The podcast industry has transitioned from niche to mainstream. Deloitte, Edison, and Nielsen all agree that the boom in the market has been nothing short of phenomenal over the past few years.
More than 72% of people spend their online time engaging with content in their own language, though, so brands looking to tap into the global podcast market need an innovative way to engage with foreign-speaking audiences.
We’ve already mentioned that the majority of people prefer engaging with content in their own language. Did you know that 72% of consumers are also more likely to buy a product if the information is available in their native language?
Most consumers are looking for convenience, especially when it comes to their downtime activities. The objective here is simple: if you want to expand your audience, it makes sense to have your podcast translated to reach a global audience!
But how do you produce multilingual podcasts?
First Things First: Always Use Professionals
There are countless apps out there that can help you translate simple phrases and words, so you might have considered using them to translate your podcasts. But before you start Googling “best transcription software”, consider this:
Professional audio translation done by experienced and qualified human translators serves several purposes. It can:
- Translate content in a way that caters to cultural sensitivities, something a machine can’t do.
- Lend the human touch to elements like tone and ensure odd turns of phrase don’t slip into the translation.
- Ensure that cultural references and idioms stay relevant in the new culture, which keeps your podcast conversational in tone regardless of the language it’s translated to.
How to Create Multilingual Podcasts
The best approach for creating multilingual podcasts is to use hosts for each language you’re targeting and record individual podcasts for each language audience. But this isn’t the one and only approach.
You can also use voice actors if you’re not in a position to have multiple teams of hosts and producers. You can have voice actors translate your original podcast into a new language version. The only downfall with this is that it can be challenging to capture the authenticity of natural conversation, especially if you’re doing something more formal.
The other option is to set up cameras in your studio and record videos of each episode. By doing this, you can provide translated subtitles for each language audience while maintaining the authenticity of natural conversation.
With this approach, your foreign audience will be forced to pay attention to the subtitles, which can remove some of the critical benefits of podcast content, like being able to listen while driving.
A Note on UN-Style Recording or Recreating the Voice-Over from Scratch
With an UN-style voice-over, the original speaker can be heard in the background, so the audience knows they’re listening to an interpretation of what is being said. There’s usually a 1-second delay with UN-style voice-over recordings too.
Recreating the voice-over audio from scratch can be a good idea if your podcast doesn’t revolve around a specific speaker or personality. Educational and informational podcasts tend to work well with this style of recording.
You can also save time by recording voiceovers with the help of voice cloning. Modern software like Podcastle gives an exclusive opportunity to create a digital copy of your voice with the help of AI and revoice any text in seconds.
Creating Translated Podcasts
Audio translation involves a couple of reasonably technical steps. Here’s a look at the two main aspects of producing a multilingual podcast.
Audio transcription – Transcriptionists manually transcribe audio content, and this is used to translate and localize the podcast.
Translation – After the audio has been transcribed, the actual translation and localization can take place. Localization ensures that the tone and message of your podcast fit into the new culture you’re targeting and goes above and beyond just literal, line-by-line translation.
Best Practices for Creating Multilingual Podcasts
Now that you understand the three options for producing multilingual podcasts, here’s a look at some best practices to help you get there:
Use native-speaking talent – Use native-speaking hosts for each target language, so the conversation stays natural and relevant.
Record multiple versions of each podcast – Record one version of every podcast for each target language and adapt each version as necessary for local audiences.
Transcribe your script – An excellent way to increase the value of your efforts is to include a transcript. Search engines won’t understand your audio file without a transcript, so it’s essential to have your podcast episode transcribed and edited in each language. By doing this, the transcripts can also be used as text content, published on blogs, or on your social media accounts too.
Use professional translation services – This one is pretty obvious, but your source episode’s script should be professionally translated for each alternative language you’re catering to.
The best and most professional approach is to record different language versions of your podcast with native-speaking hosts that can deliver compelling content for each language audience. By doing this, you can localize the content to ensure it stays relevant and engaging to each audience. Depending on the results you get, you might also want to slightly alter the topics for each audience or develop a somewhat different brand voice or style.
Instead of trying to please every audience with the same content, you’ll be producing podcast episodes explicitly designed for the unique interests of each market and giving yourself the best shot of engaging with them in the long run.
Final Thoughts
The case for translating your content and producing multilingual podcasts is clear. Translating and rerecording episodes might be costly in the eyes of smaller podcasters. Still, it makes your content more accessible to millions of audience members in markets where podcast listening is ramping up. Not only do you stand to acquire millions of new listeners, but thanks to local distribution and monetization deals, your multilingual podcasts can help boost revenue and increase brand awareness too.
Ready to tap into the proverbial goldmine of podcasting for a global audience? Get in touch with Day Translations today to learn more about our extensive range of translation, interpreting and localization and BPO services and how we can help you get your message heard in any language and any country!
And why not check Day Translations CEO Sean Hopwood Podcast where each month he interviews people related to languages, from Translators to interpreters.