Subtitling Hamlet Videos Back to English for MIT

Boston, MA December 22, 2015 – Language Connections, a full service language provider, recently collaborated with the MIT Literature Section on a project requiring video transcription, translation, and subtitling services. The MIT Literature Section conducted a study on how Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is adapted in various languages. To do this, they needed English language subtitling for videos productions of “Hamlet” in other languages.

This project is part of the MIT Global Shakespeare Video & Performance Archive, a huge undertaking which aims to demonstrate the diversity of productions of Shakespeare’s plays from around the world and facilitate new forms of cultural exchange.The MIT Literature Section requested that Language Connections construct English language subtitles for videos of “Hamlet” acted out in Polish and Japanese.

Subtitling Services for Videos

Language Connections completed video transcription and timecoding for each language version, and then translated the text into English subtitles. The client requested that the translators clearly indicate when they used the original text from “Hamlet” and when they provided their own English translation. This would allow researchers to compare these productions to Shakespeare’s original. We delivered the translated English subtitles for the Polish and Japanese videos of “Hamlet” in a SRT file to facilitate adding the subtitles to the videos. The client also requested that we translate and provide English subtitles for a number of other “Hamlet” productions in the future, including one 9-hour performance.

Language Connections regularly provides a full range of education translation services and interpreting for major higher education institutions and academic centers, including several departments at MIT. Among the services we offer are: