Complete subtitling solutions at affordable rates

Subtitling is one of the most common modes of audio visual translation. The second mode of audio visual translation is dubbing. Subtitling has major advantages over dubbing, as O‘Connell puts out in his book that subtitling translation is an inexpensive, quick, foreign culture friendly and generally fairly politically correct mode of screen translation.

Luyken defined Subtitling as the “condensed written translations of original dialogue which appear as lines of text, usually positioned towards the foot of the screen. Subtitles appear and disappear to coincide in time with the corresponding portion of the original dialogue and are almost always added to the screen image at a later date as a post-production activity.” Shuttleworth & Cowie defined subtitling as “a term used to refer to one of the two main methods of language transfer used in translating types of mass audio visual communication such as film and television”.

Universal Language Solutions is a prominent subtitling company that provide professional translation services. We provide subtitling services for a variety of audio visual platforms such as cinema, television, video, DVD, Laser Disc, CD Rom, computer games, Internet and live performances, etc. Besides subtitling we also translate documents and are regarded as one of the best translation agencies London.

The field of subtitling was often ignored by scholars of translation. Eminent scholars of translation like Fawcett, mentioned in his book about subtitling that “in view of the synchronization requirement some have even questioned whether it should be considered a type of translation at all”. However due to the immense gitemth of audio visual and screen translation, the field of subtitling is gaining importance like never before.

Classification of subtitling services

As a leading translation company UK, we provide extensive training for all our subtitling experts. Our extensive training sessions helps our translators provide the best translation services UK. To augment the study of subtitling, subtitling services have been divided into various classifications, which aim at categorizing them on the basis of distinctive characteristics of the various types of subtitling and there different target audiences. Two main approaches for classifying subtitling services are traditional classification and new types of subtitles.

Under the traditional approach to subtitling, subtitling was divided into various classes depending on just two main parameters which were linguistic and technical. Based on the linguistic parameter, subtitling was divided into Interlingual subtitling and Intralingual subtitling. Later two more classifications on the basis of linguistic parameter were added, Instrumental subtitling and Documentary subtitling. The other classifications of subtitling based on technical parameter were Open subtitling and Closed subtitling. Later classification of subtitling services added few more classes of subtitling which were the Interlingual subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) and Amateur subtitling.

Another popular classification of subtitling services was made by Jan Ivarsson, who classified subtitling on the basis of various parameters which are linguistic and technical parameters, other parameters like areas of application, audience, writing skills and time. On the basis of these parameters he distinguished six types of subtitling which are subtitling for cinema and television, multilingual subtitling, teletext subtitling, reduced subtitling, subtitling live or in real time, the translation of opera, theatrical works, conferences, etc.

Another prominent classification of subtitling services was made by Eduard Bartoll. He distinguished subtitling services on the basis of nine main parameters which are placing, the filing of subtitles, localization, mobility, optionality, time, audiovisual product to be subtitled, channel/means of broadcast and color. On the basis of these parameters he classified subtitling based on the parameter of placing into centered and non-centered subtitles, based on the parameter of the filing of subtitles into inseparable and separable part, like electronic subtitles, on the basis of the parameter of localization into subtitles, intertitles and surtitles, on the basis of the parameter of mobility into mobile and fixed subtitles, on the basis of the parameter of optionality into optional or closed subtitles and non-optional or open subtitles, on the basis of the parameter of time into pre-recorded and simultaneous subtitles, on the basis of the parameter of audiovisual product to be subtitled into subtitling for cinema, television, video, DVD, Laser Disc, CD Rom, computer games, Internet (Streaming Video), and live performances, on the basis of the parameter of channel or means of broadcasting he classified subtitling through an impression upon the audiovisual product itself, by teletext, on a display, e.g. electronic, projected on top of the product or on a nearby screen or by simultaneous broadcasting, and on the basis of the parameter of color he classified subtitling depending on the interlocutors; the color of the film, whether in black and white or color; and the products to be subtitled.

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