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Turkish Subtitling Guidelines: Reading Speed, Line Length, Turkish Characters and Names

By Toprak Deniz Odabaşı, Translation Project Coordinator @ Alafranga Language Solutions
 
Most rules for Turkish subtitles are the same as for any European language: two lines, a fixed number of characters per line, a reading speed the viewer can follow. Platform style guides publish these numbers, and a good subtitler knows them.
 
What the style guides say less about is what makes Turkish difficult: long words built from suffixes, a verb that comes at the end of the sentence, four letters that tools handle badly, and a formal and informal "you" that English does not have. This guide covers both: the numbers, and the Turkish-specific decisions behind a file that passes QA and reads naturally.

 

▮The numbers: line length, reading speed, duration

The client's or the platform's specification always comes first. Where there is none, these are the values most Turkish subtitle files are measured against:
 
Parameter Common value Note
Characters per line 42 Netflix's Turkish style guide sets 42. Some broadcasters use 37 to 40.
Lines per subtitle 2 One line where the text fits.
Reading speed, adult content Up to 17 characters per second The limit in Netflix's guides for most European languages.
Reading speed, children's content Up to 13 characters per second Lower, because younger viewers read more slowly.
Minimum duration 5/6 of a second For example 20 frames at 24 fps.
 
Turkish characters count like any other letter: ğ, ş and ı are one character each. The difficulty is not the count but how much meaning a Turkish line has to carry within it, which is where the next sections come in.
 
We work to whichever specification the client sets. On Disney content, delivered through a media localization partner, our team worked to Netflix subtitle guidelines: 647 episodes and films, about 333 hours, in five weeks. Read the case study
 

▮Long words and line breaks

Turkish builds meaning by adding suffixes to a stem. Gelemeyeceklermiş is one word and means "apparently they will not be able to come". That has two consequences for subtitles:
 
  • Fewer, longer words per line. A 42-character line may hold only four or five words, so a bad break is more visible and the two lines are harder to balance.
  • Condensing works differently. In English you drop words. In Turkish you often rebuild the sentence so that one word with the right suffixes carries what three or four English words did.
  • Break at the phrase, not at the space. Keep a noun with its adjective, a verb with its negation, and the question particle mı/mi/mu/mü with the word it follows. A line that ends on an adjective and leaves its noun to the next line makes the viewer read twice.

▮Word order across two subtitles

Turkish puts the verb at the end. In English the action usually comes early: "I'm leaving, whatever you say." In Turkish the same sentence ends with the verb: Ne dersen de, gidiyorum.
 
When a long sentence runs across two subtitles, translating each subtitle on its own leaves the first one without its verb, and the viewer waits for the meaning. Better: restructure so that each subtitle is a complete thought, and check the result against the picture. If a character reacts on screen to the word "leaving", the Turkish subtitle on screen at that moment should already contain it.
 

▮The four letters that break files: ı, İ, ğ, ş

Turkish has a dotted and a dotless i in both cases: i/İ and ı/I. Software set to English changes them wrongly:
 
  • Upper case conversion: an English-locale tool turns istanbul into ISTANBUL instead of İSTANBUL. This shows up in on-screen text, SDH speaker labels and anything set in capitals.
  • Lower case conversion: IŞIK (light) becomes işik instead of ışık, which is a misspelling a Turkish viewer notices at once.
  • Encoding and fonts: a file that looks correct in the subtitle editor can show question marks or wrong letters on the player if the delivery format, the encoding or the font does not support ğ, ş, ı and İ. Check the first delivery on the target player, not only in the editor.

▮Siz or sen: the "you" decision

English has one "you". Turkish has the informal sen and the formal or plural siz, and the choice says something about the relationship. A doctor and a patient, a boss and an employee, a couple in their first episode and the same couple ten episodes later: each needs a decision.
 
  • Decide per pair of characters, not per line, and record it in the series glossary so that every subtitler on the project uses the same form.
  • Change it only when the story changes it. In drama, the moment two characters move from siz to sen is often a plot point. An accidental switch in episode 4 takes that moment away.

▮Names, titles and suffixes

  • Proper names stay as they are, unless the client provides approved translations. Nicknames are translated only when they carry a meaning the viewer needs.
  • Suffixes after foreign names follow pronunciation, not spelling. They are joined with an apostrophe and follow Turkish vowel harmony as the name is said: Steve'in (said "Stiv"), George'un (said "Corc"), Jacques'ın (said "Jak"). Harmony by spelling gives forms like George'nin, which look wrong to a Turkish reader.
  • Turkish titles follow the first name: Ayşe Hanım, Mehmet Bey, Selim Hoca. When subtitling from Turkish into English, decide once per series whether to keep them, translate them or drop them. "Mrs. Ayşe" is the one option that is always wrong, because English titles go with the surname.
  • Family terms carry rank. Abla (older sister), abi (older brother) and yenge (sister-in-law) are used to address people who are not related at all. In English subtitles they usually become a name, or are kept and explained once in the glossary for the template.

▮From Turkish into English: templates for other languages

Turkish series sold abroad are usually subtitled first into English, and the English file becomes the template for other languages. That raises the bar for the English file:
 
  • Timing is fixed for every language after it, so the template has to be timed to shot changes and reading speed carefully, not just for English.
  • Cultural decisions travel. If the English template drops abla, the German and Spanish subtitlers cannot get it back. Annotate such choices in the template notes.
  • Dense dialogue needs condensing in English too. Turkish drama often has long, fast, overlapping scenes. A template that is too full forces every downstream language to cut on its own.
 

▮Errors we correct most often

These are the problems that come up again and again when we review Turkish subtitle files, whether they were made by a person or by AI:
  • Wrong dotted or dotless i after case conversion, especially in capitals and SDH labels.
  • Suffix harmony after foreign names based on spelling instead of pronunciation.
  • Siz and sen switching between episodes, or between two subtitlers on the same series.
  • Line breaks that split a phrase, such as an adjective separated from its noun or a question particle pushed to the next line.
  • Subtitles translated one by one, so that a sentence spanning two subtitles only makes sense at the end, or the text does not match what happens on screen.

▮Checklist before delivery

  • Specification: client or platform style guide confirmed, including line length and reading speed.
  • Glossary: character names, titles, siz/sen per character pair, recurring terms.
  • Characters: İ/ı checked in all capitals, encoding confirmed for the delivery format.
  • Reading speed and timing: checked automatically, then by watching.
  • Final watch: the file played against the video on the target player, not only in the editor.
We subtitle into and out of Turkish, produce SDH and review existing files. See subtitle localization, or send us ten minutes of an episode.
 

▮Questions We Are Asked

What is the maximum line length for Turkish subtitles? The most common limit is 42 characters per line, which is what Netflix's Turkish style guide sets, with a maximum of two lines. Some broadcasters use 37 to 40 characters. The client's specification always takes precedence.
 
What reading speed should Turkish subtitles use? Platform guides for most European languages allow up to 17 characters per second for adult content and 13 for children's content. Because Turkish words are long, staying within that limit usually means rebuilding sentences rather than only dropping words.
 
Should Turkish subtitles use siz or sen? It depends on the relationship between the characters. Decide per pair of characters, record the decision in the series glossary and keep it consistent. Change it only when the story changes the relationship.
 
How are suffixes added to foreign names in Turkish? With an apostrophe, following vowel harmony as the name is pronounced, not as it is spelled: Steve'in, George'un, Jacques'ın.
 
Do you work to client style guides? Yes. We work to the specification the client or platform sets. On Disney content, delivered through a media localization partner, our team worked to Disney's Turkish subtitle guidelines.

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