Subtitling

Subtitling involves transcribing or translating spoken dialogue and synchronising it with corresponding moments in the video. The process begins with script creation and time-coding, followed by translation, linguistic review and quality control. The finished subtitle file is then integrated into the video player or platform.

High-quality subtitling balances linguistic accuracy with readability and timing. Subtitles typically appear for one to two lines at a time, remaining visible long enough for comfortable reading without covering important visual content. There are two main types of subtitles: intralingual subtitles (same language) and interlingual subtitles (translated). Advances in automation and AI have accelerated subtitling workflows. Neural machine translation (NMT) and Automatic speech recognition (ASR) now assist linguists by generating first-pass drafts that can be post-edited and synchronised more efficiently. When paired with human review, AI-enabled subtitling maintains linguistic accuracy while reducing turnaround times.

Subtitling is an integral part of RWS’s video and audio translation services, supporting multilingual communication across industries. RWS combines automated transcription and AI translation with human linguistic review to deliver accurate, culturally appropriate subtitles at scale.

Through Genuine Intelligence, RWS connects Language Weaver for neural machine translation and Trados for terminology and QA workflows, ensuring consistency across all languages and content types. RWS helps organizations deliver accessible, multilingual content faster – from eLearning modules and marketing campaigns to product demos and streaming media.