Subtitle translation & multilingual captioning

Captions and subtitles are often used interchangeably, but they’re designed for two different purposes and will have a significant impact on how your audience engages with your video. Our dedicated project managers partner with you to find the right option for your project.

Subtitles are a text alternative for the spoken dialogue of characters and narrators in a video. At Multilingual Connections, our subtitling service is most commonly used to translate spoken dialogue for audiences who speak a different language. In this case, the viewers can hear the sound and audio track as it was intended, and still understand the dialogue by reading the subtitles in their own language. Subtitle translation is an effective, affordable way to reach a global audience.

Captions, on the other hand, are typically in the same language as the audio. In addition to providing a text version of the dialogue, they include other relevant parts of the soundtrack, like background noises, music, and other audio cues that need to be described. Captioning is typically used for deaf or hard of hearing audiences or in situations where audio can’t be played. In these cases, viewers need more description and audio cues to understand the story.

For subtitling and captioning services, we offer both “closed” and “open” formats. We can provide a subtitle or caption file that the viewer can turn on and off in the video – this is known as “closed,” as in “closed captioning.” Or, we can hard-code your subtitle or caption file into the video, so it is permanently visible to your audience. This is also known as “open,” “embedded,” or “burnt-in.” Our experienced team is here to help you find the right solution for your video project.