Templates
Telugu subtitle & caption generator
Telugu captions can be in తెలుగు, in Roman letters, or translated into English. Each preview below is in Telugu, where the second consonant of a cluster sits under the first, so lines need some space underneath.
No Telugu templates have been published yet. Any template in the full gallery can still caption Telugu: letters its own font cannot draw come from the Telugu fallback face.
Captioning in Telugu
Telugu letters are rounded and expand in three directions: marks on top, consonants underneath, and vowel signs to the right. For Telugu captions, then, start by setting the space between rows. Next come fonts, where the editor's Telugu list is unusually long, and then the spelling of English words that turn up inside Telugu speech.
Top ticks and letters below
The talakattu is the small tick that tops many Telugu consonants. A vowel sign often alters it; in కి the sign replaces the tick altogether. ు and ూ, on the other hand, attach to the right, which makes the word wider as the vowel changes.
A consonant cluster writes its second member as a vattu, a reduced form placed beneath the first (స్త and క్క are examples); one syllable can contain several. The anusvara ం, a little circle following the letter, sits halfway up. If two rows of Telugu are close, the vattulu of the top row can collide with the head marks of the bottom row.
Telugu fonts in Captionwale
Baloo Tammudu 2, round and weighty, is used for Telugu whenever a template's own font has only Latin letters. Telugu has a long section in the font list, and many of its faces are display or text designs with a lot of character. Test them on an actual line from your transcript rather than the sample. Good first candidates:
- Sans-serifs that remain clear across a full sentence: Noto Sans Telugu, Anek Telugu and Hind Guntur.
- Serifs, with stronger thick-and-thin contrast: Tiro Telugu and Noto Serif Telugu.
- Baloo Tammudu 2 itself, picked on purpose, when captions should feel soft and weighty.
Telugu script, Tenglish or English
English words are everywhere in Telugu speech, usually with Telugu endings. One that ends in a consonant generally gains a final u when a Telugu speaker says it: car turns into కారు and bus into బస్సు. Telugu script simply spells it that way. Romanised captions, though, must choose between bassu and bus, or kaaru and car. Tenglish, as Telugu typed in Latin letters is sometimes called, uses both, but a video is easier to read when it picks one.
Telugu kinship words carry information English drops. Elder brother is అన్న, younger brother తమ్ముడు, elder sister అక్క, younger sister చెల్లెలు; in English they are just brother and sister. If the relationship matters, keep anna or akka in a romanised caption.
Proofreading a Telugu transcript
Long and short vowels have different signs in Telugu, and swapping them can make a new word: అది is that, ఆది is beginning. Where a speaker rushed, a transcript may drop the length mark, so check vowel signs as carefully as consonants. Check names against their usual spelling, look for ళ written as ల or the reverse, since quick speech blurs them, and use digits instead of numbers written as words, because figures are quicker to read in a short caption.
Questions
Why do Telugu rows need a wider gap?
Consonants in a cluster are written below the first, and many letters wear a tick on top, so Telugu lines are taller than English ones. With a two-row template, push Line spacing up until the rows no longer touch.
Should romanised Telugu say car or kaaru?
Either is fine if you use it consistently through the video. Kaaru matches the way it was spoken; car is faster for viewers who mostly read English.