Project Language
Scene Cut distinguishes between two language concepts:
- Interface language — the application is available in French, English, German, Spanish, and Arabic. It adapts automatically to the macOS system language.
- Project language — the language in which subtitles are written. It determines which correction rules and validation checks are applied to the text.
This page covers the project language, configured in the norms profile.
Language Packs
A language pack is a set of linguistic rules specific to a language. When a full pack is available, Scene Cut can:
- Automatically correct the typography specific to that language (quotes, punctuation, accents…)
- Detect language-specific errors (hanging word at end of line, lowercase after period…)
- Configure export with proper language codes (EBU-STL, TTML, DCP)
Languages with Full Pack
Five languages have a complete language pack:
| Language | Typographic Corrections | Specific Detection |
|---|---|---|
| French | Guillemets « », cedillas (ça), non-breaking spaces | Hanging words (articles, prepositions), bound particles (l', d') |
| English | — | Hanging words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions) |
| German | Quotes „…" corrected | Hanging words (articles, prepositions, pronouns) |
| Spanish | Quotes «» corrected, opening signs ¿ ¡ | Hanging words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions) |
| Arabic | Diacritics (harakat) removed, Arabic punctuation (، ؛ ؟) | Binding words at start of line (في، من، على…) |
Arabic and Right-to-Left Writing
The Arabic pack adapts the entire editing interface for right-to-left writing:
- Text fields in the subtitle list are right-aligned with RTL writing direction
- Dialogue dashes are positioned on the correct side
- DCP export includes the direction attribute so projectors display the text correctly
Metadata Languages
For languages that don't yet have a full pack (Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese…), Scene Cut offers a metadata mode: the language is stored in the project and transmitted on export (EBU-STL language code, TTML attribute), but language-specific typographic corrections and error detection are not available.
Universal rules remain active: duration, reading speed, gap between subtitles, line length, forbidden characters, ellipsis.
Configuring the Language
- Open the norms profile (click the Cinema FR/Netflix badge in the toolbar)
- In the Export section, select the project language
- Validation and correction rules adapt immediately
The language is project-specific — changing one project's language doesn't affect others.