The underlying research paper was previously introduced in community discussions here How quickly can a viewer read subtitles?
Over the years I have seen viki viewer complaints about “too long” subtitles significantly decline. There used to be complaints that Viki’s English subbing on Korean drama was unprofessional word by word translation but that has rarely been the case. Rather than subtitled dialogue being a mere gist of what is said I have advised newbies to include the meaning of every word they hear in the subtitle. I have made a conscious effort to make a best effort replication of what the native speaker’s experience in watching a Kdrama is so that if a news broadcast gives background information then our sub should contain the information even if the resulting subtitle exceeds the old school rule of thumb of 45 characters per line. Under traditional guidelines a maximum length subtitle contained two lines of 45 characters each on screen for six seconds. Dozens of studies have shown average adult reading speeds can comfortably accommodate far more characters per second than the old school rule of thumb. I have also considered that watching a subbed drama on one’s own screen gives the reader the opportunity to “ smell the roses “ and to pause to read the note explaining an idiom or historical note which gives viki drama watching a unique flavor. Research conducted dozens of years ago showed that people could understand spoken speech at twice the normal rate of speech so it is natural to assume subtitles which require faster reading can also be comprehended well
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