How to Open / Save Properly Subtitles on My PC - Other Languages ?

[devilcoelhodog]

Hello, dear all.

My language is brazilian portuguese.

Sometimes I get some subtitles in other languages, like greek, japanese, chinese, hebrew or other ones that have different alphabet than my idiom.

If the original subtitle are not saved properly, when I open it using Notepad does it appears something like that:

4
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:31,040
Äåí åßìáé ìüíï ðåéíáóìÝíïé.

5
00:01:34,980 --> 00:01:38,850
ËÝíå üôé åßíáé öõóéêü, áëëÜ ðïôÝ äåí îÝñåé êáíåßò.

6
00:01:39,810 --> 00:01:42,810
- ¸÷ïõí áõôÜ óôï ó÷ïëåßï;Äåí íïìßæù.

7
00:01:46,410 --> 00:01:52,040
ÓõíôçñçôéêÜ ìïõ äþóåé ôá ðñïâëÞìáôá óôá äÜ÷ôõëá. Êé åóý;

8
00:01:53,250 --> 00:01:54,180
¼÷é.

9
00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:03,190
Óôçí ðñþôç äéáêïðÝò ôá ðáéäéÜ ìïõ ìå ñþôçóå stroganoff.

10
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,840
Ìåßíåôå ìüíï ëßãåò ìÝñåò. ÐÞñá ìéá äïõëåéÜ óôçí ÏõÜóéãêôïí.

11
00:02:41,110 --> 00:02:43,610
Äüîá ôù Èåþ, áõôÞ èá ðñÝðåé íá ðñüóôéìï.

12
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,470
Áõôü åßíáé ôï ðéï óçìáíôéêü.

13
00:02:48,580 --> 00:02:52,630
Ãéáôß íá ìçí ìÜèåé íá ïäçãåß, çëßèéïé!

14
00:03:02,070 --> 00:03:06,500
¹ôáí ìéá äýóêïëç ÷ñïíéÜ. ¸öõãåò, Þôáí ìüíç óôï óðßôé.

15
00:03:06,850 --> 00:03:08,710
ÐÜíôá ôáîéäåýïõí ìáæß ìïõ.

16
00:03:09,660 --> 00:03:14,520
Åêôüò áðü ôéò ïñìïíéêÜ ðñïâëÞìáôá êáé åñãáóßåò óôç âéâëéïèÞêç.

You can notice strange symbols on the text.

If I want to see the proper language on the text one of the ways to get it is open it using Microsoft Word.

When I do this the program point me to choose the Encoding / Characters Sets ( in my subtitle sample, its greek language ) and the symbols are properly displayed. After that I can save again into new text, but using UTF-8 option, creating a file that now shows the symbols correctly.

The example below is the way the subtitle should appear in its original language.

4
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:31,040
Δεν είμαι μόνο πεινασμένοι.

5
00:01:34,980 --> 00:01:38,850
Λένε ότι είναι φυσικό, αλλά ποτέ δεν ξέρει κανείς.

6
00:01:39,810 --> 00:01:42,810
- Έχουν αυτά στο σχολείο;Δεν νομίζω.

7
00:01:46,410 --> 00:01:52,040
Συντηρητικά μου δώσει τα προβλήματα στα δάχτυλα. Κι εσύ;

8
00:01:53,250 --> 00:01:54,180
Όχι.

9
00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:03,190
Στην πρώτη διακοπές τα παιδιά μου με ρώτησε stroganoff.

10
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,840
Μείνετε μόνο λίγες μέρες. Πήρα μια δουλειά στην Ουάσιγκτον.

11
00:02:41,110 --> 00:02:43,610
Δόξα τω Θεώ, αυτή θα πρέπει να πρόστιμο.

12
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,470
Αυτό είναι το πιο σημαντικό.

13
00:02:48,580 --> 00:02:52,630
Γιατί να μην μάθει να οδηγεί, ηλίθιοι!

14
00:03:02,070 --> 00:03:06,500
Ήταν μια δύσκολη χρονιά. Έφυγες, ήταν μόνη στο σπίτι.

15
00:03:06,850 --> 00:03:08,710
Πάντα ταξιδεύουν μαζί μου.

16
00:03:09,660 --> 00:03:14,520
Εκτός από τις ορμονικά προβλήματα και εργασίες στη βιβλιοθήκη.

Do you know other program ( freeware, if its possible) that can do similar things that Microsoft Word can do? Not for greek only, but for any kind of alphabet also?

Thanks for your help.

Best regards.

devil (johner)

[sneaker]

Notepad++ (or SublimeText but SublimeText isn't strictly freeware)

MKVToolNix GUI also has an option to choose the input charset incl. a preview in case you want to mux the subtitle with the video anyways.