Timed Text Style Guide Updates - October/November 2020
This article serves as a summary of all of the updates made to the Netflix timed text style guides in the October/November update cycle.
Please refer to the language specific style guide documents and their change logs for more details. This is a summary.
The Netflix timed text style guides are the source of truth for all subtitling and SDH-related preferences and specifications.
Always adhere to the TTSG of the language you are working with.
All languages
- Advice has been added for all languages regarding keeping text on one line unless the characters per row limit has been exceeded
- Advice has been added to TTSGs for languages which accept dual speaker subtitles: use only contained sentences in dual speaker subtitles, avoiding text which carries into or from the previous or subsequent subtitle
- Advice for handling poetry has been added to all TTSGs and is a language specific preference. Check the TTSG for your language for more details
- Advice for handling reading aloud has been added to all TTSGs and is a language specific preference. Check the TTSG for your language for more details
- A pause has been defined in all TTSGs as being 2 seconds or longer
- Confirmation that translator credits are not required for supplementals and marketing assets
Dutch
- The Dutch TTSG has been updated with the following adjustments:
- Adjusted advice around repetitions and inclusion of character names once established
- Adjusted advice around repetitions and inclusion of character names once established
English
- The English TTSG has been updated to include:
- Additional detail about representing decades vs. ages
- Avoiding paraphrasing when editing text in SDH subtitles
French
- The French TTSG has been updated to include:
- Advice about diacritical marks
- Masculine and feminine forms for job titles
- Adjusted advice around quotations and repetitions
German
- The German TTSG has been updated to include:
- Advice around capitalization of words relating to race and ethnicity
- Expanded dual speaker subtitle section
- Line break advice
- Adjusted advice for quotation marks
Greek
- The references section in the Greek TTSG has been updated
Malay
- The Malay TTSG has been expanded to include:
- Advice regarding the capitalization of terms relating to race and ethnicity
- Advice regarding the capitalization of terms relating to race and ethnicity
Portuguese
- The Portuguese TTSG has been updated with the following changes:
- Adjustments to abbreviations section
- Removal of advice around diacritics in character names
- Adjustments to continuity section
- Expansion of dual speaker subtitles section
- Updates to wording around on-screen text formatting
- Adjustments to foreign dialogue, numbers and italics sections
- Updated references
Russian
- The Russian TTSG has been edited with the following changes:
- The references section has been edited
- Advice around inclusion of profanity has been added
Spanish
- The Spanish TTSG has been updated with:
- Updated instructions around dual speaker subtitles
- Revised wording for foreign dialogue and italics
- Adjusted approach to quotations
Thai
- The Thai TTSG has been expanded to include:
- Additional numbering information
- A new transliteration section
- A new section regarding formality
- Expanded details about abbreviations
Timing Guidelines
- The Netflix subtitle timing guidelines have been updated with the following edits:
- Adjusted advice about subtitling dialogue which starts just before a shot change
- Adjusted advice about timing of FNs for on-screen text
- Some screenshots have been updated
- The timing advice has been removed from the supplementals and marketing TTSG