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Templates
Kannada subtitle & caption generator
Kannada captions can be set in ಕನ್ನಡ, romanised into English letters, or translated into English. Each template below is previewed in Kannada, whose consonant clusters tuck a second letter beneath the first, so check the room a style leaves under each row.
Templates
Built for Kannada · 12
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Hard Shadow Kannada
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Time Magazine Kannada
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Multiline Kannada
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Auto Cap Choice Kannada
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Classic Kannada
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Purple Glow Kannada
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Gradinet Vibe Kannada
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Blockbuster Kannada
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Auto Cap Red Kannada
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Auto Cap Kannada
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Boxed Hormozi Kannada
Captioning in Kannada
The name of the language shows the feature that shapes Kannada captions most. In ಕನ್ನಡ, the double n is written as one ನ with a smaller form beneath it, and those under-letters, the ottaksharas, make Kannada lines tall. Kannada also looks a lot like Telugu without sharing its letters, which matters when choosing fonts, and it puts its own endings on English words, which matters for romanised captions.
Ottaksharas and the head stroke
Most Kannada consonants are rounded shapes with a short stroke on top, the talekattu. Vowel signs attach to that top or to the right side of the letter: ಕಿ changes its head to carry the vowel, while ಕು adds a hook on the right.
An ottakshara is the reduced form a consonant takes when it follows another with no vowel between them, and it sits below the first letter. ಕನ್ನಡ has one, and ಸ್ತ್ರೀ has two. Captions set in two rows need extra room between them, or the ottaksharas of the upper row run into the letters beneath.
Kannada faces, and why Telugu ones won't do
Kannada and Telugu letters look alike to many readers because the two scripts grew from a common ancestor, but they are separate alphabets, and a typeface has to be drawn for each one. That is why the editor has Baloo Tamma 2 for Kannada and Baloo Tammudu 2 for Telugu: related designs, separate fonts. Baloo Tamma 2 is also what draws Kannada in a template whose font is Latin only. Other Kannada faces worth trying:
- Hind Mysuru, Anek Kannada and Noto Sans Kannada: sans-serifs for captions that carry a sentence at a time.
- Noto Serif Kannada and Tiro Kannada: serifs.
- Padyakke Expanded One: a wide display face, so each row holds fewer words.
Kannada script, Kanglish or English
In everyday Kannada, English nouns take Kannada case endings: to the office can come out as ಆಫೀಸಿಗೆ, office with the ending ige. Kannada script writes that as one word. Romanised captions have to choose between officige, office-ige and office ige, and viewers who type Kannada in Latin letters use all of them, so pick one and keep to it.
Kannada marks respect on names as well as pronouns. ಅವರು after a name, as in ರವಿ ಅವರು, speaks of the person respectfully, and English has nothing short of Mr or no marker at all, so a translation either sounds stiff or drops the courtesy. If that tone matters to the video, Kannada script or a romanised caption keeps it.
What to look for in a Kannada transcript
Check the letters that fast speech runs together: swapping ಳ and ಲ, or ಣ and ನ, changes a word's spelling even where listeners barely hear the difference. Look at every ottakshara as well, because a missing one is a missing consonant, and ಕನಡ is not the same word as ಕನ್ನಡ. Kannada has its own digits, ೧, ೨ and ೩ among them, but prices and phone numbers are usually clearer in Western digits.
Questions
Can a Telugu font draw Kannada captions?
No. The scripts look alike but use different characters, so a face needs Kannada drawn into it. Baloo Tamma 2 and Hind Mysuru are Kannada faces; their Telugu relatives are separate families.
Why do two-row Kannada captions look crowded?
Ottaksharas hang below the letters, so the rows need more room between them than English does. Raise Line spacing until the upper row's under-letters clear the row below.