Walking-tour subtitles. Keep every place in context.

Make the recorded walk understandable

A narrated walking-tour video asks viewers to follow both an explanation and a changing view. A caption can spell a street correctly yet refer to the wrong bridge after an edit. Polyglot can create and translate timed subtitles locally on an Apple Silicon Mac, let you review them alongside playback, and export separate SRT or WebVTT files. The creator still needs to check which place each sentence describes.

This workflow is for an owned or permission-cleared video watched from beginning to end. It does not create a location-triggered audio tour, interactive map or live navigation. A walk with no spoken narration needs a different editorial starting point; speech recognition will not describe its scenery.

Clear the intended processing, translation and distribution of the recording, guide narration and included material. Review identifiable people and private conversations before publishing. A license for background music or a borrowed image does not settle every right in the video. Creative Commons explains that its licenses do not clear third-party privacy and publicity rights. Hold unresolved material out of the public edit.

Keep a stop ledger beside the final video

Finish cuts, replacement shots and narration corrections in your video editor first. Give the final video an edit identifier and retain the filming date. In a separate review document, record each named stop, its first appearance, the spoken name and the spelling approved by the creator or local reviewer. This is your working document, not an automatic Polyglot feature.

Use the filmed sign and a reliable place reference to resolve spelling and diacritics, while checking that both describe the place actually in view. Keep former names separate from current names. If the guide says an older name as part of the history, preserve that meaning rather than silently replacing it with a modern one.

This fictional review log shows why a stop needs more than a spellcheck. The bridge line stays on hold until the creator resolves the contradiction. Any replacement narration or recut must be finished before making the subtitle timing for the new edit.

Fictional stop review
Video: canal-walk-v04.mp4
Filmed: 2026-08-12

01:20  Linden Quay
Check: name and accent marks
03:45  “bridge on our left”
View: bridge on camera right
HOLD: creator checks the shot
08:10  “entrance is open today”
Keep filming-date context

Check direction against the camera, not your memory

Review every left, right, behind us, across the canal and next to the gate while watching the exact shot. A camera turn, reverse-angle insert or shortened approach can change what a viewer thinks those words refer to. If the transcript misheard the narration, correct the text. If the narration itself conflicts with the image, ask the creator to resolve the media; do not make the subtitles tell a different story from the audio.

Traffic and wind can hide a syllable in a place name. Replay the passage and ask the guide where necessary. A plausible nearby landmark is not proof of what was said. Keep unresolved wording in your private review log and hold the affected passage instead of publishing a guess.

Polyglot does not identify landmarks, read signs or validate a route. A successful export confirms neither the location nor the accuracy of a historical claim. Those decisions belong to the person reviewing the recording and its references.

Translate place names without changing the reference

Give the language reviewer the approved place-name sheet and the final video. Decide how to handle local spellings and established translated names so the viewer can connect a subtitle to the sign in the shot. Apply that decision consistently, but retain historical names when the narration is explicitly discussing the past.

Check spatial phrases in their full scene, including whose left or right is meant. Preserve qualifiers such as formerly, usually and at the time of filming. Turning “the entrance was open when we filmed” into “the entrance is open” changes the claim. A translation should not become new visitor advice.

Polyglot preserves source timing and checks translation structure, including cue IDs, count and order. These checks do not approve the meaning. Review each language against the narration and picture, then watch for crowded lines over signs or landmarks in the destination player.

Separate audio captions from missing visual context

Review meaningful sounds as well as speech. A bell the guide reacts to may matter; an unrelated passing engine may not. W3C’s caption guidance covers meaningful non-speech audio and speaker identification as well as dialogue. Polyglot does not automatically identify speakers or create sound descriptions. If a needed sound has no existing cue interval, use an editor that supports individual-cue authoring and timing.

A subtitle saying “look at that carving” does not describe the carving to someone who cannot see it. W3C treats important visual information as a separate description task. Have the creator add necessary spoken context before finalizing the recording, or prepare an appropriate description deliverable separately. A plain transcript export does not supply missing visual descriptions.

Deliver the filmed tour with dated companion information

Keep the recording date visible in the accompanying description, especially when narration mentions an entrance, opening time or access condition. If you provide current visitor information, label and maintain it separately from what the recording said. NPS Yellowstone’s virtual-tour page pairs virtual exploration with in-person visitor information; it illustrates two related needs, not a subtitle specification.

Export the reviewed language file for the exact final cut. For a YouTube destination, its documented upload flow accepts supported subtitle files with existing timing for the selected video and language. Other destinations need their own format check. Polyglot exports separate files; it does not upload them, burn captions into the image or connect them to a map.

In the actual destination player, verify the first and last cue and every named stop or change of camera direction. Check accents, language selection, readable wrapping and whether captions obscure a sign. Compare the public video description with the filming date and any separately dated visitor notes. Keep the final video identifier, language files and reviewer decisions together so a later recut cannot inherit the wrong subtitles.

Media and subtitle processing stay local in Polyglot. Requested downloads, user-controlled updates, default-on content-free analytics with an opt-out and Pro licensing have separate network boundaries. New AI subtitle jobs use a seven-day trial and require Pro afterward; editing and exports remain free.

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