This document discusses the history and process of subtitling for DVDs. It notes that the first subtitled movie was in 1903 and the first movie with subtitles in a different language was in 1929. There are different types of subtitling including intralingual for hard of hearing/deaf and interlingual translation. Subtitling faces technical constraints of time and space on screen as well as linguistic constraints in translation. The DVD industry posed new challenges for high volume multi-language subtitling with tight deadlines.

1. Subtitling for
the DVD
Industry
by adila maryam 001

2. subtitling
▪ Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the
first movie to be subtitled in
the year 1903.
▪ The first showing of a
subtitled movie was in the
year 1929, The Jazz
Singer with French subtitles.
Subtitling is the process of
translating spoken dialogue
into written text on the screen.
It is a type of audiovisual
translation, with its own set of
rules and guidelines.
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3. Types of subtitling
➜ Intralingual subtitling:(for the hard of hearing
and the deaf)
➜ Interlingual subtitling:
• Dubbing
• Voice-over
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4. According to time:
▪Offline Subtitling
▪Online Subtitling
(speech-to-text
transcription)
Cont…
According to technical
parameters:
▪Opened subtitle:
▪Close subtitle:
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5. Subtitling constraints
Technical constraints
➜“time and space of presentation, imposed by the original work”
➜The constraints of the number of characters per subtitle line with a maximum of two lines per six
to seven seconds belong to this category.
➜The amount of time that two subtitle lines can be displayed on screen varies according to the
speed of speech and the way in which the visuals are edited but six to seven seconds is the average
duration.
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6. Textual constraints
▪“The presence of the visual and verbal elements of the
original, the spatial constraints implying the reduction of the
original, and, the change in medium”
▪ This category of constraints is connected to the technical
constraints because the time and space constraints may
require the translator to dramatically shorten the text.

7. Linguistic constraints
➜The space and time constraints inherent in the subtitling
process usually enhance traditional translation challenges, such
as grammar and word order, as well as problems related to
cross-cultural shifts.
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8. DVD subtitling
With the appearance of DVDs on the market, developments
in the subtitling industry during the last part of the
twentieth century have posed a challenge, creating the
demand for multilingual subtitling in a large number of
languages with very tight turnaround times.
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9. ➜Main problems
▪The cost of subtitle production
▪The management of subtitle files
The advantages of template files and the flexibility that they offer to
subtitling vendors cannot be overestimated; they form the basis of the DVD
subtitling industry.
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template

10. Subtitling advantages
▪ Not expensive,
▪ Does not take a very long time,
▪ Original soundtrack is preserved,
▪ May have a role language learning,
▪ Is better for the hard-of-hearing and the
deaf and for immigrants

11. Disadvantages
▪ ‘Contaminate’ the image
▪ Greater loss of information due to the
compression
▪ The attention of the audience is split
among image, soundtrack and subtitles