16/7/2017 Castilian & Latin American Spanish Timed Text Style Guide – Netflix | Partner Help Center

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Castilian & Latin American Spanish Timed Text Style Guide

Castilian & Latin American Spanish

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

1. Abbreviations

The use of abbreviations should be avoided unless there are space limitations.
Some of the most common abbreviations are the following: Sr., Sra., Srta., Dr., Dra., Ud., Uds., km,
cm, m.
Abbreviations of personal titles (e.g., Sr., Dra.) should only be used if they precede a proper noun:
Sr. González, Dra. Juana.
The proper abbreviation for Estados Unidos is EE. UU. The acronym EUA is also accepted (as per
RAE).
For a more detailed clarification on abbreviation rules: http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=abreviatura
For a complete list of abbreviations: http://www.rae.es/diccionario-panhispanico-de-
dudas/apendices/abreviaturas

2. Acronyms

Acronyms (siglas) are written without periods or spaces: ONU, FBI

Do not use accents if they are written in all caps: CIA, OTAN
Some acronyms are written in lowercase as they are common nouns and have become part of the
daily lexicon (e.g., ovni, sida); if this is the case, they need accents following the Spanish accent
rules (e.g., láser).
For a more detailed clarification on acronyms: http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=siglas

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., Papá Noel, San Nicolás).

5. Continuity

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

Subtitle 1   Algunos tenemos que pensar

Subtitle 1   en esas cosas. 

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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   Me pasa algo raro...

Subtitle 2   ...pero no puedo decirte nada. 

Subtitle 1   - Te iba a decir que...

Subtitle 2   - ¡No quiero saberlo!     

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

...pero tienes que venir ahora.

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 He trabajado en esta película…

Subtitle 2 (FN) DIRECTOR

Subtitle 3 …por seis meses.

7. Dual Speakers

Use a hyphen followed by a space to indicate two speakers in one subtitle, with a maximum of one
speaker per line.

- ¿No te gusta?

- No, no me gusta.

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.

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 written passages (e.g., excerpts from books,
magazines or newspapers, handwritten notes, social media messages and text messages), which
must match the use of uppercase/lowercase as it appears on screen. In order to improve
readability, mixed case can also be used for long passages of on screen text (e.g., long written
passages used as prologue or epilogue).
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.
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Subtitle 1 Creo que no deberíamos…

Subtitle 2 (FN) PROHIBIDA LA ENTRADA

Subtitle 3 …seguir avanzando.

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. Numbers

From 1 to 10, numbers should be written out: uno, dos, tres, 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.
If a number has no more than four digits, no spaces are necessary: 2000 dólares.
Convert to the metric system: kilometers (km), centimeters (cm), meters (m), kilograms (kg)

13. Punctuation

Do not use semicolons, punto y coma (;).

Do not use exclamation and question marks together (?!), please pick the one that suits the
intonation or the meaning best. 

¡¿Cómo dices?! SHOULD BE ¿Cómo dices? OR ¡Cómo dices!

A period should never follow a closing question/exclamation mark.

For vocatives and dependent sentences/clauses, please follow the RAE recommendation: 

Vocatives:

Raquel, ¿sabes ya cuándo vendrás?

OR

¿Sabes ya cuándo vendrás, Raquel?

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Dependent clauses/sentences:

Para que te enteres, ¡no pienso cambiar de opinión!

OR

¡No pienso cambiar de opinión, para que te enteres!

No comma is necessary when pero precedes an exclamatory or interrogative sentence following

the RAE recommendation:

Pero ¿dónde vas a estas horas?

Pero ¡qué barbaridad!

For specific details on punctuation, please check: http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?

key=signos%20ortogr%C3%A1ficos 

14. Quotes

Use double quotation marks (" ") without spaces for regular quotations: 

Él me dijo: "Regresa mañana".

Single quotation marks (' ') for quotes within quotes:

Él dijo: "'La Bamba' es mi canción favorita”.

In Spanish, the period at the end of a sentence always comes after the closing quotes: 

"A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda".

When a sentence includes a quoted sentence which ends with a question or an exclamation mark,
a period must be added after the quotation mark: 

Me preguntó: "¿Me quieres?".  

Quotes should be used only at the start and at the end of a quotation, not at the start of every
subtitle.
Song titles should be in quotes.

15. Reading Speed

Adult programs: 17 characters per second

Children’s programs: 13 characters per second

16. 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.

17. Songs

Only subtitle plot-pertinent songs if the rights have been granted.

Italicize lyrics.
Use an uppercase letter at the beginning of each line.

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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.

18. 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. If on-screen, either as
part of the principal photography or burned into video, please obtain approved translations from
Netflix.
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.

19. Special Instructions

Dialogue must never be censored. Expletives should be rendered as faithfully as possible.

Plot-pertinent dialogue always takes precedence over background dialogue.
Deliberate misspellings and mispronunciations should not be reproduced in the translation unless
plot pertinent.

20. 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.
All same-language audible songs should be titled if the rights have been granted.
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.
Use all lowercase, except for proper nouns.
Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified.
Use a generic ID to indicate and describe ambient music (e.g., rock music playing over a stereo).
Sound effects should be plot pertinent.
Never italicize speaker IDs or sound effects, even when the spoken information is italicized, such
as in a voice-over.

21. Reference

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

Diccionario de la lengua española:http://www.rae.es/recursos/diccionarios/drae

Diccionario panhispánico de dudas:http://www.rae.es/recursos/diccionarios/dpd

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Change Log:

2017-06-02

Revised section 1 Abbreviations – 2nd bullet point revised to add period to “Ud.” and “Uds.”, and
comma between the two
Revised section 1 Abbreviations – 3rd bullet point revised to add period to “Dra.”
Revised section 1 Abbreviations – 4th bullet point revised to add acronym “EUA”
Revised section 2 Acronyms – 3rd bullet point revised to add accent to “láser”
Revised section 5 Continuity – 1st bullet point revised to fix spelling of “ellipsis” and remove “(3 dots)”
Revised section 5 Continuity – 2nd bullet point revised to add spaces after hyphens in dialogue
Revised section 13 Punctuation – 4th bullet point revised to remove italics from “Raquel”
Revised section 13 Punctuation – 6th bullet point revised to add full link to punctuation article in
DRAE
Revised section 14 Quotes – 3rd bullet point revised to replace example
Revised section 15 Reading Speed – “words per minute” removed
Revised section 16 Repetitions – 1st bullet point revised for clarity
Revised section 18 Titles – 1st bullet point revised for clarity
Revised section 20 SDH Guidelines – 1st bullet point revised 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 – 4th bullet point removed

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