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Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: July 2, 2024 Fact Checked

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This article was reviewed by Luigi Oppido. Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

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No matter what language you speak, everyone enjoys watching movies. The problem is that most movies do not have the budget to afford translation into multiple languages, meaning you may not be able to understand the movie depending on your location. Whether you want to add subtitles to your favorite films or you need to subtitle a movie yourself, translating a movie is not very difficult, but it does take time and patience.

This article is about adding subtitles to a movie that doesn’t have them. If you need to learn to turn subtitles on while watching a movie, click here.

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Steps

Method
1 Method 1 of 2:

Downloading New Subtitles

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- You need the movie in it’s own file, with the .SRT file, for it to read the subtitles.
- Some older subtitle files might end in the extension .SUB.
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- The easiest video player to use is the free VLC player, which handles most file formats.
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- If you’re watching on a DVD players, try the “titles” or “subtitle” button on your DVD player’s remote.

Method
2 Method 2 of 2:

Creating Your Own Subtitles (Three Ways)

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- What is the goal of the dialog? Regardless of the words they use, what feeling is the character trying to get across? This is your guiding principle when translating.
- How can you fit the subtitled words within the time the character is speaking? Some writers will display a few lines of dialogue at once, starting a little early and ending late to give viewers a chance to read everything.
- How do you handle slang and figures of speech? They often do not translate well, so you’ll have to substitute slang or figurative language from your native language. This, however, requires you to look up the meaning of foreign expressions and slang.^{[4] X Research source}
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- Choose when the title starts.
- Write the title out.
- Choose when the title disappears.
- Repeat across the movie, marking “Complete” when finished.
- Download the .SRT file and place it in the same folder as your movie.
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- The number of a subtitle. 1 would be the first title, 2 the second, etc.
- The duration of the subtitle. This is written in the format hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds –> hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds
  - Example: 00:01:20:003 –> 00:01:27:592
- The text of the subtitle: This is simply what the title will say.
- A blank line. Leave one blank line before the number of the next title.
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- You can right-click on a title and copy and paste it to keep your same settings on every title, saving you tons of time.
- The only drawback to this format is that the movie will need to be saved as a separate file. You will not be able to turn the titles off, as they will now be part of the movie.

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Question I am writing subtitles to be added to a full-length movie. How should I provide them to the movie editors: as document in paragraphs, or in “chunks” equivalent to 70 characters or so per frame? Community Answer I’d choose chunks, it prevents it from overrunning and collapsing the file (if you decide to compress it). Or you could ask the editors how they want them. Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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Question Does this work even if I change the movie name? Community Answer No, it doesn’t work still. Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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Question Should I make a comic movie? Joshua Temple Community Answer Whatever you want to do, do it. Don’t let anything stop you from what you want. Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.
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When you search for the SRT. file, you must select one that is the same name as the movie. If it is not, simply change it after downloading. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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Warnings

Don’t download the SRT. file if the file name isn’t the same name as the movie, or at least very close. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 1