Amara Captions - Caption Quality Standards
Last updated by julia.wind 2 months agoEdited or Exact?
In general, try to use the same wording as the speaker, but minor edits to what was said can sometimes make the captions more usable. However, be careful that when changing the text you do not change the meaning of what was said. Consider the following:
You may choose to remove some filler words, such as “you know,” “well…”, “um”, or other non-essential information. However, sometimes a stutter or filler word can be meaningful (showing nervousness for example).
When a speaker uses grammatically incorrect language or a dialect, it should be reflected in the captions.
Words in another language should be captioned as spoken (formatted in italics if possible). However, we never translate words spoken in another language to English for the caption. In those cases, “[speaking French]” or similar will suffice.
If speech is cut off or low quality and is impossible to understand, use the word inaudible with brackets, as so: “[inaudible]”.
Hesitations should be replicated in the captions - long pauses should be shown using ellipses (...), and smaller pauses should be shown through commas (,) or dashes ( – ).
Symbols and Math
Generally speaking, when someone says “one plus two”, we would usually write that down on a piece of paper as “1+2”, with the addition symbol. Or with a function, we would write “F of X” as “F(x)”. When captioning, however, we want to write what was said, not exactly what was meant.
So, when you run into symbols, please caption it as the speaker says. For example, “...two multiplied by 34…”, “... the function F prime of X turns out to equal pi!”
Line Length and Breaks
Putting in line breaks at the correct places makes a huge difference in the quality of the experience for the viewer.
Avoid breaking between a word and its modifier, in prepositional phrases, between first and last names or associated titles, or immediately after a conjunction. Instead, lines should be broken at punctuation or natural pauses in speech wherever possible.
This way, the captioned experience is similar to how we naturally process language. See the Captioning Key - Line Division section for some helpful examples.
Incorrect:
Mark pushed his black
truck.
Correct:
Mark pushed
his black truck.
Incorrect:
Mary scampered under
the table.
Correct:
Mary scampered
under the table.
Helpful Guidelines For Timing:
Time On Screen
The speed of the speech can impact how long a caption is on the screen at a time. In general, we want to stick as close to the speaker’s timing as possible. This means you can typically ignore the error in Amara.
However, if you feel like the time on screen is too short to be readable (some people simply talk too fast!) you can try to stretch the caption a touch to make it more readable. Use caution though — we don't want to create a domino effect where many other captions would have to be adjusted and/or would all be off-timing.
Formatting
Screaming and shouting should be shown using ALL CAPS. Capitalize proper nouns such as names, places, and organizations.
Italicized text should be used:
Note: in Amara, italicized text won’t carry over to YouTube. Do your best to differentiate these, but don’t stress!
For n umbers from one to ten, spell out the numbers. For numbers over ten, just use the numerals as usual.
Speaker Identification/Changes
It is important for viewers to understand who is speaking in the captions. Here are some guidelines to consider:
If a speaker is visible on screen, introduces themselves, or their name is shown on screen, no identification is needed.
If it is visually unclear who is speaking, consider identifying the speaker on a line before their speech:
MR. SMITH: Let's eat lunch.
OFFSCREEN NARRATOR: This is the next video in our series.
MR. SMITH: Let's eat lunch.
OFFSCREEN NARRATOR: This is the next video in our series.
Once a speaker has been identified, we recommend using two arrows to indicate when a speaker changes:
>> Hi Doctor, nice to meet you.
>> General, pleasure.
>> Hi Doctor, nice to meet you.
>> General, pleasure.
Non-Speech Elements
Non-speech elements include music without lyrics, sounds, or the absence of sound and can be very important to convey meaning in a video.
Generally, music or sound effects should be included in their own caption box so they appear separately on a screen rather than within text.
If a video has a non-speech element, such as music or no audio through the entire video, you can simply add one caption box with the non-speech element at the beginning of the video followed by an ellipses and adjust the time so it is on screen for 15 seconds.
[Upbeat music playing...]
[Upbeat music playing...]
Music
Music is often used to communicate a mood or theme.
When possible, a musical work, the title, and composer should be included.
[Enya playing "Orninoco Flow"]
[Enya playing "Orninoco Flow"]
For unknown music, the style or presentation of the music should be described objectively.
[Calm piano music]
[Calm piano music]
If the message of song lyrics is important, they should be captioned word for word. Surround lyrics with music icons (♪).
Other Non-speech
There may be other non-speech communication in a video that is important to include in captions.
If there is speech that contains an important emotional cue that is not shown, you can indicate in the captions. For example:
[sorrowful]
My dog died.
[sorrowful]
My dog died.
If it appears that people are talking, but they actually aren’t, it would be important to let the viewer know that no speech is happening:
[silence]
[silence]
Sound effects can be very important when helping someone who is deaf or hard of hearing understand important context in a video. However, we also want to be careful to only include sound effects that are necessary or helpful in understanding or enjoying the video. When deciding whether to include a sound effect or not, you may want to ask yourself if you think most people would want to read about that sound effect or if it adds any value to the video.
Additional Resources
If you would like to learn more about any of the above caption standards or other specific situations, we recommend the below resources for additional reading:
