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

1. Abbreviations 

• The use of abbreviations should be avoided unless there are space limitations. 

• Abbreviations of personal titles should only be used if they precede a proper noun, e.g. Mnr. Nel (Meneer), Mev. Nel (Mevrou), Mej. Enslin (Mejuffrou), Me. Marais (when unsure if the woman is married or not), Dr. Coetzee (Dokter/Doktor), Prof. Venter (Professor), Ds. Potgieter (Dominee).

• When abbreviations need to be used, internationally accepted abbreviations should be used for units of measurement, e.g. m (meter), mm (millimeter), cm (centimeter), km (kilometer), g (gram), kg (kilogram), l, L or 𝓁 (liter).
• When referring to the imperial system, the abbreviation in Afrikaans may differ from English, e.g. “mile per hour” - mph, but in Afrikaans it is “myl per uur,” - mpu. “Seven inches” - 7 in., “Sewe duim” - 7 dm.
   

2. Acronyms

• Acronyms should be left in their original form. For example, NATO is still NATO. 

• If an acronym is more than four letters long and is commonly used, it should be capitalized without periods (e.g. UNESCO, UNICEF).

• Acronyms should be written without periods between the letters: ANC instead of A.N.C, IFP instead of I.F.P, SABC instead of S.A.B.C.
   

3. Capitalization

• Use sentence case for subtitles containing dialogue, quoted full sentences, full sentences following a colon, lyrics and verses. 

• Use title case for titles, forms of address, ranks and nicknames before or after a name: Dr. Roux, Mnr. Botha, Mev. Nel, Mej. Enslin, Prof. Venter, Ds. Martens.

• When a title, form of address, or rank becomes synonymous with a character's title, if it serves as a substitute to their actual name, and/or if it is used as a nickname, it should be capitalized. Examples: Kaptein, Dokter, Professor, Juffrou, Meneer, Ouma, Oom, Tannie, Doepie (instead of Du Plessis).

• When addressing a male or female person where their name or title of the person is not known, use sentence case, e.g. Goeie môre, meneer. Kan ek mevrou help?
• Forms of address used towards family members should be capitalized when their relation is not combined with their name, e.g. Oom, Tannie. When combined with their name, write the relation in sentence case, e.g. oom Ben, tannie Anna, ouma Ruth.

• Use sentence case for titles, forms of addresses, and ranks when they are offered merely as a character trait or when they define the relation between two characters rather than being a nickname. Examples: Hy is ‘n dokter. Marie is ‘n professor. Jannie is ‘n minister in die regering. Derek is my oom. Hy is ‘n tweegesig. My ma is my engel.

• Terms of endearment should be written in sentence case. Example: liefling, bokkie, seunie. 

• Foreign names should be capitalized as per source language.

• Political movements derived from proper nouns should be capitalized: African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, Freedom Party, Azania Movement, etc.

• Capitalization is only needed after an ellipsis if it is the beginning of a new sentence or when the sentence is incomplete or trailing off. Example: Hoe dink jy… Wat dink jy daarvan as ons die kamer eerder wit verf?

• When an expression such as Jesus or God is used with no intended religious sentiment, capitalization is not mandatory in the translation. Example: “O god!”, “Ag nee, jissis, man!”, “Liewe here (jirre), kom net by!” 
• When expressions such as Jesus, God or Allah are used with religious intent, capitalize the names of the divinities. Examples: “My redder is Jesus Christus.”, “Die wêreld is deur God geskape.”, “Liefde vir Allah oorkom alle probleme.”, “Liewe Vader, dankie vir u liefde en genade.”, “Moeder Aarde, laat die natuur gedy.”
   

4. Character Limitation

• 42 characters per line
   

5. Character Names

• Do not translate proper names unless Netflix provides approved translations. Align with the spelling in the template/KNP.

• Nicknames should only be translated if they convey a specific meaning. Example: Snake Eyes can be translated as Slangoog.

• Use language-specific translations for figures from the Bible. Example: Joseph - Josef, Jacob - Jakob, Mary - Maria.
   

6. Continuity

• When including ellipses in subtitles, use the single smart character U+2026 as opposed to three dots/periods in a row. 

• Do not use ellipses or dashes when an ongoing sentence is split between two or more continuous subtitles unless there is a gap of 2 seconds or longer to indicate a pause between subtitles. 

• Use an ellipsis to indicate an intentional pause of 2 seconds or more, or an intentional suspension within a subtitle. 

• If the sentence continues in the next subtitle, use an ellipsis at the beginning of the second subtitle if the event is interrupted by an FN, sound effect or another speaker. 

            Subtitle 1 Pasop vir die…

            Subtitle 2 (FN) GEVAAR 

            Subtitle 3 …afgrond daar voor jou.

• Move a conjunction to the second subtitle to avoid any ambiguity and to improve readability. Example:

            Subtitle 1: Daar is ‘n afgrond voor jou…

            Subtitle 2 (FN) GEVAAR

            Subtitle 3: …maar dis nog so 100 m verder.

• When the source template has a word which is cut or interrupted, try and avoid cutting a word in half, and instead cut it off mid-sentence, avoiding any unintended ambiguity whenever possible. 

• Use an ellipsis without a space to indicate that a subtitle is starting mid-sentence. Example: …wanneer die wind waai.
   

7. Documentary/Unscripted 

• Only translate a speaker’s title once, the first time the speaker appears. 

• When ongoing dialogue is interrupted by a speaker’s title, use ellipses 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 Die wond moet te alle tye…

            Subtitle 2 (FN) DR. FRANS MALHERBE

            Subtitle 3 …skoon gehou word.

• 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. 

• Do not italicize the archival footage when it covers the screen and is not seen on a TV or a monitor in the scene.
   

8. Dual Speakers

• Use a hyphen without a space if two characters speak in one subtitle with a maximum of one character speaking per line: 

            -Will jy tee of koffie drink?

            -Koffie, dankie.

• 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.
   

9. Font Information

• Font style: Arial as a generic placeholder for proportional Sans Serif 

• Font size: Relative to video resolution and ability to fit 42 characters across the screen 

• Font color: White
   

10. Foreign Words and Dialogue

• When creating FNs for an Afrikaans file, include FNs for any other language where necessary. 

• 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. 

• Make sure to use commonly used and accepted translations of words. Examples: computer – rekenaar. 

• Use the commonly established translation/transliteration of place names if available. Example: Cape Town – Kaapstad.
   

11. Italics 

• In sections such as a phone conversation where the shot changes regularly between speakers, always ensure that segmentation and timing rules are correctly applied so as to ensure italics are used consistently and correctly. 

• Italicize the following: 
  • Titles of books, periodicals, works of art, albums, movies, TV shows, radio shows, video games, etc. (for an episode title in a series, song titles, and newspaper and article headlines use quotation marks) 
  • Dialogue that is heard through electronic media, such as a phone, television, or computer, loudspeaker, non-sentient robots, robotic voices or AI, etc. But do not italicize sentient and moving robot characters, and do not italicize if the speaker is merely holding a microphone or a bullhorn on camera (e.g. when an announcement is heard in a stadium, use italics; cut to press box, commentator continues making the announcement on camera, do not use italics) 
  • Only use italics when the speaker is not in the scene(s), not merely off-screen or off-camera, behind a door or glass, out of shot, or in another room. 
  • Song lyrics when sung (if rights have been granted) 
  • Narration, unspoken thoughts, inner monologue, and voice-overs. 
  • Italicize symbols and punctuation marks that come before or after the italicized part. Example: …waar gaan jy heen? 
• Do not italicize the following: 
  • Do not italicize archival footage when it is not transmitted from a device in the scene, such as a TV or a monitor. 
  • Do not italicize fictional TV footage (e.g. newscast), fictional home videos (e.g. videos recorded by a phone, VHS, etc.) and security footage when they are not transmitted from a device in the scene, such as a TV or a monitor.
  • Do not italicize song lyrics when quoted.
     

12. Line Treatment and Line Breaks 

• Maximum two lines. 

• Text should usually be kept to one line, unless it exceeds the character limitation. 

• A pyramid structure is preferred where possible:
  • Line two should be longer than line one if the subtitle is bottom-positioned.
  • Line one should be longer than line two if the subtitle is top-positioned. 
  • Avoid having just one or two words on one line if possible. 

• When the text has to be broken into 2 lines, the line should be broken: 
  • after punctuation marks
  • before conjunctions 
  • before prepositions 

• When the text has to be broken into 2 lines, the line break should not separate: 
  • a noun from an article 
  • a noun from an adjective 
  • a first name from a last name 
  • a verb from a subject pronoun 
  • a prepositional verb from its preposition 
  • a verb from an auxiliary, reflexive pronoun or negation
     

13. Numbers 

• Numbers from 0 to 10 should be written out (een, twee, drie), while numbers greater than 10 should be captured in numerals, e.g. 11, 12, 13.
• Use a comma as the decimal separator for numbers with four or more digits. Example: 3,500 followers. 

• Units should be separated from the preceding figure with a non-breaking space, i.e. staying on one line, e.g. 2,000 kg. Numbers followed by symbols should not be followed by a space, e.g. 15%. 

• When using currency symbols, ensure they are used consistently throughout the file. Examples: €3,000, $3,000, R2,500. There should be no space between the symbol and the amount. 

• Ordinal numbers should be written in the normal English style but translated into Afrikaans. Examples: (1st) eerste, (2nd) tweede, (11th) elfde, etc. E.g. “Dis nou al die elfde keer wat ons gewen het.” 

• Write the full century/decade in numerals when the dialogue specifies the century and decade. e.g. “My ma is in die negentien-vyftigs gebore.” is incorrect. It should be captured in the following format: “My ma is gebore in die 1950s.”

• When the dialogue specifies “die vyftigs”, it should be captured as “die 50s.” 

• Do not use 50’s, 70’s, etc. for ages. E.g. “I am in my 50s.” is incorrect. Rather use “I am in my fifties.” “Ek is in my vyftigs.” 

• For sports, competitions, games or quizzes, always use numerals to display points, scores or timings. Example: Springbokke 13-7 Engeland. 

• When a sentence starts with a number, the number should be written out, e.g. “Twintig beeste wei in die veld.”

• Time: Use a colon when separating hours and minutes, e.g. 12:30. To indicate ante meridiem or post meridiem, use the following format: 11:30 v.m. 3:30 n.m.
   

14. 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 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. 

• If at all possible, try to avoid interrupting a line of dialogue with a forced narrative. 

• If interrupting the dialogue with a forced narrative cannot be avoided, use an ellipsis at the end of the sentence that precedes it and at the beginning of the one that follows it. 

• Forced narratives that are redundant (e.g. identical to on-screen text or covered in the dialogue) must be deleted when they are on their own. 

• Line breaks for forced narratives should match the on-screen text to increase readability. 

• On-screen text with hashtags can be written in the title case and should not be translated. Capture it in the language that appears on screen. Example: #fashion, #travel, #bloubulle
   

15. Poetry 

• Do not use italics. 

• Include quotation marks if someone else's poem is being recited. 

• Do not use quotation marks if a character is reciting their own poem. 

• Follow punctuation and capitalization of the original poem, if available. 

• If not available, use uppercase letters at the start of a new sentence only and commas or periods at the end of lines where applicable. 

• Existing translations of poetry and literary works may only be used if they are in public domain and/or clearances have been obtained. 

• Only transcribe and translate plot-pertinent prayers. 

• Raps should be treated as music lyrics.
   

16. Punctuation 

• Avoid using complex punctuation which could be hard for viewers to follow. For example, avoid using colons and semi-colons and instead use simple, clear sentence structures to aid comprehension. 

• Commas: 
  • Commas are unnecessary in simple sentences where there is no risk of ambiguity. 
  • Avoid commas next to ellipses. 

• Apostrophes: 
  • Use the apostrophe in place of a character that was skipped, when two words are merged into one word in Afrikaans, e.g. Sy het – sy’t, Aan die werk – aan't werk, or when some characters within a word are skipped, e.g. Ekskuus - ‘Skuus. Be aware that some words that were originally written with an apostrophe to indicate a missing character are now incorporated into the Afrikaans language, e.g. Asseblief – Seblief, or blief.
  • When a noun ends on an i, o, u or an emphasized a, use an apostrophe to write its plural or diminutive form. Examples: okapi’s, okapi’tjie, foto’s, foto’tjie, skadu’s, skadu’tjie, karba’s, karba’tjie. 
  • When a surname ends on an e or an s which is not pronounced, e.g. Terblanche, De Villiers, use an apostrophe to indicate its plural form. Example: Terblanche's, De Villiers’s. 
  • For a better reading experience, do not use apostrophes to contract phrases and sentences unnecessarily.
  • If in doubt about the use of apostrophes in Afrikaans, refer to links at the bottom of this style guide, or download the HAT Afrikaans dictionary.

• Colons: 
  • Use colons when separating hours and minutes. Example: 12:30 

• Hyphens: 
  • Where several vowels follow each other when two nouns are combined into one word. Example: foto-artikel, Drie-eenheid. 
  • Use a hyphen to avoid ambiguity when two nouns are combined into one word, e.g. dop-ertjie, pronk-ertjie, ru-gare. 
  • For more uses of hyphens, follow the links at the bottom of this style guide. 

• Ampersands may be used when part of an initialism such as R&B, or B&B. 

• Use dashes for abrupt interruptions, e.g. 

            Subtitle 1: Jy praat nie so met my–

            Subtitle 2: Ek sal met jou praat soos ek wil!
 

17. Quotations 

• 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. 

• Use double straight quotation marks (" ") without spaces for regular quotations. 

• Use single straight quotation marks (' ') for quotes within quotes. 

• Use quotation marks if a character is seen to be reading aloud. 

• Quotation marks can be used around mispronunciations, malaprops, made-up words and misused words. 

• If an on-screen character does “air quotes” when speaking, 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. 

• When a subtitle includes a quoted sentence, a comma needs to be added before the citation. The period at the end of the quote always comes before the closing quotation marks:
  • Subtitle: Sy spesifieke woorde aan my was, “Ek gee nie om hoe jy daaroor voel nie.”
• Question marks, however, are different. Question marks indicate where a question ends, so they can be inside or outside quotation marks, depending on the meaning of the sentence. See these two examples:
• In this example, the entire sentence is the question, so the question mark belongs at the end, outside the quotation marks:
  • Subtitle: Van wanneer af noem jy my “skattie”?
• In this example, the quotation is a question, so the question mark goes inside the quotation. The question mark is part of the quotation:
  • Subtitle: Sy het gevra, “Hoe dikwels moet ek dit nagaan?”
     

18. Reading Speed

• Adult programs: Up to 20 characters per second for SDH, and 17 CPS for interlingual subtitles. 

• Children’s programs: Up to 17 characters per second. 
   

19. 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 subtitles to the audio, but translate only once. Reduplications such as “gou-gou or “net-net” are exempt from this rule. 

• When a word is repeated a significant number of times, do not omit the repetition completely. “Cha, cha.” is preferred. 

• Do not contradict visual cues. For instance, when a speaker is pointing at multiple things, do not omit repetitions. Example: Ek koop hierdie, hierdie, hierdie en hierdie. 

• Rhymes, poetry and lyrics are excluded from this rule. 
   

20. Segmentation 

• Follow template segmentation as much as possible. 

• Break lines and segment grammatically in accordance with the flow of the language whenever possible. 
   

21. 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 ellipses 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 quotation marks.
   

22. Titles 

• 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. 
   

23. Special Instructions 

• All plot-pertinent dialogue should be subtitled and take precedence over background dialogue. 

• Always match the tone and severity of the original content, while remaining relevant to the target audience (i.e. replicate tone, register, class, formality, etc. in the target language in an equivalent way). 

• Syntax must be reformulated for clarity when translating, so they are grammatically correct in Afrikaans. Beware of direct translation from other languages. Example: “Wat is die tyd?” would be a direct and clumsy translation. Rather: Hoe laat is dit? 

• Ensure that words and phrases are written conjunctively to create meaningful sentences which can be easily understood by the viewer. 

• Deliberate misspellings and mispronunciations should not be reproduced in the translation unless plot-pertinent. 

• Dialogue must never be censored. Expletives should be rendered as faithfully as possible. 

• If swear words are bleeped out for creative purposes, use four asterisks to indicate the censored word. Example: fokken would be captured as f****n. 

• Pay attention to consistency of formal/informal address. Example: jy/u 

• Do not translate onomatopoeias and interjections that the general audience would understand (e.g. ah, oh, huh, hmm, mm) when used in isolation. However, onomatopoeias and interjections such as “yuck, ouch, yay, hooray” that the target audience might not be familiar with can be translated, especially when working on kids’ content. 

• You may use widely known brand names to localize generic products for creativity and brevity in describing. Example: Coke instead of kola, Rama instead of margarien, Chappies instead of kougom, etc. Words like “cutex” which refers to all brands of nail polish should be captured in sentence case. 
   

24. 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 Afrikaans, 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 can be increased to: 
  • Adult programs: 20 characters per second 
  • Children’s programs: 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, give precedence to most plot-pertinent content. 

• All same-language audible songs that do not interfere with dialogue should be subtitled. 

• Use song title identifiers when applicable - song titles should be in quotes: ["Liefling” deur Gé Korsten speel] 

• 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 where the first letter should be capitalized, e.g. [Pieter] Hoe gaan dit? 

• Use present tense in SDH descriptors and labels. For sound descriptors, be concise. Examples for music: [sagte klaviermusiek speel], [kletsrymlied speel] Examples for sounds: [geweerskoot klap], [bye zoem]. 

• Sound descriptions and manner of speech should be in descriptive Afrikaans but be accessible to all Afrikaans viewers and carry meaning. Be detailed, use adverbs where appropriate when describing sounds and music, describe voices, speed of speech, volume of sounds. Examples: [sug verlig] [lag hard] [giggel geil], [sarkasties], [stotter], [hartseer klaviermusiek speel] 

• Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified. 

• When characters are not yet identified, use generic sex identifiers [man], [vrou], [seun], [meisie]. When there is more than one unidentified person speaking, use [man 1], [man 2]. 
• In the case of content where characters may identify as gender-neutral or non-binary and the script and dialogue specifies it, use gender-neutral nouns, e.g. [kind], [dokter], [persoon], and the pronouns “hulle” and “julle.” Example of a female character identifying as gender-neutral: “Hulle kom vandag kuier.” instead of “Sy kom vandag kuier.”

• Use music descriptions and genres. Examples: [boeremusiek speel], [sokkiemusiek speel], [jazzmusiek speel], [klaviermusiek speel] 

• 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. [silence], [deafening silence], [stilte], [doodse stilte]. 

• Describe the sounds and audio as opposed to visual elements or actions. 

• Speaker IDs and the corresponding dialogue should ideally be on the same line. 

• In SDH files when different languages than Afrikaans are spoken, label languages spoken as follows: [in Engels] Waar bly jy? [in Frans] Ek bly in Parys. [in Xhosa] En ek kom van die Transkei in Suid-Afrika. When switching back to Afrikaans, label the switch, e.g. [in Afrikaans] Aangename kennis.

• Never italicize speaker IDs or sound effects, even when the spoken information is italicized, such as in a voice-over. Example: [omroeper oor radio] In die nuushootrekke vandag…
   

25. References

• This TTSG takes precedence over language related issues found in other sources. 

• For all language-related issues not covered in this document, refer to the following references: 
  • Beter Afrikaans
  • Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls
  • HAT Woordeboek

• Reference the Netflix sensitive and inclusive language guidelines for sensitive words, terminology and spelling when required.
  
   

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Change Log:

2025-12-19

• First version of this article published

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