Toward Intelligent Subtitling
Part 6: Italics

Ah, yes... Italics. A constant source of confusion for newbies and seasoned subtitlers alike. Ask ten people how to best italicize, and you will get ten different answers. Indeed, with all the discrepancies, ambiguities, edge cases and misconceptions, it’s hard to have a full understanding of this troubled aspect of timed text, even if your first subtitling rodeo was years and years ago.

As for myself, I’ve always had a funny feeling about italicizing; it didn’t sit well with me. Something seemed fundamentally off about its philosophy and rationale — about how we just follow the guidelines for italics without ever doubting them. So, in this sixth part of the Intelligent Subtitling series, I will take a deep dive into this established practice, question its validity, and give you some much-needed answers.

Current practice

Okay, so why do we tilt our subtitles from time to time? What do we aim to achieve? Well, the general idea is to convey a shift in the source, content, or manner of speech, to mark some sort of contextual “otherness”, so that the viewer could follow along smoothly, without getting confused as to who says what, and how.

In terms of indicating the source, we italicize the following:

Off-scene speech (coming from another place or reality)
- This helps viewers distinguish between speakers present in the scene and those outside of it
Narration
- This signals that what we’re hearing is a voice-over rather than dialogue between characters
Internal monologue
- This aids in differentiating between inner reflections and dialogue spoken out loud
Inserts
- In some style guides, it is recommended to italicize subtitles covering on-screen text, to stress that it doesn’t originate from a character

Regarding content, the commonly found use cases include:

Language shifts (text in a non-primary language of the movie)
- This makes it easier to follow transitions between the languages or dialects spoken
Titles of works of art (such as books, movies, video games, etc.)
- This assists in avoiding a literal interpretation
Terminology (e.g. scientific terms in Latin or the first time a word is defined in the film)
- This helps highlight the uncommon nature or uniqueness of the text

Then, as far as manner of speech, we normally use italics for:

Amplified/distorted voice (i.e. heard through an electronic device such as TV, radio, microphone, etc.)
Songs and recited poetry
Word emphasis

These three indicate a different type of vocal delivery, to reduce contextual ambiguity.

Finally, what we tend to not italicize is:

Instances of inverted italics (e.g. a foreign word in a song)
Films consisting mostly of narration/voice-over (particularly documentaries)
Sound descriptions and name labels in SDH
Text that could spoil the plot if italicized (I gave an example in Part 1)

All in all, italicizing timed text enables the viewer to better understand and enjoy the movie.

At least in theory.

But does it, really? Well, let’s see...

Should we use italics?

If asked this, most people will probably say, “Yes.” And rightly so — after all, italicizing seems rather helpful. Yet, the more you think about it and the deeper you dig, the more questionable this widespread practice gets, as there are many reasons to think otherwise. Eight of them, in fact.

#1 Redundant

Yes. Almost everything we italicize can be gathered from the audiovisual context alone. Someone’s speaking from a phone or a TV? We can tell. Someone’s not in the scene? We can tell. Someone’s singing? We can tell. It’s a different language? Again, we can tell — just like those watching the film without subtitles. Italicizing seems redundant, as it tries to provide us with information that we already get through sight and sound — via the content, intonation and timing of dialogue; the audio design of voice-over and distorted speech; mouth movements (or a lack thereof); the logic of the scene and action, etc.

Here, take a look at the examples below and see if they leave you confused.

Phone call + word emphasis (from Jerry Maguire):

Song (12th Fail):

Inner monologue + foreign word + inverted italics (The Fable):

Were any of these more difficult to follow without the italics? Mm... nah.

#2 No studies

I’ve searched far and wide and found no papers on the usefulness of italics in subtitles. Zero, zilch, nada. Perhaps they exist somewhere out there, in the far corners of the internet or on forgotten library shelves, but my attempts at finding even a single one were clearly not enough. Not a recent study, not an old one, not any at all. Whatsoever.

#3 Harder to read

While research on the impact of italics in subs feels lacking in our field (to put it mildly), in other fields — such as typography, design, accessibility and psycholinguistics — it is anything but. A brief web search will reveal dozens of papers, from all the way back in the ‘70s and up to the present day, scrutinizing how slanted fonts (or obliques) affect text legibility as well as reading speed and comprehension.

Here are some post-2000 examples (to factor in technological shifts), along with their key findings:

Rello, L., & Baeza-Yates, R. (2016). The Effect of Font Type on Screen Readability by People with Dyslexia. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 8(4), Article No. 15.
- Italics should be avoided in materials intended for dyslexic readers.
Dyson, M. C. (2004). How Physical Text Layout Affects Reading from Screen. Ergonomics, 47(14), 1535–1562.
- Italicized text slows down reading speed compared to roman text.
- Readers experience increased eye movement complexity when reading italics.
Bernard, M. L., Chaparro, B. S., Mills, M. M., & Halcomb, C. G. (2002). Examining Children’s Reading Performance and Preference for Different Computer-Displayed Text. Behaviour & Information Technology, 21(2), 87–96.
- Children read italicized text more slowly than standard text.
- Preferences lean toward non-italicized fonts for ease of reading.
Shaikh, A. D., Chaparro, B. S., & Fox, D. (2006). Perception of Fonts: Perceived Personality Traits and Uses. Usability News, 8(1).
- Italic fonts are perceived as elegant but less legible.
- Participants prefer roman fonts for body text due to better readability.
Ling, J., & van Schaik, P. (2006). The Influence of Font Type and Line Length on Visual Search and Information Retrieval in Web Pages. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 64(5), 395–404.
- Italicized text hampers quick information retrieval.
- Roman fonts facilitate faster search and better user performance.
Tannen, G., & Oswald, F. L. (2010). Effects of Typography on Readability in a Digital Learning Environment. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 38(3), 241–252.
- Italic text reduces comprehension in learning materials.
- Recommendations favor using standard fonts for educational content.
Beier, S., & Larson, K. (2010). Design Improvements for Frequently Misrecognized Letters. Information Design Journal, 18(2), 118–137.
- Italicization can cause letterform confusion, leading to misrecognition.
- Clear, upright fonts improve letter differentiation.
Wilkins, A. J., Cleave, R., Grayson, N., & Wilson, L. (2009). Typography for Children May Be Inappropriately Designed. Journal of Research in Reading, 32(4), 402–412.
- Italic fonts can strain young readers, reducing reading speed.
- Recommendations include avoiding italics in children’s reading materials.
Kurniawan, S., & Zaphiris, P. (2001). Reading Online Text: A Comparison of Four White Space Layouts. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction.
- Italics can negatively affect readability in certain layouts.
- Adequate white space and standard fonts improve reading efficiency.
Mackiewicz, J. (2005). How to Use Five Letterforms to Gauge a Typeface’s Personality: A Research-Driven Method. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 48(3), 292–300.
- Italics convey formality or emphasis but may reduce legibility.
- Careful selection of font styles is essential for professional communication.

Bad for dyslexic people and children, has negative effects on readability and legibility, causes misrecognition, increases eye movement complexity, etc. Looks pretty damning, doesn’t it? We can only hope these results don’t translate one for one to timed text in the current year.

#4 Questionable origin

It feels impossible (at least for me) to trace back where it all began, but it seems the first widely available, public source of prescribing italics was the original BBC subtitling guidelines published in the early 1980s, which predated some of our favorite descriptive books, such us Subtitling for the media: a handbook of an art by Jan Ivarsson and Mary Carroll and Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling by Jorge Diaz Cintas and Aline Remael. The guidelines were based, apparently, on the established professional practices existing at the time in the UK.

One funny detail, though: they were intended specifically for D/deaf and hard of hearing audiences. And so, my uncorroborated hunch is that these original instructions were largely copied by international companies from one guide to another, from one language to another, from deaf audiences to hearing ones, and so on, and that’s how we got what we have today... But don’t quote me on that.

#5 Unknown function

I’ve asked my friends and relatives if they knew what italics are supposed to mean in subtitles. Most said they didn’t even notice them, and those who did had no clue. This was also done by some of my colleagues, with the same result. And reading through online forums for movie fans reveals as much: either a partial understanding or no understanding at all.

For us, professionals, it’s clear as day, of course, but have you ever stopped to think if viewers understand this element the way we do? If they’re connecting the dots, so to speak? Well, judging from my [unscientific] survey, the answer is a resounding no, especially for those with below-normal vision, who have trouble seeing italics in the first place.

#6 Unnoticed absence

Believe it or not, a large number of languages don’t employ italics at all. Indeed, more than a quarter of the Netflix TTSGs — including those for Korean, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Arabic and Thai — instruct to not use italics. And no one seems to miss them.

Viewing devices and media players provide another source of “unnoticed absence”. Did you know that the Netflix mobile app didn’t support italics in timed text until recently? The YouTube one still doesn’t! Hulu, too. And Disney+ on some devices. And Amazon Prime on occasion. And Apple TV without the box. And some older DVD and Blu-ray players.

And no one bats an eye.

The same applies to some other forms of subtitled media. In video games, for example, we rarely see italics in subtitles — and yet, there hasn’t been a big scandal. And the Game Accessibility Guidelines don’t mention italics at all.

#7 High variability

Speaking of guidelines. I’ve perused all the corporate, national, organizational and other style guides I could find — lots of them! — and found that they differ a fair bit in their prescriptions. For instance, one of the oldest and best-researched guides out there, the one from the BBC, tells us this:

Italicizing seems anything but standardized in our field: some guides (e.g. ARTE) don’t mention it at all, some do so only briefly — and in different ways — while others do fully but disagree on how to treat

off-scene and “electronic” speech
ship names
on-screen text
word emphasis
songs
L/J cuts
reverse italics
SDH name labels / sound descriptions

and so on — it’s all over the place.

Not only does this indicate a degree of arbitrariness, but with so much variability from one TV channel, streaming service, organization and territory to another, how can any viewer know for sure what italics are supposed to communicate in their particular case? 🤷

#8 Personal tests

While doing research for this article, I watched several films and shows with italics disabled. I noticed no effect on my enjoyment or understanding of the content. Again, not very scientific, but something to think about.

Reasons to italicize

With so many arguments against this practice, should we drop it altogether and save subtitlers lots of trouble?

Well, no, I don’t think so. In fact, there are at least three good reasons not to:

a) Lack of access to context

Above, I mentioned audiovisual redundancy — that we already know, through sight and sound, what italics aim to convey. That, of course, isn’t always the case:

Sound

D/deaf and hard of hearing audiences have little to no access to the audio, so they strictly need italics to navigate through the plot
Viewers in noisy environments (watching while vacuum cleaning or during a loud “movie night” party) won’t hear parts of the dialogue clearly, so they also will benefit from our emphasis
The same applies to those in sound-sensitive environments, with volume on low (e.g. to not wake up someone or while having a phone call)
In case of mumbled dialogue intended to be understood (hello, Christopher Nolan!), you may mishear or not hear certain words or phrases, and italics can help to disambiguate.

Image

When reading subtitles, we keep our eyes in the bottom part of the screen, so we dont see much of the picture and thus lose some of the visual context

Focus

If the viewer is inattentive, e.g. cooking, working or being on the phone while watching a show, they will miss parts of the context, and italics can help them have a better sense of what’s going on.

b) Limited grasp of content

Original-language viewers, who should be able to follow everything without subtitles, will sometimes have an easier time telling things apart. Yes, if you hear a French word in an American sitcom, you will know that it’s in a different language. But what about a Mandarin word in a Korean drama? Or a Xhosa word in a Ugandan action movie? All of a sudden you need italics — or some other form of marking — even though those watching without subtitles can follow just fine.

The same applies to word emphasis. If you have a level of fluency in the source language of the film, you might be able to tell. But if the show is in Finnish, or Japanese, or some other complex language that you don’t know at all? Translators use special tricks to convey this emphasis, but depending on the language and the situation at hand, it’s not always possible. And again, italics can come in handy.

The same applies to differentiating between internal and external speech, normal and distorted voices, singing and speaking, etc.

c) Reinforced intuition

Finally, just like it’s nice to have same-language subs turned on to help you with mumbled dialogue, quiet sounds, and other things that you might miss, even if you know the original language, it’s nice to have your cinematic intuition for what’s going on to be reinforced by special formatting in the text. Yes, italicizing might be not strictly necessary, but it’s a good quality-of-life improvement, given that your audience actually understands its meaning.

Next Steps

So, what should we do going forward? How do we proceed, with all this in mind?

I have the following recommendations for different stakeholders:

Researchers: carry out a study on italicizing subtitles and its effects on people’s viewing experience.
Broadcasters: make sure your audiences understand and appreciate the purpose of italics in subs, because otherwise it’s all for naught (and it’s a LOT of work for subtitlers).
Guidelines writers: add instructions for confusing and contentious cases, such as reverse italics, proper names in a third language, L/J cuts, films with mostly narration or a lot of back-and-forth, etc. Also, consider alternative types of marking, such as all caps, bold type, and color coding.
Software/hardware engineers: ensure your media players and viewing devices encode and display italics correctly.
LSPs: double-check that your deliverables support and include italics as per client specs.
Subtitlers:
- follow the guidelines and when in doubt, reach out to the client for a clarification.
- If you haven’t been given any instructions, think of the target audience, their spoken language(s) and the viewing device/environment, and use your best judgement to see where marking a shift with italics would help the viewer. And then try to stay consistent.

Alright, this concludes the article. As always, if you have any questions, thoughts, or remarks, feel free to share them in a comment below (or on social media).

Until next time!