Subtitling       
                                                                          
Henrik Gottlieb defines subtitles as “transcriptions of film or TV dialogue presented simultaneously on the screen” (244). Subtitles (or captions, as they are also termed) can be of two types – they can be the translation of the text of the film/TV show or can be the written text of the oral one in the same language. The latter form of subtitles, ie English subtitles for English films/TV shows are quite common on TV channels in India. The reason for this perhaps could be that English is not the first language of Indians and many people might have difficulty in following the dialogue of the movie or the show. Channels like Star movies, HBO, Zee Studio and Star World in India have recently resorted to English subtitles for movies and other entertainment shows. However, channels like BBC in the UK also give viewers the choice to have English subtitles of programmes they are watching, from news bulletins to entertainment shows.

Translated subtitles are more common, however. In the case of film, they are translated from the final script of the film or as Gottlieb puts it, subtitlers work from “paper to paper” (245). This is then transferred to film by others. So subtitling is a two-stage process, of which translation is the first stage. However, he points out that the subtitler of TV shows and videotapes “usually work from videotape to disk, creating, editing, and time-cueing the subtitles on a PC-based workstation” (245). This means that the final product will not be on paper but on a disk that can be broadcast directly.

The subtitlers for Indian movies have an additional work which is that of translating songs into another language. This has to be done with extreme care as the effect can be unintentionally hilarious. Terms of endearment in Hindi or Urdu can be very awkward if translated literally, and what is sheer poetry can become ludicrous doggerel. It is also difficult to capture the poetic essence of the song without the accompanying melody. So if this is not done carefully, the translation / subtitles can backfire.