Difference between revisions of "How to break lines"
m (→Breaking apart linguistic units for line length) |
(Added info on not ending the subtitle with the beginning of the next sentence) |
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Generally, each line should be broken only after a linguistic "whole" or "unit," no matter if it's the only line in the subtitle, or the first or second line in a longer subtitle. This means that sometimes it's necessary to rephrase the subtitle in order to make it possible to break lines without breaking apart any linguistic units, e.g. splitting apart an adjective and the noun that it refers to. Rules for what kind of linguistic unit can be broken vary by language, but these general guidelines can inspire you to make better line-breaking choices in your subtitles. | Generally, each line should be broken only after a linguistic "whole" or "unit," no matter if it's the only line in the subtitle, or the first or second line in a longer subtitle. This means that sometimes it's necessary to rephrase the subtitle in order to make it possible to break lines without breaking apart any linguistic units, e.g. splitting apart an adjective and the noun that it refers to. Rules for what kind of linguistic unit can be broken vary by language, but these general guidelines can inspire you to make better line-breaking choices in your subtitles. | ||
− | ==When to break subtitles - proportional line length== | + | ==Don't end the subtitle with a bit of the next sentence== |
+ | If the subtitle contains the end of a sentence, try not to include the beginning of the next sentence, and instead, put that beginning into the following subtitle. Examples: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | *Two clauses from different sentences in one subtitle: | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''Incorrect:''' | ||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | which is how I solved this. | ||
+ | And what I also noticed | ||
+ | |||
+ | is that the blue light went on. | ||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''Correct:''' | ||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | which is how I solved this. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what I also noticed | ||
+ | is that the blue light went on. | ||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | *Small section of the next sentence in the second line: | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''Incorrect:''' | ||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | Somehow, this worked really well | ||
+ | in her garage. When you work | ||
+ | |||
+ | on something big, | ||
+ | you need to accept failure. | ||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''Correct:''' | ||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | Somehow, this worked really well | ||
+ | in her garage. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When you work on something big, | ||
+ | you need to accept failure. | ||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==When to break lines within subtitles - proportional line length== | ||
The possible maximum length of a subtitle depends on how long it can stay on the screen. If your maximum length is over 42 characters, you need to break the subtitle into two lines. Ideally, the lines in the two-line subtitle should be more or less balanced in length. So, you should break the line like this: | The possible maximum length of a subtitle depends on how long it can stay on the screen. If your maximum length is over 42 characters, you need to break the subtitle into two lines. Ideally, the lines in the two-line subtitle should be more or less balanced in length. So, you should break the line like this: | ||
Revision as of 18:06, 12 December 2013
Contents
What are line breaks?
One subtitle can be composed of one or two lines. In languages based on the Latin script, the subtitle must be broken into two lines if it's longer than 42 characters (because a longer line is more difficult to read than a subtitle composed of two lines, and some offline players may not display longer lines correctly). "Line-breaking" refers to choosing the place where the line is broken, and also, how to end the whole subtitle. To make a line break in Amara, hit Shift+Enter.
Generally, each line should be broken only after a linguistic "whole" or "unit," no matter if it's the only line in the subtitle, or the first or second line in a longer subtitle. This means that sometimes it's necessary to rephrase the subtitle in order to make it possible to break lines without breaking apart any linguistic units, e.g. splitting apart an adjective and the noun that it refers to. Rules for what kind of linguistic unit can be broken vary by language, but these general guidelines can inspire you to make better line-breaking choices in your subtitles.
Don't end the subtitle with a bit of the next sentence
If the subtitle contains the end of a sentence, try not to include the beginning of the next sentence, and instead, put that beginning into the following subtitle. Examples:
- Two clauses from different sentences in one subtitle:
Incorrect:
which is how I solved this. And what I also noticed is that the blue light went on.
Correct:
which is how I solved this. And what I also noticed is that the blue light went on.
- Small section of the next sentence in the second line:
Incorrect:
Somehow, this worked really well in her garage. When you work on something big, you need to accept failure.
Correct:
Somehow, this worked really well in her garage. When you work on something big, you need to accept failure.
When to break lines within subtitles - proportional line length
The possible maximum length of a subtitle depends on how long it can stay on the screen. If your maximum length is over 42 characters, you need to break the subtitle into two lines. Ideally, the lines in the two-line subtitle should be more or less balanced in length. So, you should break the line like this:
I adopted a dog, a cat, three mice, and a goldfish.
...and you should not break the line like this:
I adopted a dog, a cat, three mice, and a goldfish.
Breaking apart linguistic units for line length
It may be difficult to achieve balance in length when trying not to break apart linguistic units. For example, these lines are broken in a way that preserves similar length, but breaks the linguistic unit of the adjective "Romance" modifying the noun "languages":
I can speak over ten modern Romance languages and read Latin pretty well.
In such cases, it is better to go with something less balanced, but preserve the linguistic unit. However, you should try to make the lines balanced enough so that neither is shorter than 50% of the other - sometimes even at the cost of breaking language units (which is only the last resort). If a line is shorter than 50% of the other line, it can often distract the viewer more than reading a line where a linguistic unit is broken.
For example, the lines in this subtitle are not balanced for length (34/16 characters):
I learned more about Jane Elliott on Wikipedia.
An easy way of making the lines more similar in length would be to put the word "Elliott" in the second line:
I learned more about Jane Elliott on Wikipedia.
However, this would break apart the proper name "Jane Elliott," which should be avoided at all cost. Proper names are an example of a linguistic unit that should not be divided. In this case, we could consider breaking apart another linguistic unit:
I learned more about Jane Elliott on Wikipedia.
Here, we broke apart the verb and the complement. Some linguistic units "keep together" more than others, so if you need to go against non-breaking rules, it is better to break apart another unit and keep them unseparated. Proper names are one example of a unit that should be broken as rarely as possible (you can find more examples below).
Clean line breaks through compressing
Sometimes it may be necessary to rephrase the line in order to make it possible not to break apart linguistic units. For example, in subtitles translated into English, instead of going with this subtitle:
I learned more about Jane Elliott on Wikipedia.
...you may be able to rephrase your translation (depending on the context) to say:
I learned more about her on Wikipedia.
Then, I read the Wikipedia article.
I learned more about Jane Elliott.
I learned more about her.
This type of rephrasing can be referred to as "compressing" in subtitle translation. Depending on the context, it may be possible to omit some information, if previous subtitles or other sources (a slide, the viewer's general knowledge) are certain to fill the blanks anyway. This way, you can avoid breaking apart any linguistic units. You can learn more about compressing subtitles from this guide.
Clean line breaks through rephrasing
Of course, rephrasing is not only about making the subtitle so short that it can fit in one line (no longer than 42 characters). Sometimes, it's difficult or impossible to compress so much, but you can change the structure of the subtitle to make it easier to break cleanly. For example:
About Jane Elliott, I learned more on Wikipedia.
Now, this is not necessarily good English, but the target language that you are translating into may allow this sort of phrasing. If possible, try to rephrase the subtitle to make it break cleanly without the need to sever any linguistic units.
Examples of correct and incorrect line-breaking
These examples show incorrect and correct line breaking for various subtitle/line lengths. The possible maximum length of a subtitle depends on how long it can stay on the screen. Unlike in the examples below, line length would normally be different for each subtitle. These examples show line breaks not divided into subtitles of up to two lines (the way we organize lines into subtitles depends on the talk).
Spoken sentence:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Incorrect short line breaks:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Correct short line breaks:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Incorrect medium line breaks:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Correct medium line breaks:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Incorrect long line breaks:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Correct long line breaks:
This is a very long, verbose piece of prose that no one knows and no one shall remember.
Simple rules-of-thumb for line-breaking
It is impossible to provide a list of rules to use with all the languages in the world. Line-breaking rules depend largely on the target language's grammar (and morphology) - on what kind of units are "wholes" in a sentence. The list below contains some rules that can be used in English and several Western-European languages and can serve as an inspiration to searching for similar rules in your own language.
- The articles (a, an, the) are never followed by a line break.
- An adjective should stay together with what it is describing, but two or more adjectives can sometimes be separated with commas, and then it is possible (though not preferable) to break a line after one of the commas.
- Clauses should stay together (never break lines after relative pronouns like which, that, who, etc.).
- Prepositions are not followed by a line break if the break would separate them from the noun they refer to. A preposition in a concrete/physical meaning (e.g. "The book is in the drawer") always precedes a noun, and cannot be followed by a line break. However, in English, a preposition that is part of a phrasal verb (put up, figure out, take in) may sometimes not be followed by a noun ("I figured it out yesterday"), and so, it can be followed by a line break.
- Proper names should stay together if at all possible (think of them as a single word with many parts).
Synchronizing line breaks with the video
When transcribing a talk, part of your job is to choose where one subtitle ends and another begins. This type of "line-breaking" does not always follow the pauses in the talk, and instead must take into consideration things like cuts in the video (scene changes). The rules for line-breaking, and the ways of dealing with problematic things at the end of the line, also refer to the issue of what to put at the end of a subtitle (since the end of a subtitle is just another line break). If you want to learn more about how to synchronize the line breaks (the rules to where and how to end one subtitle and start another), go to this section of the guide to transcribing talks.