Whether it’s the latest Netflix series in the Spanish original with German subtitles or an American YouTube tutorial with English closed captions (so that you can understand even the broadest Southern dialect) – subtitles and closed captions have become an inherent part of daily life.

But what types of subtitles are there, and what are they for? How are they different from voice-overs, dubbing, and transcription? What are open and closed captions, and what exactly are subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing people (SDH)? You will find all the answers in this article.

Different subtitle types vs. dubbing & transcription

*SDH are also avidly used by many hearing persons:

• for support if their knowledge of the original language is not sufficient
• to aid language acquisition
• if it is necessary to watch videos without sound, for example, due to background noise

Closed captions (CC) vs. open captions: What does “open” and “closed” mean with regard to video subtitles?

The difference between open and closed captions is quite simple: open captions are an integral part of the picture; they are, so to speak, burned into the image and cannot be removed by the viewer. In contrast, closed captions are optional subtitles, which means that users have the option of switching them on and off.

When are closed captions used, and when are open captions used?

The type of captions selected depends chiefly on the medium. Streaming platforms usually allow you to choose whether and which subtitles are displayed, whereas in the cinema or in videos on social media, burned-in captions (open captions) are more common.

What are the advantages of open captions or closed captions?

Open captions are advantageous in that the viewer can take in the whole scene in one go – regardless of whether they can understand the original language or not, or whether the video is played with or without sound. This is particularly relevant for silent autoplay mode in social media feeds, for content in languages that are not widely used by the intended target audience, and for poorly understandable passages, perhaps due to accents or loud background noise.

Closed captions offer the added value of being entirely optional – viewers can choose whether and which subtitles they want to use. Moreover, closed captions are located in a separate file in text form “over” the video (e.g. as SRT subtitles). Thus, they can be read both by special readers for visually impaired people and by search engines (keyword: Subtitles and SEO).

Subtitles vs. subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing people: what’s the difference?

A further distinction can be made between “subtitles” and “subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing people”.

Interlingual subtitles

“Subtitle” is actually the umbrella term but is usually used when referring to so-called interlinguistic subtitles – i.e. converting the spoken text of a video into written subtitles in a language other than the original language (= translated subtitles).

Example: An English-language series with German subtitles might be tagged: German subtitles, E/d

Primary target audience: Hearing viewers who want to hear the original language (thus improving their language skills) but need translated subtitles for improved comprehension.

Not to be confused with: Voice-over or dubbing, where the original text is translated into a different language, which is then respoken as a voice-over or dub. The original sound is hardly or not at all audible underneath.

Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing people

Subtitles for the hearing impaired are usually intralingual, meaning written in the same language as the original audio. The principal aim is to ensure accessibility: that is, that people who cannot hear or can only hear to a limited extent get the same access to the content of the video as hearing persons do. For this reason, subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing persons also contain information about sounds and music in addition to the spoken dialogue, as well as linguistic features such as accents or unusual pronunciation, or speaker identification (for example, if the person speaking at a particular moment is not visible).

Example: A German-language film with German subtitles including information on music, sounds, speaker characteristics, etc.; might be tagged as: German (CC), German (SDH)

Not to be confused with: Transcription, which is a one-to-one transcription of a spoken text without it being abridged or adapted, including additional information but usually without “spotting”, i.e. synchronising the timing of the text to match the appropriate moment in the video. (An exception here are so-called interactive transcripts.)

Man vs. machine: auto-generated subtitles vs. subtitles crafted by language experts

Whether on Skype or Zoom, YouTube or Vimeo: More and more often, subtitles are being generated automatically. Most of us have surely reaped the benefits of such subtitles before – and perhaps even had a little chortle at them from time to time.

Machine-generated subtitles: the backstory

In contrast to subtitles crafted by language experts, in this case a speech recognition software automatically “recognises” the spoken text and transcribes it in writing – that is, writes it out. This text is then displayed continuously at the bottom of the video, whereby the text is not cogently abridged in any way, punctuation marks are usually missing, and no attention is paid to a reader-friendly representation of the text. In concrete terms, this means that everything the machine “hears” is simply written down – including all of the speaker’s slip-ups, filler words, and rambling asides. Automatically generated subtitles often contain errors because the source text was not correctly recognised and transcribed. For us as cognizant readers, the text sometimes becomes completely incomprehensible, but occasionally recognition errors can also be amusing.

The human added value in subtitling

Auto-generated subtitles are convenient, inexpensive, and in many cases better than having no subtitling at all. However, if you want the content of a video to be truly understood, think about having your subtitles crafted or at least edited by professional subtitlers. Language experts bring the pivotal added value that machines cannot (yet) provide: they can recognise everything that is said without making mistakes, teasing out all the linguistic nuances, sociolects, humour, and irony. They can also analyse dialogue immediately, honing in on the main message. In this way, they are not only able to formulate the subtitles perfectly from a linguistic point of view, but they can also abridge and structure them in a coherent manner. And this is exactly what ultimately makes subtitles comprehensible and easy to read, thus ensuring that your message really hits home.

Which subtitle types are the most appropriate for your video?

Now you are acquainted with the different types of subtitles and know which ones are best suited to which medium, and for which purpose. So, to decide what kind of subtitles to choose for your next video project, ask yourself the following questions:

• Where will the subtitles be used (website, cinema, TV, film festival, streaming service, YouTube, social media, etc.)?
• Should the subtitles be an integral part of the image, or would it be useful to be able to switch them on and off?
• Who is the primary target audience: hearing or deaf/hard of hearing persons?
• Should the subtitles be written in the same language as the original or (also) translated?
• Is it just a matter of getting the gist of what has been said or is it vital that the subtitles are 100% correct and that they reproduce the content clearly and comprehensibly?

Your best move? Consult a language expert to determine the optimum solution for your project and to ensure that your message resonates with the intended target audience.