Croatian Timed Text Style Guide

Croatian Timed Text Style Guide

This document covers the language specific requirements for Croatian. Please make sure to also review the General Requirements section and related guidelines for comprehensive instructions surrounding timed text deliveries to Netflix.

1. Abbreviations

Gospodin: g. (with period)
Gospođa: gđa (without period; note that it has to be declined, npr. gđe, gđi, gđom)
Gospođica: gđica (without period; note that it has to be declined, npr. gđice, gđici, gđicom)
Doktor: dr. (with period)
Broj: br. (with period)
Na primjer: npr. (with period)
I tako dalje: itd. (with period)
Sat: h (without period)

2. Acronyms

Acronyms should be written without periods between letters: BBC, CIA, SAD, VB

3. Character Limitation

42 characters per line

4. Character Names

Do not translate proper names (e.g. Peter, Suzanne), unless Netflix provides approved translations.
Nicknames should only be translated if they convey a specific meaning.
Use language-specific translations for historical/mythical characters (e.g. Santa Claus).
Transliterate uncommon or unfamiliar letters/characters which appear in names or proper nouns when working from a Roman alphabet language into Croatian they may cause confusion or be hard to understand or pronounce. Note that diacritics should be kept in proper nouns and names. For example: If the Icelandic name Þór appears, please transliterate as Thór (following relevant KNP and guidance about handling character names). If a German street name such as Torstraße appears in the source, please transliterate as Torstrasse (following relevant KNP and guidance about handling character names).

5. Continuity

When including ellipses in subtitles, please use the single smart character (U+2026) as opposed to three dots/periods in a row.
Do not use an ellipsis when a sentence is split between two continuous subtitles:

Subtitle 1 Uopće ne razumijem
Subtitle 2 tvoju odluku!

Use an ellipsis to indicate a pause (2 seconds or more) or an abrupt interruption:

Subtitle 1 Ne znam…
Subtitle 2 Uspjet ćeš!

In the case of a pause (2 seconds or more), if the sentence continues in the next subtitle, do not use an ellipsis at the beginning of the second subtitle.

Subtitle 1 Ne znam…
Subtitle 2 što da radim.

Use an ellipsis without a space to indicate that a subtitle is starting mid-sentence:

…prethodnog dana.

6. Documentary/Unscripted

Speaker’s title: only translate the title. Do not include the speaker’s name, company name or character name as these are redundant.
Only translate a speaker’s title once, the first time the speaker appears.
When ongoing dialogue is interrupted by a speaker’s title, use ellipsis at the end of the sentence in the subtitle that precedes it and at the beginning of the sentence in the subtitle that follows it.

Subtitle 1 Na ovom smo filmu…
Subtitle 2 (FN) PRODUCENT
Subtitle 3 …radili šest mjeseci.

Dialogue in TV/movie clips should only be subtitled if plot-pertinent and if the rights have been granted.
News tickers/banners from archive clips do not require subtitles unless plot-pertinent.
Avoid going back and forth between italicized and non-italicized subtitles when the speaker is on and off screen. If the speaker is on-camera for at least part of the scene, do not italicize. Leave italics for off-screen narrators.

7. Dual Speakers

Use a hyphen without a space to indicate two speakers in one subtitle, with a maximum of one character speaking per line.
Text in each line in a dual speaker subtitle must be a contained sentence and should not carry into the preceding or subsequent subtitle. Creating shorter sentences and timing appropriately helps to accommodate this.

-I što?
-Pričekaj. Daj mi trenutak.

8. Font Information

Font style: Arial as a generic placeholder for proportional SansSerif.
Font size: Relative to video resolution and ability to fit 42 characters across the screen.
Font color: White.

9. On-screen Text

Forced narrative titles for on-screen text should only be included if plot-pertinent.
When on-screen text and dialogue overlap, precedence should be given to the most plot-pertinent message. Avoid over truncating or severely reducing reading speed in order to include both dialogue and on-screen text.
The duration of the FN subtitle should as much as possible mimic the duration of the on-screen text, except for cases where reading speed and/or surrounding dialogue takes precedence.
Forced narratives that are redundant (e.g. identical to onscreen text or covered in the dialogue) must be deleted.
Forced narratives for on-screen text should be in ALL CAPS, except for long passages of on-screen text (e.g. prologue or epilogue), which should use sentence case to improve readability.
Never combine a forced narrative with dialogue in the same subtitle.
When a forced narrative interrupts dialogue, use an ellipsis at the end of the sentence in the subtitle that precedes it and at the beginning of the sentence that follows it:

Subtitle 1 Ne znam…
Subtitle 2 (FN) ZABRANJEN ULAZ
Subtitle 3 …što ti misliš.

10. Foreign Dialogue

Foreign dialogue should only be translated if the viewer was meant to understand it (i.e. if it was subtitled in the original version).
When using foreign words, always verify spelling, accents and punctuation, if applicable.
Foreign words which use the spelling from the original language must be italicized (e.g. whiskey, pizza, brand, cool), unless they are proper names/nouns (e.g. a company name).
If foreign words have become loanwords adapted to Croatian spelling norms, do not italicize.(e.g. viski, brend, kul).
If the adapted Croatian form is identical to the original spelling of the foreign word, do not italicize (e.g. printer, reiki, laptop).

11. Italics

Italicize the following:

Album, book, film and program titles (use quotes for song titles)
Foreign words used in the original spelling (if that spelling differs from the adapted Croatian form)
Dialogue that is heard through electronic media (e.g. phone, device, television, computer, loudspeaker, AI, AI assistants, voice of a GPS, other digital devices, non-sentient robots, robotic voices, etc.) if the speaker is not physically present in the scene. For instance, if a character speaks into a microphone and their voice is heard through a loudspeaker but they are physically present, italics are not needed. Use good judgement when applying italics, ensuring there is consistency throughout the film or series
Only use italics when a speaker is not in the scene(s), not merely off screen or off camera
Song lyrics (if rights have been granted)
Voice-overs

Do not use italics to indicate emphasis on specific words.

12. Line Treatment

Maximum two lines.
Text should usually be kept to one line, unless it exceeds the character limitation.
Prefer a bottom-heavy pyramid shape for subtitles when multiple line break options present themselves, but avoid having just one or two words on the top line.

13. Numbers

Numbers from 1 to 10 should be written out: jedan, dva, tri, etc.
Numbers above ten should be written numerically: 11, 12, 13, etc.
When a number begins a sentence, it should always be spelled out.
Note that the above rules may be broken due to space limitations or reading speed concerns, as well as for consistency when listing multiple quantities, for example.
Measurements should be converted to the metric system, unless the original unit of measurement is plot relevant.
Time should be noted in the 24-hour format, using spacing as follows:
Sada je 14 h.
Sada je 14.15.
Dates are written as follows, with a full stop after the year:
February 20th 2004 = 20.2.2004.
Olympics 2004 = Olimpijada 2004.
A comma is used as the decimal separator: 23,99.
For numbers up to 9999 no comma or period should be used: 4000, 9000.
Numbers with five or more digits should be written with a space (not with a comma) before the last three digits.
Use a space before %, e.g. 2 %

14. Punctuation

Do not add spaces between characters and punctuation marks.

15. Quotes

Use quotation marks at the start of the quotation and after the last line of the quotation, marking the beginning and end of the quotation (rather than the beginning and end of every subtitle within the quotation), e.g.
- Subtitle 1: “Is this a dagger I see before me?
- Subtitle 2: The handle towards my hand.
- Subtitle 3: Come, let me clutch thee.”
Use double quotation marks („ ”) without spaces for regular quotations.
Use single quotation marks (‘ ’) for quotes within quotes: „Charlie je rekao: ‘Sve je u redu.’”
Punctuation should be included within the quotation marks if the quote is an independent clause and outside if it’s not.
Please use quotation marks when a character is seen to be reading aloud.
If an on-screen character does “air quotes” when speaking, please apply quotation marks to the equivalent word in the target language in order to retain creative intent and to help ensure clarity about which word or part of the sentence the air quotes apply to.

16. Reading Speed Limits

Adult programs: Up to 17 characters per second
Children’s programs: Up to 13 characters per second

17. Repetitions

Do not translate words or phrases repeated more than once by the same speaker.
If the repeated word or phrase is said twice in a row, time subtitle to the audio but translate only once.

18. Songs

Only subtitle plot-pertinent songs if the rights have been granted.
Opening and ending theme songs should only be subtitled if clearly plot-pertinent (e.g. for children’s content when the lyrics tell a story) or if instructed by Netflix. Normally, adult programs should not have the opening songs subtitled, except for SDH.
Italicize lyrics.
Use an uppercase letter at the beginning of each line.
Use ellipsis when a song continues in the background, but is no longer subtitled to give precedence to dialogue.
Punctuation: only question marks and exclamation marks should be used at the end of a line - no commas or periods. Commas can be used within the lyric line, if necessary.
Album titles should be in italics.
Song titles should be in quotes.
Apply these rules for poetry also.

19. Titles

Main titles: Subtitle the on-screen main title for branded content when the approved title for Croatian is available in KNP/Terminology and it does not match the title which appears in the card. Do not translate the main title from scratch: always use the approved title provided.
Do not subtitle when the on-screen main title and the approved title for Croatian are identical and fully match. (e.g. the on-screen title is already in Croatian, both read with the exact same words and spellings, etc.)
Subtitle when the approved title for Croatian contains a part that is transliterated/translated/transcreated/edited and does not fully match the on-screen main title. (e.g. when the on-screen title is Iron Chef: Quest but the approved title for Croatian is Iron Chef: Potraga za legendom)
When the provided translation of the main title does not work with a line break in a way that fits within the limit, the maximum character count per line or maximum line limit can be exceeded. Do not split the provided translation into multiple subtitle events.
Do not italicize the main title event.
Episode titles: do not subtitle episode titles if they do not appear on screen/are not voiced-over. If on-screen (either as part of the principal photography or burned into video) or voiced-over, please reference the KNP tool for approved translations.
Titles of published works, existing movies and TV shows: use official or well-known translations. If none are available, leave titles in the original language.

20. Special Instructions

Dialogue must never be censored. Expletives should be rendered as faithfully as possible.
Plot-pertinent dialogue always takes precedence over background dialogue.
Always match the tone of the original content, while remaining relevant to the target audience (e.g. replicate tone, register, class, formality, etc. in the target language in an equivalent way)
Deliberate misspellings and mispronunciations should not be reproduced in the translation unless plot-pertinent.
Do not translate onomatopoeia (sound words) that a Croatian audience would understand (e.g. wow, ouch…) when used in isolation.
Do not use currency symbols. Write them out (dolar, funta, euro…).
When brand names or trademarks appear, you may either; use the same name if it is known in the territory you are translating for; adapt to the name that the brand or product is known by that the territory you are translating for; or use a generic name for that product or item. Avoid swapping out names of brands, companies or famous people for other names

21. Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH) Guidelines

Include as much of the original content as possible.
Do not simplify or water down the original dialogue.
Where content has been dubbed into Croatian, please refer to the dubbing script or dubbed audio as the basis for the SDH file and ensure that the two match as much as reading speed and timings allow.
Reading speed limits can be increased to:

Adult programs: Up to 20 characters per second
Children’s programs: Up to 17 characters per second

Truncating the original dialogue should be limited to instances where reading speed and synchronicity to the audio are an issue.
For TV/movie clips, all audible lines should be transcribed, if possible. If the audio interferes with dialogue, please give precedence to most plot-pertinent content.
All same-language audible songs that do not interfere with dialogue should be titled, if the rights have been granted.
Use song title identifiers when applicable - song titles should be in quotes: [svira „Forever Your Girl“]
Song lyrics should be enclosed with a music note (♪) at the beginning and the end of each subtitle.
Add a space between the music note and the preceding or subsequent text.
When a dual speaker subtitle appears in a song, e.g. when there is a duet, each line of sung text should have a music note at the beginning and end to clearly indicate that both characters are singing.
Use brackets [ ] to enclose speaker IDs or sound effects.
Identifiers/sound effects should be all lowercase, except for proper nouns.
Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified.
When characters are not yet identified, use [muškarac], [žena] or [muški glas], [ženski glas] so as not to provide information that is not yet present in the narrative.
Gender-neutral identifiers like [nepoznati glas] can be used where appropriate.
Speaker identifiers such as [novinar]/ [novinarka], [liječnik]/[liječnica], [prodavač]/[prodavačica] may also be used.
Use a generic ID to indicate and describe ambient music, e.g. [svira rock glazba], [lagani jazz na radiju]. If the source of the music is not clear, please include the verb. If the source is identifiable and needs to be included in the identifier, the verb may be omitted.
Plot-pertinent sound effects should always be included unless inferred by the visuals.
Subtitle silence if plot-pertinent. For example, when plot-pertinent music ends abruptly.
Be detailed and descriptive, use adverbs where appropriate when describing sounds and music, describe voices, speed of speech, volume of sounds.
When possible, noun phrases should be used instead of verb phrases to describe sounds. For example, [tires screeching] should be translated as [škripa guma], instead of [gume škripe].
Describe the sounds and audio as opposed to visual elements or actions.
Sound effects that interrupt dialogue should be treated as follows:

Subtitle 1: Međutim, u posljednje vrijeme…

[kašlje, šmrca]

Subtitle 2: …to mnogo češće viđam.

Speaker IDs and the corresponding dialogue should ideally be on the same line.
Never italicize speaker IDs or sound effects, even when the spoken information is italicized, such as in a voice-over.

[pripovjedač] Jednom davno živjela je…

[pripovjedačica] Jednom davno živjela je…

Ensure that the term [narrator] is gendered appropriately.
In instances of foreign dialogue being spoken:

If foreign dialogue is translated, use [in language], for example [na španjolskom]
If foreign dialogue is not meant to be understood, use [speaking language], for example [govori španjolski]
Always research the language being spoken – [govori stranim jezikom] should never be used

22. Reference

For all language-related issues not covered in this document, please refer to:

Hrvatski pravopis: http://pravopis.hr/
Institut za hrvatski jezik: http://ihjj.hr/
Leksikografski zavod: https://www.lzmk.hr/

Change Log:

2024-10-07

Revised section 11 Italics - 4th bullet edited to new standard wording about italics, electronic media/speakers and on-screen/in-scene characters

2024-04-05

Revised section 10 Foreign Dialogue - points added covering loan words which have adapted to Croatian spelling norms
Revised section 11 Italics - adjustment made to rules for italicizing foreign words in line with the change made to section 10
Revised section 22 Reference - links replaced in second and third bullet

2023-12-21

Revised section 18 Songs - removed the phrase "preceded by a space" from the 6th bullet, meaning that no space should be added before terminating punctuation in song lyrics

2022-12-22

Revised sections 16 Reading Speed and 21 SDH - sections edited to mention "reading speed limits" and "up to"

2022-11-03

Revised section 19 Titles - "for branded content" added

2022-10-07

Revised section 19 Titles - rules added/edited to include main title translations

2021-11-24

Typo corrected in quotation marks section

2021-10-22

Revised section 4 Character names - 4th bullet added regarding transliteration of unfamiliar characters in proper nouns/names
Revised section 15 Quotation marks - 1st bullet point added for clarity

2021-07-09

Revised section 12 Line Treatment - 3rd bullet point added
Revised section 15 Quotes - 6th bullet point added
Revised section 20 Special Instructions - 7th bullet point added
Revised section 21 SDH Guidelines - 10th and 11th bullet point added

2021-02-24

Revised section 21 SDH Guidelines - localized examples added

2020-10-29

Revised section 7 Dual Speakers - 2nd bullet added
Revised section 12 Line treatment - 2nd bullet added
Revised section 15 Quotes - 5th bullet added
Revised section 18 Songs - 9th bullet point added regarding poetry

2020-07-24

Revised section 5 Continuity - 1st bullet added clarifying type of ellipsis permitted
Revised section 21 SDH Guidelines - 3rd bullet point reworded

2020-05-07

Revised section 20 Special Instructions - 3rd bullet point added
Revised section 21 SDH Guidelines - 3rd bullet point added

2018-06-04

Revised section 9 On-screen Text – revised from former header

2018-03-09

Revised section 6 Documentary – 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th bullet points added
Revised section 7 Dual Speakers – 1st bullet point revised
Revised section 9 Forced Narratives – 2nd and 3rd bullet points added, 5th bullet point revised
Revised section 13 Numbers – 4th and 5th bullet points revised
Revised section 15 Quotes – Types of quotes revised
Revised section 17 Repetitions – 1st point revised for clarity
Revised section 18 Songs – 2nd bullet point added
Revised section 19 Titles –1st and 2nd bullet points revised
Revised section 21 SDH Guidelines – expanded for clarity

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