Subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing / Closed captions

Typical problems:

• Linguistic mistakes.
• It is impossible to follow – the subtitles are too long, and/or appear for too short a time on the screen.
• Technical errors: subtitles on screen after the corresponding dialogue has finished, unsubtitled fragments of dialogue, etc.
• Lack of information on aural effects.
• Lack of coherence in the particularities of this type of subtitling.
• Uniformity: the same complexity and reading speed for adult and children’s audiences.

QuickSilver’s solutions:

• Linguistic quality-checking.
• Use of professional subtitling software: zero technical errors.
• Subtitlers experienced in SDH.
• Adaptation of factors such as quantity of information and reading speed to the age of the audience at which the program is aimed.
• Ongoing training: attendance at specialized conferences and seminars, such as the 4th International Media for All Conference: “Audiovisual Translation: Taking Stock”. Imperial College (London) 28 June – 1 July 2011.