English Subtitling Service

10 interesting factoids about subtitles

Film and video speech can be translated into another language or kept in the original tongue using subtitles. You can see a movie in its native language if the dialogue has been translated and palced on-screen as subtitles. The deaf or hard of hearing can also view video content with the aid of a subtitles. And subtitles can be used where noise is a problem and video must be played with the sound off

Subtitles aren’t new
When movies were silent, subtitles were first used in the 1900s. Between each segment, little slips of paper containing details about the scene were inserted into the film.

Superior to dubbing
Despite the advent of talkies and the use of dubbing, subtitles were still used. Film makers found re-voice too expensive because they had to use another set of actors to produce foreign language versions of the film.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Intertitles were the original name for subtitles, which were introduced in 1903 with Edwin S. Porter’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The art of subtitling
It is an art form to subtitle. This is necessary so that the subtitle translor can convey the same feelings as those seen on screen.

Creating subtitles isn’t easy
The words you use should depend on how quickly you think the average reader will read. An average sentence of 12 words can be read in four seconds by someone who can read three words per second.

Swearing
Because the translation is frequently inaccurate or ineffective, it is particularly challenging to subtitle swear words. Most translations need the use of a related word, however this word may not have the same depth of meaning.

The hard of hearing and deaf benefit from subtitles
Those who are hard of hearing or deaf can watch movies with subtitles. It means you can reach a wider audience by including subtitles in a movie or video.

Closed Captions
To make videos more accessible, closed captions were included. Closed captions are captions that run throughout the entire video in perfect time with the spoken conversation. The captions are positioned so that they do not obstruct the video.

Subtitles help to boost SEO
Videos must be optimised for search if you want people to find them when they use a search engine like Google. Including captions can help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), among other things. Your video material will be more likely to be viewed if it appears on the first page of a Google search thanks to SEO.

English is a West Germanic language and it is spoken in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia Ireland and New Zealand. It can also be found in the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia. After Mandarin and Spanish it is the most spoken language in the world and it is also taught as a second language. It was due to the formation of new colonies abroad that the English language spread to places like North America and Australia.

English was introduced to Britain by the Anglo Saxons, who came to England in the 5th century. At that time the language was called Old English. Although Old English would be extremely difficult to understand today, there are many words in our present day vocabulary that come from this language.

In the 11th century after the Norman’s invaded England it was called Middle English and Chaucer was popular at this time. At Court French was spoken and many French words are now included in the English vocabulary.

In the 15th century the language became known as Early Modern English. At this time the printing press was introduced and the St. James bible was printed. Shakespeare was busy writing too at this time.

Late Modern English came into being in the 1800’s and contained a wider vocabulary and is recognisable today.