Accessible Subtitles and Captions

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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:

    • 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!)

References

Our Satisfied Customers

Matias Höglund

Consultant
Finnish 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 ready-made files have reached us very quickly.

Christian Thibault

Chief Executive Officer
Nordic Diversity Trainers Oy

We are very happy with the prompt and professional service provided by Spoken. Its a crucial element in our multi-lingual work environment and working with a linguistically diverse team. With the services of Spoken, for the past three years we have always been able to easily match all deadlines and to satisfy our clients demands. We can't do else than to highly recommend Spoken for all your language needs.

Heikki Räisänen

Video producer
Ræven Visual

The accuracy level of transcription has always been just right; time coding next to 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.

Client

Postdoctoral researcher
University of Helsinki

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 often the transcribed file has been waiting in the mail already a day after submitting 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.