Translating Resilience: The Subtitling Journey of Yogis of Ukraine

Screenshot from the documentary Yogis of Ukraine

Beyond Words: The Invisible Art of Subtitling

When I began editing the documentary Yogis of Ukraine, I immediately understood a fundamental challenge: 95% of viewers would experience these women's powerful stories through subtitles. The film weaves together interviews conducted in Ukrainian, Russian, and English—meaning that to watch without any subtitles, you'd need fluency in all three languages, a rare combination indeed.

Even within Ukraine, where Ukrainian and Russian are commonly spoken (depending on the region), English proficiency varies widely. Not all Ukrainians speak both Ukrainian and Russian. So even in its country of origin, most viewers will rely on subtitles to fully understand the film.

What makes this documentary so powerful is how each woman's energy and emotion come through in her voice. How she speaks often carries more weight than what she says—similar to how text messages can create confusion when they lack tone and intent.

The Art and Science of Subtitling

Creating effective subtitles presents several challenges. We all speak faster than we can read, making word-for-word translations impractical. Instead, subtitles must distill and convey the essence of what's being communicated.

Initially, I tried preserving Ukrainian word order in the English subtitles. However, the languages are structured so differently that this approach created cumbersome text. I eventually decided to focus on reflecting the meaning as accurately and concisely as possible: How could I convey the message in as few words as possible while maintaining its integrity?

Yogis of Ukraine contains over 1,500 subtitles, each delivering a small piece of the story. Industry guidelines recommend a maximum of 42 characters per line and no more than two lines per subtitle. The arrangement of words within these constraints matters significantly:

• A two-line subtitle is often more readable than the same text on a single long line

• When possible, the top line should be shorter than the bottom line, making it easier for viewers to quickly read and return to the visuals

• Subtitles should appear on screen long enough to be comprehended—generally allowing no more than 30 characters per second

  
  

This process involves balancing competing needs: giving audiences time to appreciate the cinematography while ensuring they can comfortably read the text and giving them breaks from reading, if possible.

Literal versus deeper meaning...

Many people mistakenly believe that subtitles are in fact word-for-word translations of what has been said. But, really, subtitles need to convey the deeper message quickly. Initially, at the start of editing, I worked with long, literal word-for-word subtitle translations to fully understand what was being communicated. But, then, as the film emerged, those literal translations gave way to expressing the same meaning in fewer words as necessary.

For instance, at one point in the film, Olesia, one of the Ukrainian yoga teachers, explains her vision: “With each [yoga] teacher, there will be dozens and hundreds of people who will receive help.” This literal translation of this line is too long to read at speed in the context of the film. So we shortened it to read: “Each teacher will help hundreds of people.”

Equally challenging were things that could be expressed simply in one language, that in another language required too many words to read in the same time-space.

Beyond Basic Translation

Other considerations include the complexity of the ideas being expressed. Does the subtitle explain a complex concept requiring deeper thought, or a simpler idea? Where was the viewer looking just before the subtitle appeared? Was there an important visual element in the upper part of the screen that would require additional time for the viewer's gaze to shift to the subtitle below?

A particularly significant challenge with Yogis of Ukraine involves gender in translation. In most languages other than English, when women speak about their experiences, the endings of certain nouns and verbs change. There's how a male would express something, and how a female would express it—a fundamental aspect of language that's difficult for English speakers to fully grasp as we've increasingly moved away from gendered speech (like "actor" versus "actress").

This became especially important to me, as it felt inappropriate for subtitles to use masculine language structures when women were speaking in languages that distinguish between masculine and feminine forms. Surprisingly, I discovered that virtually all AI translation services default to masculine forms regardless of the speaker's gender.

After weeks of frustrating searches, I found that Claude by Anthropic could accurately translate for female speakers. Working together over many weeks, we developed protocols and approaches for rendering the film in multiple languages. This was far from automatic—it involved discussing the film's intent and specific approaches for each language, followed by meticulous translation work.

A Global Reach

We're currently creating versions of our film for audiences who speak nine different languages: English, Ukrainian, German, Polish, Spanish, French, Italian, Danish, and Greek. That's 1,500 subtitles times nine—over 13,500 subtitles in total.

Each language presents unique challenges. German, for instance, typically requires more characters than English. Certain concepts express concisely in one language but require more words in another.

The process involves not just accurate translation but also manual formatting, with each subtitle carefully adjusted to harmonize with what's being said, the flow of subtitles, and the rhythm of the film.

In the end, I'm thrilled that we can bring these inspiring Ukrainian women's stories to audiences who would otherwise never experience them. Through the art of subtitling, their voices—with all their power, emotion, and humanity—can now resonate across languages and cultures.