Have you ever seen a "CC" symbol on your television or streaming platform and don't know what it means? Well, CC is the symbol for closed caption, a process of displaying text on a video screen, television, or any other visual display to provide interpretive or additional information. There are many reasons why people use CC, and its importance is gigantic. However, what is closed caption translation? And what is the difference between CC and subtitles?
What is closed caption translation?
As you know, CC is the symbol for closed caption, a necessary process of displaying text on a video screen to provide additional or interpretive information. Usually, CC is a transcription of the audio of the video you are watching in the same language as the original content. It describes every sound in the audio, including dialogues, sounds of objects, songs, animals' sounds, and more. If you are watching an English video, the CC will also be English.
Closed caption translation is basically the same thing, but it is a translation of the transcribed text. It is not as common as the standard CC since companies usually use subtitles instead of closed caption translation, but it exists, and it is crucial to several people.
Imagine that you are watching a Brazilian Portuguese movie. You have hearing loss, so you can't listen to the film quite well, and you don't understand Portuguese. Watching the dubbed is not an option because of your hearing loss. What can you do? You watch the movie with closed caption translation. Instead of reading the standard CC – that in this case would be in Portuguese – you read the English version, reading all the sounds in the movie so you can understand everything happening.
Why is CC important?
CC is essential for anyone that has trouble hearing or is entirely deaf. The audio is a significant part of a contemporary video, including its narrative. Not knowing what the movie characters are saying or the wood creaking in a terror film makes the experience worse. Therefore, it is essential to have CC so everyone can enjoy the whole experience of a video. Besides, CC helps people to learn a new language since it describes every sound and dialogue in a video.
How does CC works?
CC is the transcription of every sound in a video. It can be made through AI software or entirely by humans, and it is synchronized with the corresponding sound in the video. For example, when the CC saying "[Alex screams]" appears, the character Alex is screaming in the movie.
What is the difference between CC and subtitles?
CC
is a transcription of every sound in the movie, while a subtitle is the
text version of the spoken dialogues in the video. CC will describe
every single sound in the video, including the sound of objects, songs,
etc. The subtitles will only show the text version of the characters'
words.