Sub-titles, Close Captioning & Language Files

Hello!

Is there any way to synch closed captioning with a video without covering the video, either beneath the video or in a separate box?

If the titles have to be over the video is there a way to make the background transparent over which the titles would lay?

Can you substitute language files for text? If so, how do you go about executing this task?

Thanks!

I tried the close captioning feature and had no such luck. The black rectangle appears, but the text that's located in the xml file doesn't show up. Please advise.