The Complete Guide to Video Translation - Paladria

The Complete Guide to Video Translation

The Complete Guide to Video Translation

Creating a video that can be translated requires artistry, expertise, and design.

Hire us to do your video translation.

Translating your videos allows for a much wider reach in your audience. Subtitling videos also reaches an even wider audience, and having the correct translation is crucial out of respect for foreign language speakers as well as the hard of hearing audience that may come across your video. Like with every other form of translation, there are apps that promise to translate a video for free. However, as we have previously discussed choosing free over efficient can result in catastrophe that ends up costing you more money, and your company’s reputation, or at the very least, the validity of your message. It would be like hiring children that are good at soccer hoping that they beat a team of adults in the world cup.

For a high quality video translation you will need:

  • Human translations
  • A good team
  • A strategy
  • A goal

Is Human Translation for a Video Important?

First, no matter how good a translation app promises to be, it will never be as good as a human translation. You do not have to take our word for it, the research is out there, and even in 2020 that is still very much the case. Context and nuance are not caught by the AI’s operating system and it might possibly never be able to match the sensitivities that a human translator can comprehend. Therefore, using an app instead of a human translator is already guaranteed to lower the value and water down the impact of the message. If the video is for business or legal purposes, then it is critical to get an adequate translating team experienced in video translation, and experts in both the target language and the language being translated.

creating a video translation

Do You Need a Good Team for Video Translations?

Imagine the beautiful dance that is passing the soccer ball successfully and then scoring a magnificent winning goal. In any form of translation, the right team is needed, but when translation a video, depending on if it’s dubbed or subtitled, you will need your team to have team mates that have the right skill set. The translator herself must have a skillset beyond the language, she must have cultural understanding of the dialects that are spoken within a language, as well as pop cultural references that may be present. They must understand the nature of the context of the video and the same translator that might do a great job transcribing a Bollywood movie might not do such a good job transcribing a medical educational video, for example. It isn’t just a translator that you will need of course, but also a language editor, and someone that understands sound editing or video editing (or both).

The script must be internationalized through market translation. And finally, like every good team has a great coach, you’ll need your video translation team to have a project manager than can bring everyone together and be the bridge between client and your project team in a communicative, professional, and timely way.

What Is the Best Strategy To Translate a Video?

Before a team knows what strengths to pull in, the strategy must be discussed first. Will you be dubbing or subtitling? If dubbing, what type of voice and accent is most appropriate for the target language? Does the sound of the voice go along with the other sounds of the video? The company will have to hire voice actors that convey the emotion and message in the best way possible. If using subtitles, you’ll need a translation company that understands the technology behind editing and timecoding subtitles, and in either case, the company must also understand the various forms of file formatting there are.

If using languages like Hindi or Japanese for subtitling, the rules of the alphabet and how they are applied differently must also be considered. And if you wish your project to be translated into more than one language, then internationalization is a part of the game play that must be included to save time and make the translation process more efficient.

How To Define a Goal When Translating a Video?

While it might seem like a lot of work to take into account, consider this: according to data found on Statista, 80% of YouTube views come from outside of the United States. So, while English may be the language that is seen the most, imagine hitting the niche that English is missing, and scoring with that specific audience. Having a team that understands your needs and can carry out the right path for each video will make the difference between achieving your goal or completely missing it. For every video project you might have, knowing what it will look like translated before even filming it is ideal, however, the right team will work with what you have. The more languages you can translate it into, the better.

Now that you have this information, consider contacting us with your video project idea and let us get this ball rolling as soon as possible.

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