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Chrissy Posted 21 years ago
Vocabulary

subtitles vs. captions

Can anyone explain to me the differences between "subtitles" and "captions" if there are any? I'm trying to find the suitable term describing text added to a television programme (below the image) rendering literally everything that is being said in writing, in the same language as the speech. The literature doesn't seem to be very consistent in using one term or the other. It's for a thesis so it's rather important.

Thanks in advance ;-) Chrissy
  

Top answer

Hi Chrissy, Generally, I'd understand 'subtitle' to be at the bottom, and 'caption' to refer to any writing on the screen. However, like you, I look forward to seeing an answer from someone who understands what these mean in TV terminology. Best wishes, Clive

  • Hi Chrissy, Generally, I'd understand 'subtitle' to be at the bottom, and 'caption' to refer to any writing on the screen.
  • However, like you, I look forward to seeing an answer from someone who understands what these mean in TV terminology.
  • Best wishes, Clive
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10 Answers
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Hi Chrissy,

Generally, I'd understand 'subtitle' to be at the bottom, and 'caption' to refer to any writing on the screen.

However, like you, I look forward to seeing an answer from someone who understands what these mean in TV terminology.

Best wishes, Clive
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In the U.S., tv shows, videos and DVDs that provide written text of everything being said, as well as sound effects (dogs barking, phones ringing, etc.), are usually described as "captioned for the hearing-impaired." The word "subtitles" would usually refer to a translation from one language to another: "French, with english subtitles." Subtitles do not usually include the sound effects. So "c
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I would say that it is again the difference between the Br.E and AE. In Br.E it is called subtitles and in AE it is called captions....
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My dime (or rather, One Look's dime):


Caption (noun): translation of foreign dialogue of a movie or TV program; usually displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Subtitle (noun): translation of foreign dialogue of a movie or TV program; usually displayed at the bottom of the screen.


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And in addition, I'd like to add:
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Wow! Good job MM. I have to read some of them a few more times to figure them out!

And what about the text contining the main highlights of an interview, a piece of news, ..., that appears at the bottom of the screen? Does it have any specific name?
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Thanks MM, those were also new to me!
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Hi,

And what about the text contining the main highlights of an interview, a piece of news, ..., that appears at the bottom of the screen? Does it have any specific name?

In N. America, I hear the term 'the crawl' being used for the kind of constant stream of news writing across the bottom of the TV screen, as with CNN. The words, of course, seem to '
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Thanks Clive. So the words that do not crawl have to be referred as something else.

News ticker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

(Redirected from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=News_crawl&redirect=no)

A News Ticker is a small scre
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Thanks you all, that was helpfull and it's nice to see my questions invoked other questions. I guess I'll stick to "subtitles" for the time being since it seems to be the general term in British Eng at least.
I think I'm going to make more use this forum in the future, Chrissy

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