Audio and video content are on the rise. In fact, video is the most popular content type on the Internet, accounting for roughly 83% of all traffic online. And 91% of businesses use it as a marketing tool. But creating audiovisual content is one thing. Entirely another is translating a video or audio for a new language market. Audio and video translation can be a daunting task for any entrepreneur or marketer. And it is so much more than automatic word conversion from one language to another.
Let’s dive into the realm of audio and video translation. This guide covers everything you should know about it.
The Importance of Audio and Video Translation in Business
Audio and video translation is a complex work of transforming spoken and visual content from one language into another so that media pieces maintain their beauty and integrity for the targeted audience. This translation is different from, for instance, website translation, which deals with adapting written content, images, and multimedia elements into multiple languages while focusing on user interaction and maintaining a consistent experience across different language versions.
This work instantly pays off and contributes to the following.
Ruining Linguistic and Cultural Walls
This is the utmost advantage for any business sphere.
Through translated media content like video or audio, companies communicate with their international partners, stakeholders, employees, or customers in their native languages, breaking down language barriers and ensuring everyone feels heard and valued. Moreover, they participate in an intercultural exchange, promoting understanding and diversity.
Building Higher Brand Awareness and Recognition
What is the best way to tap into international marketing and become recognized globally?
Right – by leveraging audio and video translations.
You can boost your brand’s visibility worldwide as more audiences become aware of your company abroad.
Gaining a Competitive Edge
If your competitors stick to a one-language-only approach, you can take a step forward and keep ahead of your competition with translated video ads or podcasts, for instance.
Spotify is one of the brands that have already made this step. The company leverages AI in translation to clone podcaster voices and convert podcasts into other languages with the help of artificial intelligence.
Generating More Leads and Sales
By translating videos and sounds, companies can supercharge lead generation for business growth.
And here’s how.
“Audiovisual translation helps diversify the pool of leads geographically,” says Michael Maximoff, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Belkins. “In turn, such geographic segmentation by language enhances lead generation and marketing efforts. Ultimately, you get an opportunity to capture leads from multilingual markets, expand the customer base, and boost sales,” he adds.
Providing a Smoother Experience to Multilingual Users/Customers
Audio and video translation can improve your multilingual customer service.
Take Dell, a global technology giant.
The brand smoothed out user experiences with the translated video series prepared for the Dell EMC Support channel on YouTube. To enable multilingual support, the company translated how-tos, problem-solving guides, and troubleshooting self-help videos into 16 languages.
Enhancing Cross-Cultural Teamwork
Multilingual media translation is highly effective when managing cross-cultural teams.
You can guarantee flawless team communication and collaboration, adequate education, and professional development when translating your employee training videos into their preferred languages.
For example, Vitamin Angels translated their staff training videos into the local dialects of Northern Nigeria to train the people delivering their services in those communities more effectively.
5 Tips for Translating Audio/Video Materials
Use the following tactics to translate your video and audio like a pro.
Transcribe the Text from Audio/Video Files
Before you start translating your audiovisual content, the first thing to do is to fish out the text from it. You can accomplish that by transcribing audio and video.
Let’s discuss the two types of transcription separately.
Audio Transcription
Audio transcription means converting speech from audio files into the textual version. In a word, an audio transcript is a text dragged out from a sound file.
It can be any audial content:
- Podcast
- Interview
- Audiobook
- Audio-article
- Audio-ad
- Radio show
- Song, etc.
Video Transcription
Like audio transcription, video transcription converts speech into text format, this time from video files.
You can do a video transcript of:
- Company culture video
- Employee training video
- Webinar
- Video advertisement
- Product demo
- Brand promo
- Film
- Social media video, etc.
Note: You may have to deal with complex audio and video transcriptions, facing difficulties like fast talk, accents, slang, background noise, etc. That’s when you can turn to professional transcription service to assist you. You can also use an AI voice generator like Podcastle to transcribe your audio automatically with just a few clicks.
Pick a Translation Method
Consider the best practices in audiovisual translations: subtitles, dubbing, and voice-overs.
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Subtitling
The subtitling process presupposes turning a video into a readable format by placing the spoken text on the screen.
Thanks to adding subtitles in different languages to videos, businesses cater to the needs of foreign-speaking audiences and create accessible audiovisual content for individuals with hearing impairment.
For example:
Targeting customers in Thailand, Visavi made a product demo video with Thai subtitles.
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Dubbing
When you opt for dubbing in audio or video translations, you should translate the text and replace the sound of the original language with the one recorded in the targeted language.
Basically, there are two options: human dubbing or machine dubbing (powered by artificial intelligence). AI dubbing has indeed revolutionized voice translation.
You can find tons of AI tools for dubbing like these:
- Dubdub.ai
- Dubverse.ai
- Murf.ai
- ElevenLabs.io
- Rask.ai
However, brands often prefer human dubbing due to its high quality, authenticity, and emotions.
For example, Housing Hub asked guest speakers to produce multilingual podcasts in eight languages, including Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, and others.
You can also combine dubbing and subtitling to translate your videos.
For example, Jean Hailes for Women’s Health created a series of subtitled and dubbed videos in several foreign languages, aiming to deliver the proper support to refugee and migrant communities in Australia.
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Voice-overs
A voice-over is a subtype of dubbing.
But unlike dubbing, you don’t replace the sound during voice-over translation. Instead, you record the translated speech over it and lip-sync. In this case, the original language may remain audible in the background.
Most commonly, you can notice voice-over in movie or documentary. However, it’s also used in other video types.
For example:
Here’s a video made by digital artist Krampah Wilson with an AI voice-over explaining the features of Photoshop plugins.
You can also use human voice-over services with professional mother-tongue actors for audiovisual materials.
Keep the Same Tone of Voice
It is crucial to render the exact tone of voice and the emotional palette when translating your audiovisual content with dubbing or voice-over.
For one thing, the content will be better perceived and accepted in the local market. For another – you can avoid accidental misrepresentation or misinformation because emotional expression and voice “coloring” transmit different connotations, just like words.
There may be different voice tones in your sounds or videos representing various emotional states:
- Encouraging
- Persuasive
- Humorous
- Serious
- Factual or informative
- Worried
- Angry
- Sarcastic, etc.
Pay Attention to Localization Elements
Accommodating video and audio localization elements according to your audience’s needs is critical for making a successful audiovisual translation.
Puneet Gogia, Founder at Excel Champs, explains why it matters significantly for the overall experience:
“If not properly localized for video and audio translations, such items as numerical values or date/time formats are still the elements of a foreign language for the audience. They lead to a poor watching or listening experience. As a result, people struggle to find correspondences and stop watching your videos or listening to your audio content.”
Here’s what you should focus on to avoid that:
- Numeric discrepancies (units of measurement, currency symbols, etc.)
- Representation of dates
- Time format
- Cultural and linguistic dissimilarities (slang, idioms, dialects)
- Captions layout
For instance, when translating a video into Arabic, you should display your subtitles in the right-to-left format, catering to the peculiarities of the Arabic market.
Let’s take another example.
Supposing you need to localize your video for marketing your US products in France and have this sentence:
5.5 pounds of coffee beans cost $55. The sale ends on 12/11/2023.
Look at it after translation into French without localization:
5,5 livres de grains de café coûtent 55 $. La vente se termine le 12/11/2023.
What’s wrong with it?
Three things need adaptation: the system of measurement (pounds into kilograms), currency (dollars into euros), and the date format (for the US – month/day/year; for France – day/month/year).
Now, compare the localized variant: 2,75 kg de grains de café coûtent 51 €. La vente se termine le 11/12/2023.
Strive for Accuracy and Add a Human Touch
Lastly, with quality assurance in translation, you receive precise and accurate video and audio output.
You must proofread and edit the translated text for spelling, punctuation, grammar, or logical mistakes. In addition, it’s necessary to measure the level of quality in localization.
Let’s say you translate a video with subtitles about a beautiful and elegant interior design. You have two variants of the same word: aesthetic and esthetic. They are both English words. However, the word aesthetic is more suitable for the UK, Australian, and New Zealand audiences. The word esthetic is predominantly used for the US audience.
If you want to achieve perfect localization and impeccable quality, it would be better to steer away from machine translations. Besides, when hiring human translators, you can ensure your translated audio or video has a powerful human touch and an emotional appeal.
Translate Video and Audio Content Easily with Day Translations
In this article, you’ve seen the essential benefits of maintaining a consistent, multilingual approach to your audiences with video or audio translation.
Whether you want to convey your marketing messages to customers worldwide or train your international employees more effectively, explore all audiovisual services at Day Translations and pick the one you need for your media content.
Get professionally translated video/audio from Day Translations and engage with your audience on a multilingual level.
Author Bio
Catherine Schwartz
HARO & Content Outreach
cath@catherineschwartz.online
+1(415)988-5842