Accessible Subtitles and Captions
”Very friendly, good and fast service!”
Thousands of Satisfied Customers
Accessible Subtitles and Captions for the Following
Meetings
Educational videos
Webinars
Marketing videos
Web Accessibility Directive & Subtitles and Captions
In addition to standard subtitles, we also provide accessible, that is, descriptive subtitles and captions in accordance with Web Accessibility Directive. This descriptive subtitling and caption style can also be utilised in videos that are not under a legal obligation by the directive. For a subtitle or caption file to be accessible, we recommend avoiding hardcoding / embedding the file into the video. Instead, the subtitle or caption file should be added as a separate file (such as SRT or VTT formats) to the publishing service. This allows different screen reading software can read the subtitles or captions out loud to vision-impaired, for example.
Legislation
As per the Act on the Provision of Digital Services and the Web Accessibility Directive, all public organisations must provide subtitles, captions, and/or text equivalences to the video and audio contents on their websites. If the content of the video and/or audio is present in a text format in some other way, subtitles and captions are not required. The implementation and application of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services and the Web Accessibility Directive in Finland is based on WCAG 2.1., that is, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Furthermore, these guidelines are generally used as the basis for legal accessibility requirements in several other countries.
Requirements
According to the accessibility requirements, all meaningful content spoken or heard in the video or recording must be available in a written format. This means that the video must include captions in the spoken language. For example, English-spoken videos must include captions in English. These kinds of captions are also called intralingual accessible subtitles. For more information about subtitles and captions not under accessibility requirements, please click here.
Content of accessible subtitles
In addition to standard lines and speech, accessible subtitles and captions include descriptions of the soundscape and speaker identifications in case these aspects are not clearly expressed in other means in the events of the video. These means include on-screen text with speaker tags and so on. Examples on caption-requiring events and elements:
- Current Speaker, such as [Matt:]
- Background music, such as [music playing]
- Other soundscape elements, such as [dog barking] or [a knock on the door]
Content of Our Subtitling and Captioning Service
Working Languages for Subtitles
We provide subtitles and captions to a variety of videos in Finnish, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, German, Russian, and Estonian. Accessible subtitles, or captions, are often written in the same language as the video.
Length of the Video
We provide subtitles and captions to projects in all shapes and sizes. A single video can be anything from a few minutes to several hours in length.
Pricing
Our pricing includes accurate and specific prices for your projects. The pricing of the subtitling service is based on the length and language spoken on the video.
Professionalism
Our clients include video production companies, cities, and municipalities. We serve our customers in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands and Germany with the help of our 300+ personnel.
Example subtitles and captions
File Formats
The material must be a video file in a downloadable format. We are prepared to accept several different file formats.
We deliver completed subtitle or caption files in an SRT (.srt), WebVTT (.vtt), or MP4 (.mp4) formats:
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- SRT is one of the most common formats
- VTT is the best suited format for services such as YouTube due to flexible text formatting
- the MP4 format (‘hardcoded subtitles’) is used when utilising a separate subtitle file is unavailable
- SRT and VTT formats are most commonly used with accessible subtitles
“I will definitely continue sending my files to Spoken. Great service. Fast delivery and great support.”
– Client, public organization
Options for Accessible Subtitles or Captions
Accessible subtitles or captions are, as the name suggest, carried out in accessible, and often intralingual style. The contents of subtitles or captions are often impacted by target audience. Therefore, as you place your order for subtitles, you have a few decisions to make:
Language
Accessible subtitles or captions are often written in the same language; however, translated subtitles, that is, interlingual subtitles, are also available.
Intralingual Subtitles
- The speech is subtitled in the same language that is spoken in the video
- For example, a video in English is subtitled in English
- Accessible subtitles are usually done in the language of the video
Interlingual Subtitles
- The spoken material will be written out in a different language, i.e., the speech will be translated into another language
- For example, an English-speaking video receives subtitles in Finnish
Style
Spoken material can be subtitled or captioned in either formal or colloquial style. The officiality and target audience of the video influence the style choice.
Formal Subtitles
- Generally used in official subtitles or captions, such as training and marketing videos
- Subtitling language will be altered into a literary form regardless of the speaker’s accent or dialect (for example ‘I am happy!’)
Colloquial Subtitles
- Generally used in so-called unofficial subtitles and captions (such as TV shows)
- Subtitles and captions follow the speaker’s accent and dialect (for example ‘Me is so happy!)
Client Testimonials
Our Satisfied Clients
Matias Höglund
Expert
Institute of Occupational Health
We have ordered subtitles from Spoken for a few years now. The cooperation has been functional. Ordering subtitles through the portal has proven to be effortless and the orders have reached us very quickly.
Pihla Liukkonen
Photographer
Kontrastia Oy
I've actually avoided offering my clients a subtitling service because of the time it takes. The Finnish language does not bend with automation in the software I use. My company Kontrastia Oy offers photography and video services, Spoken is the right partner for the video editing workflow. Spoken's service worked excellently, quickly, and the subtitles in literate were top class. Also the English translations! Thanks! My subtitling project became considerably lighter.
Sakari Heiskanen
CEO, Chief Producer
Löytö Studio Oy
I use Spoken's services most often for subtitles for videos, for which I always request an srt file. The videos are usually either in English or Finnish, and recently more and more often with accessibility information. I have also ordered translation services many times. I have also ordered dozens of podcast transcriptions in both English and Finnish. The content I make is for relatively large clients, I am a subcontractor producer. Sometimes the billing goes directly to them, and often through me. This has worked really painlessly with Spoken, as has the entire service itself. I could do these myself using AI tools, but my billed hourly rate is so much higher that it's not worth it. So I am a very satisfied customer 😊
Jari Peltola
Founder, NLP Coach
Vapauttamo
I have been using Spoken's services for transcription for years. They run quickly and accurately. I can warmly recommend it.
If subtitling, transcribing, proofreading or translating are not your core competencies, leave those jobs to Spoken.
Tarja Lähdemäki
Entrepreneur, Customer Advocate
Value Insights
I work as a customer experience development consultant and in my work I carry out a lot of customer listening sessions, which are in-depth interviews in nature. In them, it is important to capture and analyze everything the customer has said, so that the end result is optimal. I have been using Spoken's services for more than three years and I have been satisfied with the quality of transcriptions and the ease of cooperation. The customer portal works well and from there you can see at all times what stage the transcription of your own interviews is at and what the transcription will cost.
Christian Thibault
CEO
Nordic Diversity Trainers Oy
We are very satisfied with Spoken's fast and professional service. With the help of Spoken's services, for the past three years we have completed our projects on time and have been able to meet our customers' requirements. Spoken's services benefit both our multilingual work environment and our customers in the form of subtitling, transcription and proofreading. We recommend Spoken!
Heikki Räisänen
Video Prodcer
Ræven Visual
The accuracy level of transcriptions has always been just right; time coding alongside the text makes it easier to find the right place on the editing table and the price is at least reasonable. A service that saves time and money.
Nina Laasonen
Entrepreneur
You Name It Oy
We used Spoken as a partner in the translation work of our new online store. The cooperation went very smoothly and we received the translations quickly, on the agreed schedule. Spoken as a partner has acted professionally and the service has been excellent. We will continue to use the services when we need more translation work.
Heini Isosaari
YAMK student, Management of Sustainable Growth, Bachelor of Business Administration
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
I have used Spoken to save time in transcribing interview materials for my thesis. The customer service has been good from the beginning, both by phone and by email. After my contact, I received a transcription offer in my email the same day, which was proportionate to the file size of my interview material, the quality of the material and the number of people. Sending the audio file was smooth and safe through Spoken's website. As agreed, the transcribed material arrived in my email in less than a week. I ordered a basic transcription, so the level of the transcribed material met my expectations. I have been completely satisfied with Spoken's services and I intend to use them in the future as well!
Sami Pirkkanen
Founder
Alvis Oy
I've been using Spoken's subtitling service for a couple of years now. Without this help, making product review and testing videos for my company would be too time-consuming. I value Spoken's high-quality and fast subtitling service very highly.
Taina Liukkonen
Student
Fysiotaina
I got support for the work to be done during my studies with the help of the proofreading made by Spoken. The readability of the work improved significantly during the process, such as the visualization of key concepts, results and the content of their reflection. Linguistic expression developed from correctness in the same way.
Jesse Hongisto
Entrepreneur
Valote Oy
We have been using Spoken's subtitling service for several years. Subtitles come quickly and help reduce our own workload in busy times.
Client
Project Researcher
University of Vaasa
We have used Spoken's transcription services (clean verbatim) in our project for five months now, and I have no complaints - on the contrary, we are quite satisfied with the service we received, which is fast and sufficiently accurate. The service is easy to use and customer service responds quickly. I recommend Spoken's services and I will use them in the future as well.
Client
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Helsinki
We have been Spoken's customer since early summer 2023. We have ordered transcription services. I have been really pleased that individual interview files can be delivered to Spoken as the research progresses and then transcribed at the same time. Even though we have chosen a normal delivery time (no express delivery), the service has still been fast and the transcribed file has often been waiting in the mail a day after leaving it. I also like that if the transcriber has been unsure about a certain expression, it has been noted in the file and also the time, so I have been able to check the point and correct it if necessary.
Larissa Becker
Assistant Professor
Hanken School of Economics
I recommend Spoken. Although the text contained small errors and unclear points marked with question marks, the work was still excellent and the delivery was super fast!
