Subtitling services must always be written and formatted correctly and carefully because the wrong subtitles can result in overlapping, misrepresentation, misunderstanding, or even failure to function.
You might have observed some mistakes, such as misspelt words or local words. However, the errors become unacceptable in other incidences, and the video becomes challenging to watch.
Below are the common signs your subtitling services are wrong.
#1. Your Subtitle Lines Are Too Long
The first sign that it is easy to recognize the wrong subtitles is the problem of the length of the subtitles. Too long on-screen caption lines may result in not all text being displayed.
Furthermore, the subtitles need to be in proportion to the moving flow of the video because If the subtitles are too long and appear on the screen through too many scenes will make the video not smooth and cause boredom for viewers. Subtitling services can manage that by having a specified and strict subtitles standard.
#2. Overuse of Translation Tools
We can get the subtitles quickly and easily using translation tools such as Google Translation. However, the translations now totally depend on the language pair because there is no way the tool can correct the grammar or understand the context correctly.
If they are not reviewed and edited by a professional translator, the meaning and quality of the subtitles can be seriously affected. Therefore, although there are many advantages in terms of speed and cost, translation tools still cannot be a substitute for professional translators.
#3. Foreign Cultural Factors Are Not Considered
The translation of subtitles translates from one language to another in terms of meaning and requires a change in style and culture from one country to another. Due to cultural differences, subtitles should not be translated literally but should be converted appropriately.
Otherwise, the subtitles will not be close to the audience and may even confuse them. This is the main reason you need help from professional subtitling services.
#4. Convey Inappropriate Speech And Include Interjections
Through subtitles, videos convey the speech and personality of speakers in different languages, so subtitles that do not use the right style will change the nature of the speaker’s speech. This will lead to a contradiction between what you hear, see, and read.
For example, if you’re listening to an 80-year-old man speak, the subtitles shouldn’t show the speaker as a 10-year-old boy – unless that’s faithfully reflected in the audiovisual production.
In addition, since the number of characters that can be used is limited, you should avoid adding interjections when it is not strictly necessary for understanding. Furthermore, the audio and visuals are a great help.
Most of the exclamations can be expressed from the audiovisual results so that you won’t miss any hint of comprehension. Therefore, you are not required to translate them.
#5. There Are Line Break Issues in Subtitling Services
The truth is that subtitles should be easy to read and should not affect the viewer’s enjoyment of the video. As subtitles compete for screen space and viewers’ attention, good subtitle line breaks are crucial to optimize readability and enhance viewers’ enjoyment of the video.
When reading subtitles, the audience does not wait until the end of a sentence to explain but tries to understand the subtitles while reading by grouping words into phrases.
Therefore, we need to analyze the subtitle translation and combine it with audio-visual materials so that the line breaks are both suitable for the transition of the video’s scenes and help viewers easily read and understand the content.
In conclusion, it can be seen that subtitles are essential to the quality of a video. Wrong subtitles can lead to confusion and discomfort for viewers, and it shows the unprofessionalism of the video provider. Your rating and image would drop, and obviously, you have to face a significant loss.
Finding a professional subtitling service will help you to avoid that.
The subtitling services not only has a professional subtitle team, a system of rules and formats to avoid technical errors, but also has a team of professional translators to get good translations in terms of meaning, style, the personality of the character, and following the culture of each country, which no other translation tool can replace.
Moreover, to better accommodate your global audience, make sure there are different types and languages for the translations available for your videos.
Conclusions
If you are looking for a professional and experienced subtitling services agency, GTE Media is an excellent choice for you. GTE Media is an offshoot of the rapidly growing localization and translation agency – GTE Localize, which focuses on providing localization services to the Asian market.
Inheriting the experience and market knowledge, customer insights, and operating standards from GTE Localize, GTE Media will offer customers a wide range of high-quality media localization solutions such as subtitling service, dubbing service, etc. at a competitive rate and excellent service experience.
For translation and localization needs, you may check out here.
Contact us for a free quote now!
Tags: Subtitling, Subtitling Services
