4/6/22, 9:24 AM German Timed Text Style Guide – Netflix | パートナーヘルプセンター

パートナーヘルプセンター

パートナーヘルプセンター

German Timed Text Style Guide

German Timed Text Style Guide

*This document covers the language specific requirements for German. Please make sure to also
review the General Requirements Section for comprehensive guidelines surrounding Timed Text
deliveries to Netflix.   

1. Abbreviations

Herr: Hr.
Frau: Fr.
Fräulein: Frl.
Professor: Prof.
Doktor: Dr.
Number: Nr.
Only abbreviate titles when used in combination with a name, e.g.:
Dr. Schmidt.
Der Doktor möchte Sie sprechen.

2. Acronyms

Acronyms should be written without periods between letters: BBC, CIA, DVD

3. Character Limitation

42 characters per line

4. Character Names

Do not translate proper names (e.g., Peter, Suzanne), unless Netflix provides approved translations.
Nicknames should only be translated if they convey a specific meaning.
Use language-specific translations for historical/mythical characters (e.g., Santa Claus).

5. Continuity

Do not use ellipses or dashes when an ongoing sentence is split between two or more continuous
subtitles.

Subtitle 1   Ich sage dir Bescheid,

Subtitle 2   sobald er da ist. 

Use an ellipsis to indicate a pause or an abrupt interruption. In the case of a pause, if the sentence
continues in the next subtitle, use an ellipsis at the beginning of the second subtitle. 

Subtitle 1   Ich habe mich gefragt…

Subtitle 2   ...ob du mit mir kommen möchtest.

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Subtitle 1   -Ich wollte dir gerade sagen...

Subtitle 2   -Ich will es nicht wissen!

Use an ellipsis without a space to indicate that a subtitle is starting mid-sentence. 

…haben einen Vertrag unterschrieben.

6. Documentary

Speaker’s title: only translate the title. Do not include the speaker’s name, company name or
character name as these are redundant.
Only translate a speaker’s title once, the first time the speaker appears in the documentary.
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   Ich arbeitete an dem Film…

Subtitle 2 (FN)       REGISSEUR

Subtitle 3   …sechs Monate lang.

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 in a documentary. If the speaker is on-camera for at least part of the scene, do not
italicize. Leave italics for off-screen narrators.

7. Dual Speakers

Use a hyphen without a space to indicate two speakers in one subtitle, with a maximum of one
speaker per line.

-Tut mir leid, dass ich zu spät bin.

-Schon gut.

8. Font Information

Font style: Arial as a generic placeholder for proportionalSansSerif

Font size: relative to video resolution and ability to fit 42 characters across the screen
Font color: White

9. Forced Narratives

Forced narrative titles 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 that are redundant (e.g., identical to onscreen text or covered in the dialogue)
must be deleted.
Forced narratives 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.
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Never combine a forced narrative with dialogue in the same subtitle.
When a forced narrative interrupts dialogue, use an ellipsis 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   Ich glaube, wir sollten nicht…

Subtitle 2 (FN)       BETRETEN VERBOTEN

Subtitle 3   …weitergehen.

10. Foreign Dialogue

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.
Foreign words should be italicized, unless they have become part of regular usage (e.g., in English,
the following no longer need to be italicized: bon appétit, rendezvous, doppelgänger, zeitgeist,
persona non grata) and unless they are proper names (e.g., a company name).

11. Italics

Italicize the following:

Album, book, film and program titles (use quotes for song titles)
Foreign words (unless they are part of regular usage)
Dialogue that is heard through electronic media, such as a phone, television, or computer
Only use italics when the speaker is not in the scene(s), not merely off screen or off camera
Song lyrics (if rights have been granted)
Voice-overs

Do not use italics to indicate emphasis on specific words.

12. Line Treatment

Maximum two lines.

13. Numbers

From 1 to 10, numbers should be written out: ein, zwei, drei, etc.

Above 10, numbers should be written numerically: 11, 12, 13, etc.
When a number begins a sentence, it should always be spelled out.
Note that the above rules may be broken due to space limitations or reading speed concerns, as
well as for consistency when listing multiple quantities, for example.
Measurements should be converted to the metric system, unless the original unit of measurement
is plot relevant.
Always use a space between a number and an abbreviation or symbol (6 km, 5 ºC, 14 %)

14. Punctuation

There should be no spaces before punctuation marks.

There should be a comma before sub clauses that start with und and are a complete sentence (i.e.,
consisting of at least a noun and a verb).

15. Quotes

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Quotes should be used at the start and end of a sentence and not at the start of every subtitle.
Use double quotation marks (" ") without spaces for regular quotations.

Er sagte: "Komm morgen wieder."

Use single quotation marks (' ') for quotes within quotes, but the closing single quote should be
before the period.

Er sagte: " Mein Lieblingslied ist 'Singing in the Rain'."

Punctuation should be included within the quotation marks if the quote is an independent clause
and outside if it’s not.
Song titles should be in quotes.

16. Reading Speed

Adult programs: 17 characters per second

Children’s programs: 13 characters per second

17. 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 subtitle to the audio but translate only
once.

18. 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 quotes.

19. Titles

Main titles: do not subtitle the on-screen main title card.

Episode titles: do not subtitle episode titles if they do not appear on screen/are voiced-over. If on-
screen (either as part of the principal photography or burned into video) or voiced-over, please
reference the KNP tool for approved translations.
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.

20. Special Instructions

Plot-pertinent dialogue always takes precedence over background dialogue.

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

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Follow new German spelling rules.
The letter “ß”, when in caps, should be spelled “SS”. Do not use the uppercase ẞ (unicode 0x1E9E)
as it’s currently unsupported by many devices.
Do not split words with a hyphen over two lines due to line breaks, unless the word is hyphenated.
Always split titles instead.
Avoid simply following the line breaks from the English template, as they may not always be
appropriate for German.
Dir and Du should not be capitalized in subtitling.
Avoid using the abbreviated version of verbs, unless they are specifically appropriate to the
context and/or the subtitle needs to be condensed to improve the reading speed.

21. 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.
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, please give precedence to most plot-pertinent content.
All same-language audible songs that do not interfere with dialogue should be titled, if the rights
have been granted.
Use song title identifiers when applicable - song titles should be in quotes:

["Forever Your Girl" playing]

Song lyrics should be enclosed with a music note (♪) at the beginning and the end of each
subtitle.
Use brackets [ ] to enclose speaker IDs or sound effects.
Identifiers/sound effects should not be in all caps, but instead follow standard German
capitalization rules.
Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified.
When a speaker ID is required for a character who has yet to be identified by name, use [man] or
[woman], or [male voice] or [female voice], so as not to provide information that is not yet
present in the narrative.
Use a generic ID to indicate and describe ambient music (e.g., rock music playing over a stereo).
Sound effects should be plot-pertinent.
Sound effects that interrupt dialogue should be treated as follows:

         Subtitle 1: However, lately, I've been...

                         [coughs, sniffs]

         Subtitle 2:  ...seeing a lot more of this.

Never italicize speaker IDs or sound effects, even when the spoken information is italicized, such
as in a voice-over:

         [narrator]

         Once upon a time, there was…

In instances of foreign dialogue being spoken:

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If foreign dialogue is translated, use [in language], for example [in Spanish]
If foreign dialogue is not meant to be understood, use [speaking language], for example
[speaking Spanish]
Always research the language being spoken – [speaking foreign language] should never be
used 

22. Reference

For all language-related issues not covered in this document, please refer to:

Duden: http://www.duden.de/woerterbuch

Change Log:

2018-03-09

Revised section 1 Abbreviations – 7th bullet point revised

Revised section 6 Documentary – 4th, 5th and 6th  bullet points added

Revised section 9 Forced Narratives – 2nd and 3rd bullet points added, 5th bullet point revised

Added section 12 Line Treatment

Revised section 13 Numbers – 4th and 5th bullet points revised, 6th bullet point added

Added section 15 Quotes - rewritten for clarity

Revised section 16 Reading Speed – words per minute removed

Revised section 17 Repetitions – 1st point revised for clarity

Revised section 18 Songs – 2nd bullet point added

Revised section 19 Titles –1st and 2nd bullet points revised

Revised section 20 Special Instructions – 4th bullet point added

Revised section 21 SDH Guidelines – renamed and expanded for clarity

2016-05-15

Revised section 17 Songs – 5th bullet point revised

Revised section 18 Titles – 1st bullet point revised, 2nd bullet point added

Revised section 19 Special Instructions – 3rd bullet point removed, 6th bullet point revised

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