Re: [Avid-L2] Subtitles for documentaries going to multiple languages

You are correct that subtitles/caption track handling is specific to applications. There are standards, or more precisely standard practices, but they are specific to distribution formats: broadcast, DCP, optical, streaming platforms, etc… I recently had to wrap my head around how this is handled in multi-language DCPs, and it is complicated. There is more than one way.

However, I don't think any format can play two tracks at once. All subs desired for a given playback must be in one track. The "Forced Only" track is specific to the original spoken language only. For any given translation, you would include any necessary "forced" subs, and these may not be same as for the original language. For instance, if the Forced subs for English are French, and you do a French track, choosing to include or not include the French subs in the translation would be an aesthetic choice. I recently watched an English translation where English subs appeared when the characters understood English, but did not appear when the characters on screen did not understand. Sounds odd, but it worked.

This is also how dual language subs work, such as having both French and Arabic simultaneously. It all goes in one track. You can't combine a French track and an Arabic track somehow. You need to create a distinct French/Arabic subtitle track.

Does that help?

Cheers,
tod

> On Oct 30, 2024, at 1:01 PM, Jef Huey <jlhueyc2@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have a question about strategies for subtitles.
>
> I am finishing a film that has predominately English dialogue. There are some sections where Hindi is spoken.
> The base video file has no burned in subititles. We have a Forced English subtitle file that translates the spoken Hindi into English.
>
> This film is currently being streamed by Artinii. I have reached out to them with this question. I do understand that various services handle this differently which is making this challenging.
>
> How should we manage various non English languages? For example, if we make a French subtitle file which translates all dialogue (English and Hindi) into French, how does the file currently marked as "Forced" get disabled so that we do not have both English and French text on the screen when a viewer wishes to see the French subtitles?
>
> Confused as this all seems to be viewing app controlled and there is not really a standard. Or is there?
>
> Thanks,
> Jef
>
>


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