Ten years ago this headline would have struck us as most peculiar. A subtitler? Who would want to be a subtitler when they grew up? Could it even be considered a serious profession and a full-time job?

New technologies have revolutionised the audiovisual industry, which is why this headline does not surprise us in the slightest any more, does it? You may be wondering what you need to study to become a subtitler. The answer is simple: translation and interpreting. Not everyone, however, has what it takes to be a good subtitler. Today we want to tell you about the qualities you need to be good at this profession, which has been in such demand in recent years.

Know the language better than you know yourself

You have probably heard the saying “love yourself and others will love you”. Something similar applies here. To get across the message of what you are telling, you need a perfect translation. That means having a very deep knowledge of the language, its details, its terminology and its linguistic, semantic and idiomatic side. Bear in mind that if the person watching the video does not understand the subtitle, they will get lost and miss the message.

Creativity

We talked to you recently about transcreation. Much the same applies here. When subtitling a video you must not forget the jokes, the humour, the wordplay. So you will have to bring a little creativity to it, and once you take all the factors into account, the subtitle will write itself.

Get straight to the point

The video may contain 50 words, but if you can bring them down to 10 without losing the meaning or the essence of the message, do it. You have to know how to compress the information without leaving anything out. The viewer will thank you for it.

Make it your own

This is what we always tell you. When you translate, you have to treat the original text (and this applies to every kind of translation) as if it were your own. That is undoubtedly the basic requirement for being a good subtitler. As in every profession, the more you train, read up, network, ask, collaborate, practise and experiment, the better a professional you will become.

Do you need subtitles for your videos? At AlosIdiomas we are proud to say that we have a great team of professionals working to make your translations perfect and faithful to the original content. Get in touch with us for more information, and follow us on social media to keep up with all our news. You will find us on facebook, instagram and Linkedin.