translation, are primarily intended as an aid for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Subtitles in the same language as the dialog are sometimes edited for reading speed and better readability. This is especially true if they cover a situation where many people are speaking at the same time, or speech is very unstructured, as the human brain has difficulty absorbing unstructured written text quickly. Use by those not deaf or hard-of-hearingAlthough same-language subtitles and captions are produced primarily with the deaf and hard-of-hearing in mind, many hearing film and television viewers choose to use them. This is often done, because the presence of closed captioning and subtitles ensures that not one word of dialog will be missed. Films and television shows often have subtitles displayed in the same language, if the speaker has a speech disability and/or an accent. In addition, captions may further reveal information that would be difficult to pick up on otherwise. Some examples of this would be the song lyrics; dialog spoken quietly or by those with unfamiliar accents; or supportive, minor dialog from background characters. It is argued that such additional information and detail will enhance the overall experience and allow the viewer a better grasp on the material. Furthermore, people learning a foreign language may sometimes use same-language subtitles to better understand the dialog while not having to resort to a translation. Use in AsiaIn some Asian television programming, captioning is considered a part of the genre, and has evolved beyond simply capturing what is being said. The captions are used artistically; it is common to see the words appear one by one as they are spoken, in a multitude of fonts, colors, and sizes that capture the spirit of what is being said. Languages like Japanese also have a rich vocabulary of onomatopoeia which are used in captioning. East AsiaIn some East Asian countries, such as China and Japan, captioning is common in some genres of television. In these languages, written text is less ambiguous than spoken text, so there is a distinct advantage to captioning. Furthermore, the various spoken dialects of Chinese are mutually incomprehensible, but are all written identically; captioning means someone who only understands Mandarin could watch a show filmed in Cantonese. Captioning is also common in taped interviews during news broadcasts, as accents in Asian languages can be difficult to understand. South AsiaIn some South Asian countries, such as India and Pakistan, Same Language Subtitles (SLS) are common for films and music videos. In India, 84% of people early & non- literate.[1] With SLS, "[r]eading becomes automatic, subconscious, in everyday entertainment."[2] SLS are karaoke-style subtitles, "highlighted in perfect timing, as they are sung [or spoken]. This association of the spoken and written word is a proven method to improve reading skills."[3] Creation of subtitlesToday professional subtitlers usually work with specialized computer software and hardware where the video is digitally stored on a hard disk, making each individual frame instantly accessible. Besides creating the subtitles, the subtitler usually also tells the computer software the exact positions where each subtitle should appear and disappear although for most cinema film and in some countries also for electronic media, this task is traditionally done by separate technicians. The end result is a subtitle file containing the actual subtitles as well as position markers indicating where each subtitle should appear and disappear. These markers are usually based on timecode if it is a work for electronic media (e.g. TV, video, DVD), and on film length (measured in feet and frames) if the subtitles are to be used for traditional cinema film. The finished subtitle file is used to add the subtitles to the picture, either directly into the picture (open subtitles); embedded in the vertical interval and later superimposed on the picture by the end user with the help of an external decoder or a decoder built into the TV (closed subtitles on TV or video); or converted to tiff or bmp graphics that are later superimposed on the picture by the end user (closed subtitles on DVD). Subtitles can also be created by individuals using freely-available subtitle-creation software like Aegisub and then hardcode them onto a video file with programs such as VirtualDub in combination with VSFilter which could also be used to show subtitles as softsubs in many software video players. See also: Fansub TypesWhile distributing content, subtitles can appear in one of 3 types:
CategoriesSubtitles in the same language on the same production can be in different categories:
Specific varietiesClosed captionsImage:Closed captioning symbol.png The "CC in a TV" symbol Jack Foley created, while senior graphic designer at Boston public broadcaster WGBH that invented captioning for television, is public domain so that it anyone who captions TV programs can use it. Closed captioning is the American term for closed subtitles specifically intended for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. These are a transcription rather than a translation, and usually contain descriptions of important non-dialog audio as well ("Car horn"). From the expression "closed captions" the word "caption" has in recent years come to mean a subtitle intended for the hard of hearing, be it "open" or "closed". In British English "subtitles" usually refers to subtitles for the hard-of-hearing (HoH), as translation subtitles are so rare on British cinema and TV; however, the term "HoH subtitles" is sometimes used when there is a need to make a distinction between the two. SDH"SDH" is an American term introduced by the DVD industry. It is an acronym for "Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing", and refers to regular subtitles in the original language where important non-dialog audio has been added, as well as speaker identification, useful when the viewer cannot otherwise visually tell who is saying what. The only significant difference for the user between "SDH" subtitles and "closed captions" is their appearance, as traditional "closed captions" are non-proportional and rather crude, while SDH subtitles usually are displayed with the same proportional font used for the translation subtitles on the DVD, however, closed captions are often displayed on a black band, which may make them easier to read than regular DVD subtitles. Although, the black band has fallen out of favor, since it blocks a larger portion of the picture, and many users have no difficulty reading with the usually black outline DVD subtitles usually have. In addition, DVD subtitiles can specify many colors, on the same character: primary, outline, sharow, and background. This allows subtitlers to display subtitles on a usually translucent band for easier reading, however, this is rare, since most subtitles use an outline and shadow instead, in order to block a smaller portion of the picture. Closed captions may still supercede DVD subtitles, since many SDH subtitles present all of the text centered, while closed captions usually specify position on the screen: centered, left align, right align, top, etc. This is very helpful for speaker identification and overlapping conversation. Some SDH subtitles do have positioning, but it is not as common. DVDs for the US market now sometimes have three forms of English subtitles: SDH subtitles, English subtitles, helpful for viewers who are Hearing and whose first language may not be English (although they are usually an exact transcript and not edited into Simple English), and closed caption data that is decoded by the end-user’s closed caption decoder. High definition disc media (HD DVD, Blu-ray disc) uses SDH subtitles as the sole method because technical specifications do not require HD to support line 21 closed captions. Some blu-ray discs, however, are said to carry a closed caption stream that only displays through standard definition connections. Many HDTVs allow the end–user to customize the captions, inlcuding the ability to remove the black band. Live subtitlesSame languageLive captioning of news, sports events, and live debates is increasingly common, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a result of regulations that stipulate that virtually all TV eventually must be accessible for people who are deaf and hard–of–hearing. Specially trained court stenographers using stenotype or velotype keyboards usually produce live captions to display within 2-3 seconds of the representing audio, however, the most recent developments include operators using voice recognition software and revoiceing the dialog. Voice recognition technology has advanced so quickly in the United Kingdom that about 50% of all live captioning is through voice recognition as of 2005. In order to minimize the unavoidable delay, instead of popping on, live subtitles usually display scrolling. Live captioning unavoidably contains more errors than timed subtitling, since there is very little time to correct typing errors or mishearings of either the operator or the computer, however, considering viewers who are deaf and hard–of–hearing, the benefits are more important than precise subtitles. TranslationLive translation subtitling, usually involving simultaneous interpreter listening to the dialog quickly translating, while a stenographer types, is rare. The unavoidable delay, typing errors, lack of editing, and high costs regard very little need for translation subtitling. Allowing the interpreter to directly speak to the viewers is usually both cheaper and quicker, however, the translation is not accessible to people who are deaf and hard–of–hearing. Subtitles as a source of humorOccasionally, movies will use subtitles as a source of humor.
One unintentional source of humor in subtitles comes from illegal DVDs produced in non-English-speaking countries (esp. China). These DVDs often contain poorly-worded subtitle tracks, possibly produced by machine translation, with humorous results. One of the better-known examples is a copy of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith whose opening title was subtitled, "Star war: The backstroke of the west". [3] ControversyOne recent controversy about the necessity of subtitles involved the Mel Gibson movie The Passion of the Christ. All the dialog in this film was in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew instead of modern English. Gibson initially intended not to include subtitles in the belief that the audience already knew the story, but the distributors ordered him to include them by arguing that audiences would refuse to watch a film whose dialog was entirely untranslated. Another controversy arising out of bad subtitling was of Bollywood's "Lagaan".There was a reference to Hindu God Hanuman as Monkey in one of the foreign release print in English which resulted in wide protests & distributors had to change the same & issue an apology. New technology & ResearchEsist has been in the forefront for research in screen translation in media & addressing issues which arise at all levels. Media Movers, Inc.,a subtitling company,has developed a proprietary software for subtitle creation & burning with pre-defined algorithms. Subtitle formatsFor software video players
For mediaSee alsoReferences
"A semiolinguistic study of subtitling for an Automatically Processed Concise Writing (©APCW-ECAO) with an audiovisual application.” Paris-X Nanterre University ; National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS/ENS). France, 2005. Doctoral Thesis summa cum laude to be downloaded (pdf) at http://www.paulmemmi.com/?article=2&lang=en
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