Subtitling

Punctuation Conventions
 The use of commas in subtitling does not
necessarily fully comply with grammar rules.

Commas must be used whenever there is a risk for

Commas (,)
misunderstanding what the original is saying.

and semi-
colons (;) Using commas at the end of a subtitle that continues
in the next one should be kept to a minimum, since
they may be confused with a full stop and lead the
viewers to believe that they have reached the
syntactical conclusion of the sentence.
 Subtitles should not be overburdened with too
many punctuation marks that may hinder their
reading.

The use of the semi-colon is very rare in

subtitling, and it should be avoided as it is easily

Commas (,) confused with the colon.

and semi-
colons (;) The actual physical disappearance of the written
text from the screen imposes a pause in the
reading pattern that many consider has the same
value as the use of a comma.
Full stops (.)
The full stop at the end of a subtitle is an
unequivocal indication that the sentence is
finished.

Its presence on the screen tells the viewers

that there is no continuation to the subtitle and
sends them back to the image.

The full stop follows the word without a

space, and the next line or subtitle starts in
upper case.
Colons
• A colon is normally used in subtitling with the same functions it has in
standard grammar. It signals a small pause and takes the reader’s
interest forward by announcing or introducing what is to come.

• A colon is used to introduce a list, an enumeration, or an explanation. A

small letter should follow the use of the colon in these cases:
COLONS

• A colon is never followed by a capital letter, except when the following

word is a proper noun or the first part in the quotation of somebody
else’s words, as in the following example.
Parentheses ( ) and brackets [ ]

• Round parentheses and square brackets serve to set apart relevant but
supplementary information that could be dropped without changing the
meaning of the sentence.

• They are effective only in very restricted contexts and this is one of the
main reasons why they are not very common at all in subtitling.
Exclamation marks (!) and question
marks (?)
• Both signs are written immediately after the word that precedes them,
without any blank space in between, and separated with a space from
the word that follows them.

• Double or multiple exclamation or question marks should be avoided in

all cases:
 Dashes and Hyphens
• Although strictly speaking they are different signs and dashes
are slightly longer than hyphens, we shall consider both the
same sign for subtitling purposes, stick to the smaller of the
two (-), and refer to them as dashes.

• Dashes have a much more specific function than in standard

written language and are used to indicate that the text
appearing in one subtitle belongs to two different people.

Dialogue subtitles always consist of two

lines. The first line is reserved for the
speaker we hear first in our spotting, and the
second line for the second speaker.

A way of indicating that this is a dialogue

turn is to present each line preceded by a
dash, with a space left between the dash and
the first letter, although some companies
prefer not to leave a space after the dash:
Triple dots…

• To indicate prosodic features like pauses and hesitations in the way

speakers deliver their utterances
Triple dots…

• To account for an ellipsis at the beginning of a subtitle, when the start

of the original sentence is inaudible or missing in the soundtrack:
Triple dots…
• To convey that a sentence or idea has been left unfinished in the
original too.

• When a list of items is deliberately not completed:

• The asterisk is mainly used in a written text to signify that a
letter or letters have been intentionally omitted from what
can be considered by many as an objectionable word.

Asteriks
Capital letters

• Capital letters should be used in subtitling in exactly the same way as

they are used in standard writing, i.e. at the beginning of proper names,
and to start a new sentence after a full stop, a question mark or an
exclamation mark.

• Subtitles should never dominate the screen and, therefore, the use of
capitalized subtitles should be avoided. Not only do capital letters
occupy more space that small letters, they are also more difficult to
read.
 The title of the film or programme.

Road signs, graffiti, newspaper headlines, banners,

writing on clothes, messages on computer monitors,
and inserts that are relatively short and written in upper
case themselves.
When it is felt that the situation needs extra emphasis,
such as a big banner in a political march or street
Capital demonstration.

Letters On some occasions, capital and small letters share the

subtitle to reflect the different font sizes visible on
screen