Punjabi subtitle & caption generator

A top line runs along Gurmukhi words, and the vowel signs surround the letters. ੀ follows the consonant and ਿ precedes it; both curl up over that line. Above it sit ੇ, ੈ, ੋ and ੌ; below hang ੁ and ੂ. The adhak, ੱ, a small curve placed over a letter, tells you the next consonant is doubled.

Gurmukhi joins consonants into combined shapes much more rarely than Devanagari. An exception is a small ਰ below the first consonant, as in ਸ੍ਰੀ. The font list shows ਸਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ as the sample next to each Gurmukhi face, and since that phrase contains both ਸ੍ਰੀ and ਿ, scrolling the list shows how each face draws them.

The heading over Punjabi fonts uses the script's name: on a Gurmukhi transcript it reads Gurmukhi — your language. Search the fonts for gurmukhi and you get all nine faces wherever you are in the list; search for punjabi and you don't. If an English template is left as it is, Baloo Paaji 2 draws the Gurmukhi, a heavy face whose strokes end in rounded tips.

Gurmukhi captions work for people who were taught Gurmukhi. They don't work for a Shahmukhi-only reader of Punjabi, or for a speaker who can read neither script. Romanised Punjabi is the option that gives those viewers the original words.

English opens the video to non-Punjabi speakers, but it erases a choice Punjabi makes whenever someone is spoken to. ਤੂੰ is the informal you; ਤੁਸੀਂ is respectful, or plural. English has only you. When a clip's jokes rely on how people address one another, the translation loses them.

The adhak can change a word's meaning: ਪਤਾ is knowledge or an address, ਪੱਤਾ is a leaf. Wherever a consonant is doubled in speech, make sure the adhak is there. Also check the nasal dot ਂ, which standard spelling requires in words like ਨਹੀਂ and ਤੁਸੀਂ.

Romanised transcripts need a consistent rule for doubled letters for the same reason. Pata and patta are one letter apart and mean different things, so doubling consonants in some words but not in others can confuse a viewer.