A Comprehensive Guide to Transcription, Translation and Subtitling Work

At Capital Captions, we pride ourselves on providing services that are affordable, reliable and tailored to our clients’ needs. Our flexible attitude towards our client’s audio and video to text requirements means that we have a huge variety of projects and assignments available to our freelance workers. This blog serves as a comprehensive guide to transcription, translation and subtitling work, to help professionals working in the industry to know what to expect.

Types of Typing and Transcription Work

Our transcription services are offered in a few different styles. They can include audio transcription, video transcription, time coded transcription, logging of rushes, English transcription and foreign transcription. In terms of the way we allocate projects, transcriptionists can expect work involving:

• English transcription and foreign transcription (including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and many other languages)
• Transcribing video ready for subtitles to be timed and/or formatted
• Transcribing dictations using company house styles and templates provided
• Using transcription software to transcribe audio and video recordings in an intelligent verbatim, easy to read format
• Transcribing audio recordings verbatim (including ums and ers) in order to serve as evidence or official documentation.
• Transcribing video and audio with a time code inserted between every 30 seconds and one minute. Formatting should be (hh:mm:ss).
• Transcribing videos with additional visual descriptions
• Copy typing and data entry

Types of Translation Work

Much of Capital Captions translation services centre around video translation and foreign subtitling. For this reason, document translation projects can be minimal. Capital Captions translators usually take on work including:

• Translating audio or video directly from one language to another (also known as bilingual transcription). i.e. Transcribing a French video directly into English.
• Translating subtitle text using basic .XML templates
• Translation of rushes, to be used to assist video editing

Types of Subtitling Work

Subtitles and closed captions cover the bulk of what we do. We work with an enormous variety of different subtitle formats, and in addition, also provide subtitle burning and video editing services. Professional subtitlers can expect the following types of caption projects:

• Transcribing video for closed captioning for deaf and hard of hearing viewers; working to templates covering specific writing styles, speaker identifications and sound effects or visual descriptions
• Importing transcriptions and splitting subtitle and closed caption lines according to strict guidelines
• Syncing audio and caption timings accurately, whilst also monitoring reading speeds and the overall flow of the video
• Creating .XML templates for subtitle translation (including subtitle numbers, in and out times, caption text and character counts)
• Transposing text for foreign subtitles using translation text as provided, using the correct encoding and formats, and amending timings and line splits as necessary
• Exporting and converting between subtitle and closed caption formats including .SRT, .XML, .TTML, .DFXP, .EBU-TT, EBU-STL, .SSA, .SCC, .CAP, .VTT and more…
• Formatting caption display including caption colours, placement, roll-up/pop-on animation, fonts, sizes and resolutions
• Subtitle burning and closed caption encoding

We hire fully qualified, highly experienced transcriptionists, translators and subtitlers to take on our work. While we provide an enormous range of audio to text services for our clients, we very carefully allocate staff in a way in which they can be comfortable working to their own strengths and specialisms. 

To get more information about our subtitling services or if you require a quote for Transcription, Translation and Subtitling Work, feel free to contact us today and speak to one of our specialist advisors or use our contact form to get in touch.