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A comprehensive EN↔CN terminology reference for subtitle creation, video translation, and caption generation. 25 terms covering the subtitle and translation industry.
| English | 中文 | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| ASS (Advanced SubStation Alpha) | ASS 高级字幕格式 | A subtitle format that supports rich styling including fonts, colors, positioning, and effects. Used for bilingual typography in SubtleSubtitle. |
| Bilingual Subtitles | 双语字幕 | Subtitles displayed in two languages simultaneously, typically with the original language on top and translated language below. |
| Burned-in Subtitles (Hardcoded) | 内嵌字幕 / 硬字幕 | Subtitles permanently embedded into the video frame. Cannot be turned off by the viewer, unlike soft subtitles. |
| Caption | 说明文字 / 字幕 | Text displayed on screen representing dialogue and sound effects. Captions include non-speech elements for hearing-impaired viewers. |
| Closed Captions (CC) | 隐藏式字幕 | Captions that can be toggled on/off by the viewer. Standard format for accessibility compliance on platforms like YouTube. |
| Context Window | 上下文窗口 | The number of surrounding subtitle segments considered during translation. SubtleSubtitle uses 25-segment windows for narrative consistency. |
| CPS (Characters Per Second) | 每秒字符数 | A readability metric for subtitles. Recommended range is 15-25 CPS for comfortable reading speed. |
| Forced Subtitles | 强制字幕 | Subtitles that appear only for foreign language dialogue or on-screen text within a primarily native-language film. |
| Localization | 本地化 | The process of adapting content for a specific locale, including translation, cultural adaptation, and formatting conventions. |
| Machine Translation (MT) | 机器翻译 | Automated translation by software. Quality varies from basic word-for-word to context-aware AI translation like SubtleSubtitle's sliding window. |
| OCR (Optical Character Recognition) | 光学字符识别 | Technology that extracts text from images or video frames. Used to digitize burned-in subtitles for editing or translation. |
| Overlap (Translation) | 重叠（翻译） | Shared segments between consecutive translation windows. SubtleSubtitle uses 10-segment overlap to maintain consistency across windows. |
| SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) | 聋人及听障字幕 | Subtitles that include speaker identification, sound effects, and music descriptions for accessibility. |
| Semantic Segmentation | 语义分句 | Splitting text into subtitle segments based on meaning and natural speech rhythm, rather than fixed character counts or punctuation. |
| Sliding Window Translation | 滑动窗口翻译 | SubtleSubtitle's proprietary algorithm that translates subtitles in overlapping groups of 25 segments, maintaining narrative context through a Past-Present-Future three-phase process. |
| Soft Subtitles | 外挂字幕 | Subtitle files separate from the video that can be toggled on/off. Common formats include SRT and ASS. |
| SRT (SubRip Subtitle) | SRT 字幕格式 | The most widely used subtitle format. Contains sequence numbers, timestamps, and plain text. Compatible with virtually all video players and platforms. |
| Subtitle Timing / Sync | 字幕时间轴 / 同步 | The alignment of subtitle display times with the corresponding audio. Accurate timing requires word-level timestamps. |
| Terminology Management | 术语管理 | The process of controlling how specific technical terms are translated. SubtleSubtitle lets users review and approve term translations before final output. |
| Three-Phase Translation | 三阶段翻译 | SubtleSubtitle's translation approach: Past (previously translated context), Present (current focus segments), Future (upcoming segments for direction awareness). |
| Timecode / Timestamp | 时间码 | Markers indicating when subtitles appear and disappear. Format: HH:MM:SS,mmm (SRT) or H:MM:SS.cc (ASS). |
| Tone Customization | 语气定制 | Adjusting translation style to match content type. SubtleSubtitle offers formal, casual, educational, and humorous tone options. |
| Transcription | 转录 / 语音转文字 | Converting spoken audio into written text. SubtleSubtitle uses advanced speech models for 95%+ accuracy with word-level timestamps. |
| VTT (WebVTT) | VTT 网络字幕格式 | Web Video Text Tracks format. Similar to SRT but designed for HTML5 video with support for CSS styling. |
| Word-Level Timestamp | 词级时间戳 | Precise timing data for each individual word in a transcript, enabling accurate subtitle synchronization and segmentation. |