Foreign-Language Video Translations: Basic Tips

When producing a video that you know will be translated to other languages, here are a few simple tips to keep in mind:

Translations often have larger word counts; as much as 25% more in Romance languages, for example. Plan ahead by leaving more space around your onscreen text. If you already crowding the available space in your English original, the problem can get much worse in the translated version.

1. Increased word counts can cause you even more headaches in narrations. Suppose your original English voice-over is cruising along at 120 words per minute, with no big breaths or pauses between sentences or paragraphs. For the equivalent translated voice-over with 25% more words, the narrator has to sustain 150 words per minute. For many situations, this is simply too fast for the message you need to transmit—and will inevitably feel rushed to the listener. If you leave a little bit of extra time around each bullet point or paragraph in your original English narration (perhaps even creating a special edit of the video, specifically for dubbing purposes), you and your audience will be much happier with the translated results.
2. Some languages, like Chinese, Hindi, Farsi and Arabic, use more complex characters than the Latin alphabet used in English. Consequently, the equivalent text in your onscreen titles often needs to be slightly larger in order to maintain legibility. For example, many Chinese characters have very fine strokes that can flicker or “sing” when displayed at a small size on a video screen. Be sure to check with your translation agency about which character sets for those languages are most “video-friendly.”
3. If you build graphics or titles in other programs (Adobe AfterEffects or Live Type, for example) that include text, make sure the source script documents you submit for translation include all this text, clearly tagged as a graphic.
4. Even for languages that use the Latin character set, some fonts don’t support the required diacritical marks (accents, etc.). Obviously, this issue is more frequent with specialty fonts, and in languages such as Hungarian, Czech, and so on. Sometimes the errors are obvious, but in other instances it’s more confusing, because characters actually get switched to something else! For this reason (and many others, such as odd line breaks) always have your final video text proofread by your translation agency before releasing it.

ASIST Translation Services, Inc. is a full-service translation agency located in Columbus, Ohio. We provide translation, interpreting, proofreading, voice recording and media production, localization of interactive and Web content, and specialized language services to clients around the world.

www.ASISTtranslations.com

ASIST TRANSLATIONS: Language Services for Electronic Media

ASIST Translation Services can help you create e-learning, interactive, audio and video content for multiple languages and cultures.

- Translate narrations and onscreen text to any language
- Place translated text into video and interactive media
- Proofread onscreen text after placement
- Foreign-language voiceovers:

• Provide voice talent for dubbing videos and interactive pieces to other languages
  
• In-studio auditor ensures accuracy and inflection in voice performances
• Record voiceovers in our digital (Pro Tools-based) studio
• Edit narrations and dialog to match picture in video files
• Cultural consultation regarding language variety and spoken accent

- Collaborate in the planning of media projects that will be optimized for globalization

• Optimization and disambiguation for translation purposes
• Cultural perspectives on content, vocabulary
  
• Language support issues for specific authoring and design software

- Page layout, formatting in any language, including double-byte and right-to-left languages

ASIST routinely provides voice-over recordings for multimedia and computer-based training (Flash, AuthorWare, etc.). Narrations can be delivered as WAV, MP3 or any other required audio file format. Frequently, we deliver separate audio files for each segment, enabling interactive authors to align each scene, then adjust the timing of graphics as necessary in order to allow for larger word counts in most translations.

We can also dub videos to many different languages. For clients with in-house video editing capability, the ideal method is to export a digital video file. We use that as the onscreen reference while recording and editing translated narrations and dialogs. ASIST returns a WAV file that is already conformed to source video project. Once this translated narration is dropped in at 0:00 in the video timeline—everything lines up from beginning to end.

• In order to avoid a rushed pace in dubbed video, it helps to leave some extra padding between paragraphs or scenes in the original English version. With enough editing and/or time compression, we can make anything fit! However, this can sound rushed, especially if the translation must accurately reflect all nuances of the original English content, with no abridgment or paraphasing for time permitted. (In fact, creating a “looser” version of the original English program for dubbing purposes is a strategy that globalization-savvy content producers incorporate into their project plan.)

ASIST translates for all types of Web content. We have translated large sites supporting dozens of languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese and various others that don’t use Latin characters. Proofreading before the client goes live with the formatted content is one of the crucial services that ASIST provides. Even in languages using Latin character sets, longer string length, line break issues and diacritical marks can be problematic if they are not reviewed by a qualified linguist.

ASIST Translation Services, Inc. is a full-service translation agency located in Columbus, Ohio. We provide translation, interpreting, proofreading, voice recording and media production, localization of interactive and Web content, and specialized language services to clients around the world.

www.ASISTtranslations.com