Scroll down your social media newsfeed and you will see captions on every video you come across. You might have noticed that auto-generated captions can be really annoying and hard to read, with one word flashing up at a time and inaccurate transcriptions, which puts off your audience. No one wants that!

Your audience on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok or YouTube may not be able to access or understand the dialogue. They might be commuting or English might not be their first language.

I provide frame-accurate and readable English captions according to the video type and the needs of your audience. For example, vertical videos are not as wide, so your subtitles should have fewer characters per line.

Did you know? Closed captions are captions that can be switched on or off. Open captions are hardcoded onto the video image.

I deliver the caption file in your desired format, so you can choose to simply upload your subtitle file to your platform or have the subtitles hardcoded onto the video image.

Delivery format: any subtitle file, such as .srt, .stl, .vtt, etc.

I also provide subtitle hardcoding where the subtitles are burned into the video image and cannot be turned off.

Just like monolingual captions, subtitle translations have time and space constraints that require creative translation strategies to ensure your subtitle text can be read comfortably in the allotted time. These rules include:

-Reading speed limits

-Character per line limits

-Minimum gaps between subtitles

-Timings around shot changes

-Maximum and minimum subtitle durations

Subtitles should also be presented in a way that's easy to read, with neat line breaks, segmentation and simple punctuation.

But you don't need to worry about all those rules. I always follow industry standards for US and UK English if you don't have your own preferences.

I can work with subtitle templates, which are French or German transcriptions in subtitle format, or I can subtitle directly from the French or German audio.

I work with professional subtitling software EZTitles for accurate shot change processing and QA checks to ensure your videos are just as enjoyable to watch with subtitles as they are without.

Delivery format: any subtitle file types, such as .srt, .stl, .vtt, .pac, etc.

I also provide subtitle hardcoding where the subtitles are burned into the video image and cannot be turned off.

A final check of your subtitle file is essential to ensure the subtitles are synchronised, well-formatted, accurate and free of surface errors like typos. A second pair of eyes will spot errors that may not be apparent to the linguist who worked on your project first.

I offer either in-depth proofreading or a quick final check of your monolingual or interlingual subtitles. I look out for both linguistic and technical errors, so you can publish your subtitled videos with confidence.

Adding translated voice-over to your video or dubbing the original French or German dialogue into English offers a more immersive experience for your audience.

For lip-synced voice-over or dubbing, creative solutions are needed to take into account the rhythm of speech, syllables, the available time and lip movements. Even non-timed voice-over translations must respect the spoken quality of speech. The translator must read the translated dialogue out loud and consider the voice artist's needs.

As a former project manager for voice-over projects, I understand the issues that can arise in the recording process from poorly translated voice-over scripts.

Together, we can work together to ensure everything is in place for a successful recording.

If you want to grow your brand in the UK or US, you need to speak to your customers in their native language.

I help brands effectively communicate with their target audience by translating their websites, printed documents, internal communications and social media posts into English.

I ensure your communication style, tone of voice and values are conveyed in English for a consistent brand image across all languages.

Subtitles for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences (SDH) have additional requirements to make the audio accessible, such as sound effects, speaker IDs and colour identification.

SDH must also adhere to country standards outlined by regulatory bodies like Ofcom, which ensures they are readable and suitable for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing audiences.

I can follow these standards or your own specifications to provide SDH in a range file formats.

Delivery format: any subtitle file, such as .srt, .stl, .vtt, etc.

Transcribing your video or audio content makes your video more accessible. As the first step in the subtitling workflow, a transcript can also help your subtitle translators ensure they've understood the speech correctly, preventing comprehension errors in your translated subtitles.

I can provide edited or verbatim transcriptions of English videos and audio files, following your formatting requirements, such as speaker IDs, tags or timecodes.

I can also revise your automated transcription or extract the on-screen text from your video into a bilingual Word table, so it's ready for localisation.

I work with professional transcription software Express Scribe and a foot pedal for quick turnarounds and improved accuracy.

Delivery format: Word, Excel, etc.

Subtitle template files are subtitle files containing the transcription of the audio and any translatable on-screen text. The subtitle file can then be used as a "pivot" to translate into many different languages.

An accurate and well-timed subtitle template speeds up your subtitling process, as your subtitle translators can focus on translating the dialogue and text, rather than the timings.

This is useful if your linguists are not trained in the technical side of subtitling, for example in very specialist areas like medical or technical videos.

Delivery formats: any subtitle file, such as .srt, .stl, .vtt

You have invested in translation but you don't want to publish it without a second opinion. You need an editor to check the accuracy, consistency and style. I can provide my suggestions using track changes and comments, so you can review them yourself.

I also provide a final proofreading service to check for surface errors like grammar, spelling and formatting before your translation is published. This is a vital step to ensure your content is absolutely perfect.

Machine translation may be more fluent than ever, but it doesn't replace human translators when it comes to accuracy, creativity, style and nuance.

Translators can use AI and machine translation to boost productivity but it can’t be used on all kinds of texts. It's best suited to internal, low-profile, repetitive content, rather than creative marketing or audiovisual texts.

Together we can discuss the best approach for your project based on the type of content and medium.