Freelance Subtitler and Translator, Gulf Arabic into English or French

Freelance Subtitler and Translator, Gulf Arabic into English or French

Mantuq Studio · Project based · Remote

About us

Mantuq Studio is a boutique media and entertainment localization studio. Subtitling, closed captions and SDH, dubbing script adaptation, transcription and linguistic QC, with an editorial core in Arabic, Turkish and English and a vetted specialist network beyond it. We compete on editorial judgment rather than price, and every file is reviewed before it reaches a client.

The work

We are expanding our out-of-Arabic capability and looking for subtitlers working in one of two directions:

• Gulf Arabic into English
• Gulf Arabic into French

Content is media and entertainment: scripted, factual and documentary. Work is project based, assigned per title or per batch, with the brief, spec, deadline and rate confirmed in writing before you accept anything.

What you will do

• Translate and subtitle from Gulf Arabic source, working to our delivery spec
• Make register calls deliberately: Najdi, Hijazi and wider Gulf varieties differ, and the choice affects how a line lands
• Handle culture-bound material with judgment rather than flattening it. Religious formulae, proverbs, poetry, honorifics and forms of address rarely have clean equivalents, and we expect the choice to be made consciously and flagged where it changes tone or meaning
• Deliver files already inside the technical limits, not needing a cleanup pass
• Peer review a colleague's files, which is included in the agreed rate

Requirements

• You write natively in the target language. Native or fully native-level English, or native or fully native-level French. This is the requirement we do not flex on. Most of this work gets staffed the other way round, with Arabic natives writing into English, and the result reads accurately and slightly foreign
• Strong comprehension of Gulf Arabic, Khaleeji and Saudi in particular, including colloquial and fast dialogue
• Proven subtitling experience, not general translation. You know what 42 characters per line and 17 characters per second mean in practice
• Comfortable in Subtitle Edit or an equivalent professional tool, working with SRT and VTT
• Reliable on deadlines, and quick to tell us early when something will slip

Useful but not essential

• Experience delivering to a streaming platform or broadcaster and their QC specs
• SDH and closed caption experience
• Familiarity with Saudi or wider GCC production and its broadcast norms

How we work

• Project based, no exclusivity and no obligation on either side. A brief comes to you, you accept or decline
• Paid per runtime minute, agreed in writing before each assignment
• Every file goes through peer review and a technical check before it reaches the client
• Work is fully human. No machine translation and no AI tools at any stage, and files are inspected
• Client names and content are confidential. NDA, service agreement and AI use policy are signed before your first job

To apply

Send a short note to [email protected] with your language pair and direction, your Gulf Arabic background, a summary of relevant subtitling work, your availability, and your rate per runtime minute.

Shortlisted candidates are asked to complete a short test on real material.