20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You usually split time between watching video and writing short captions that match speech and timing. Expect 2–4 hours of video review, then drafting and syncing subtitles in a tool like Adobe Creative Cloud or Figma for timing and layout.
Afternoons often go to edits from editors or clients in Google Docs, fixing wording for clarity, and sending proofs as PDFs via Adobe Acrobat or uploading final files to a delivery system. Project planning and status updates happen in Asana or Google Sheets.
AI can transcribe speech quickly but always check for errors. Use AI output as a first draft, then manually correct timing, speaker labels, and factual details against the video. Keep a human in the loop for every line.
Avoid pasting confidential videos into free public AI tools unless your contract and company data policy allow it. For legal and copyright checks, follow internal procedures and confirm ownership before publishing.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports 47,940 employed subtitling and related workers in 2025. The median annual pay is $76,910, the lowest tenth is $44,310, and the top tenth is $139,870, per BLS.
Pay varies by industry, language pair, and whether you freelance or work for a studio. Those numbers are BLS aggregates; individual offers will depend on experience and location.
Practice by subtitling short public-domain videos. Use free trials of Premiere/Media Encoder or a subtitle editor to learn timing, line length, speaker change rules, and reading speed guidelines (usually 2–3 lines, 1–6 seconds).
Join online courses or communities, copy style guides from broadcasters, and build a small portfolio of 5–10 clips. Track projects and deadlines in Asana to show you can handle workflow.
They overlap but differ. Subtitling often means writing readable dialogue and fitting it on screen; captioning includes sound descriptions for deaf viewers and timing rules. Translation adds converting dialogue to another language.
Clients may expect you to do one or all. If translation is required, you need strong target-language writing skills plus revision and cultural checks; otherwise you’ll focus on shaping original-language text for on-screen reading.
Precision with short, clear writing under time constraints. You must cut spoken sentences into readable chunks, choose the exact word, and keep timing matched to the video so viewers can read comfortably.
That includes being detail-oriented with punctuation, speaker IDs, and following a style guide. Practice rewriting dialogue to fit 37–42 characters per line and timed cues without losing meaning.