About

The appeal of audiovisual products stems largely from the combination of visual and auditory resources, but professional subtitling focuses on translating dialogue and specific on-screen text.

Can we really say we are making a film accessible when we subtitle only dialogue?

If in a Portuguese film or documentary someone pinches their earlobe without saying anything, how are British viewers, for example, expected to understand that it means ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ when that hand gesture is unfamiliar to them? More worryingly, how can we avoid Italian viewers, for example, from misunderstanding the situation when in their culture the same gesture has a sexual and offensive connotation?

This project challenges three main assumptions:

1. That the audiovisual experience is effectively translated when only verbal elements are translated. Visual and auditory elements can be as culturally specific as verbal elements, and research shows that viewers often face considerable challenges recognising or interpreting them.
2. That professional subtitling practices make speech fully accessible to new audiences when focused only on the semantic content of what characters say. This ignores what is expressed through tone, emphasis, and rhythm, and how easily this can be missed when the source language is unfamiliar to the new audience.
3. That the least intrusive subtitle position is at the bottom of the screen. This ignores the new areas and vectors of attention introduced by subtitles positioned at the bottom of the screen which divert viewers’ attention to a different/opposite area of the screen than what was intended.

This project makes an innovative contribution to the subtitling industry by reviewing current subtitling practices and testing the potential limitations and opportunities of alternative subtitling approaches focused on translating meaning expressed through any element (visual, auditory, verbal, or non-verbal).

Subtitling 3.0 explores how subtitles can better communicate the rich layers of meaning that make audiovisual content engaging, accessible, and culturally meaningful.

The project aims to:

• Investigate the impact of current subtitling practices on viewers' comprehension, engagement, and interpretation.
• Assess the limitations of conventional subtitling, particularly when meaning is conveyed through visual, auditory, or non-verbal elements.
• Develop and test innovative subtitling approaches that seek to make a wider range of audiovisual meaning accessible to audiences.
• Strengthen collaboration between researchers and industry professionals, including subtitlers, production companies, distributors, broadcasters, and film-makers.

Alongside its research programme, Subtitling 3.0 is committed to ensuring that research findings have real-world impact. Through industry reports, webinars, workshops, videos, and training opportunities, the project supports professionals in understanding the role of subtitling in audience engagement and accessibility, while encouraging innovation and evidence-based practice across the media and translation industries.