~Beyond the Border~ > Sara's Audio-Visual Import-Overflow Retail
Subtitle Preferences - Survey
Furienify:
ITT: I pester Anime viewers about aesthetic preferences
This question has been bothering me a long time, and I have to practically pull teeth to get an answer from 'professional fansubbing groups' because they treat this like some sort of precious, clandestine knowledge and refuse to give away their font specifics. Plus, any research I do is from very dated forum posts. So I'm asking people here. Many of you have probably watched a subbed film or program of some sort, be it a DVD or an anime. I've experimented with lots of styles but have yet to find anything that makes me very comfortable. If you could do me a favour and answer the following questions you'd definitely put my mind at ease:
A subtitle has a primary colour (inner) and a secondary/outline colour (the outline, derp).
1. Two common primary colours are WHITE or YELLOW with a black outline. Yellow is evidently a traditional sort of thing, dating back to the age of VHS subtitles, where white subs would cause colour bleeding. Which do you prefer? Do you loathe one of them, and if so, why?
2. Do you have a preference for outline colour or styles? Particularly thin or dense? Colour-coded? I've noticed three main styles:
- Plain black outline
- Outlines that distinguish based on who is currently speaking
- A tinted outline (typically blue/purple or brown/red), with the secondary colour only being used when someone is talking simultaneously over another character.
3. Is there a particular font you prefer? (Granted most people don't actually know the fonts being used, but I'll ask anyways)
4. Is there a style/font used by a fansub group that you really like? (Screenshots would be A++ if possible)
5. Are there any pet peeves you run into that detract from your enjoyment of what you're watching?
6. Do you ever put any subs under a 'test'? (One example I've heard is that if people can't read it from 6 feet away, it's bad, but I'm nearsighted so trolololol bastards)
7. Do you care either way about honorifics being translated (Miss XYZ vs. XYZ-san vs. XYZ) and if so what's your preference?
Much thanks to all responders.
Helix ⑨:
1. I live in the netherlands, so every english program on tv has subtitles which are white (and unlike the french and germans, we rarely dub stuff). It's what I grew up with and think looks best. I don't like yellow, but that's probably because yellow subs usually mean the video quality is bad aswell.
2. Black outline is fine I guess. I've seen some animes tough with outline colours representing the person speaking the lines (i.e. green haired girl has green outline subtitles), I don't mind this as long as the quality is decent.
3. No retard font
4. Not really
5. Some subs block an important part of the screen. Sometimes either a long sub is given or extra explanation at the top of the screen is displayed, yet you have no time to read it. Forcing you to rewind and pause to read it.
6. what.......... no
7. I grealy prefer -san behind my names. Any regular anime watcher should know these honorifics anyway and I feel part of the relationship between characters can get lost if the honorific isn't translated properly.
hyorinryu:
1. I prefer white subs because they stand out more. Yellow subs also seem ugly to me for some reason.
2.Not familar with tinted, but I prefer plain white subs with a black outline.
3. I don't really have a preferance for fonts, as I've been okay with most of the fonts I've seen so far.
4. Not really
5. Localization can. I don't really care if I don't know exactly what it is as long I know what it is in context (a food, a technique, etc.) One time I was watching Star Driver and it annoyed me that they called kendo fencing(I'm pretty sure it was kendo, they had those bamboo swords.)
6. As long as I can read it, I'm happy.
7. I really don't care about honorifics, I'm fine with localizations or just leaving it there, as long as it doesn't become relevent(i.e. dropping the suffix, stuff like that.)
jigglyppuff8:
1. White only because yellow is god awful. There is the rare occasion where white doesn't show up well, but it's still more aesthetically pleasing than yellow.
2. I like something not too thick but not too thin either. More closer to thin than thick. As for styling, I'm fine with Black and tints. I used to think color-coordinated subs were cool once, but then I realized that they were just overkill. Two colors two differentiate when two people are talking at the same time should be the modern day limit.
3. I prefer reading minimalistic, sans serif fonts. Pretentious fonts like old script are just no. Save that stuff for karaoke if you're going to use it.
4. I have no favorites really.
5. Direct translation of verbal tics. It's fine if they have some kind of relevance to the character's speech, on the contrary. Otherwise, I prefer to have the verbal tic ignored in subs, left as is, or incorporated into their general speech pattern.
For example, there are two ways I have seen "de gozaru" handled. One was in Rumbel's Gintama where the subs just added "I daresay" to the end of everything. Nutbladder's Arakawa Under the Bridge translations, on the other hand, incorporated "de gozaru" into a old fashioned tone of speaking so that it read like Middle English.
Another example would be Marisa's "ze", where a boyish tone of speaking would be preferable over constant use of "yo".
6. The only standard for my subs are their ratings on MAL and their availability on bakabt.
7. -san, -chan, -kun, and -senpai are all fine to leave alone, since natural sounding English doesn't usually incorporate constant use of "Mr." or "Senior". Additionally, it's fine to leave them out as well.
-sama is kind of a gray area. I'm used to seeing it in subs, but I'm not averse to things like "lord" or "master".
-sensei I like to see translated if it is referring to modern profession. Teachers, doctors, writers, those kind of things I like to see "Mr. or Dr." in behind. When used as a standalone, I like to see it translated as teacher, doctor, etc.
The major exceptions to -sensei would be if it is used out of respect or a traditional profession such as martial arts instruction.
Fightest:
White is best due to its neutrality and likelihood of contrast with the rest of the scene. A light black outline is good for establishing borders and for when the background is whiter than usual. A small shadow can actually help, I feel, to add impact to the subs without disturbing the rest of the image.
Fonts should be simple sans serif - arial, calibri, tahoma. If you use comic sans I kill you. Size is indeed important, and I'd actually prefer a larger font size for ease of legibility, even if it might obscure some of the picture, as a smaller font is harder to read, so one ends up spending more time reading the sub than watching the action.
Pet peeves? Spelling and grammar. Nothing is worse than getting those wrong.
As for honorifics, I'd say do away with them, unless they're really important, for some reason, at which point localise them. Otherwise I don't care if someone is a -sempai or a -san or a -dono. Speech mannerisms and behaviour are sufficient to get across how a character feels about another.
As an added point, there is a magnificent sub of Shinryaku! Ika Musume that takes the -de geso verbal tic of the main character and actually turns it into genuine squid puns, in the vein of Persona 4's Teddie and his bear puns. Sure, it might come on a bit too strong sometimes, and othertimes might not work too well, but it added a phenomenal amount of character to the sub. More of that is absolutely welcome.