Audiovisual translation

Everyday yon enjoy audiovisual products that were created in other countries: feature films, short films, TV adverts, news, cartoons, concerts, shows, multimedia presentations… These products often come in our own language, and we forget that they were created in a different language. Do you realise that someone has translated those voices and texts into your language? These people are audiovisual translators.

As you know, the audiovisual industry is a significant source of revenues for companies all over the world. How can your company compete in such a dense, globalised market? How can you stand out from the crowd?

Simple: by adapting and translating your audiovisual products in a rigorous, high-quality way.

What are the 5 benefits of entrusting your multimedia translations to an agency that specialises in audiovisual translations?

• You will ensure that deadlines with your end clients will be met: one of the most stressful points about your business.
• By adjusting delivery times, you will indirectly make your investment more profitable and maximise your and your employees’ work hours.
• You will obtain a perfect local translation of your needs, as we have native translators who specialise in this sector.
• You will exponentially increase your business target, multiplying the percentage of clients you can reach by the thousands.
• You will minimise the investment required by the internationalisation of your company, which will result in increased profits.

Some of the specific audiovisual translation services we provide:

Subtitling

A significant part of audiovisual translations requires subtitles. This work might seem simple at first sight, but it is not. This is a complex task due to limitations such as reading speed and the space available on the screen.

The translator, in addition to correctly translating the dialogue texts into another language, must adapt the appearance of the subtitled sentences to the reading speed of the average viewer, and adapt the length of onscreen texts. This requires a translator with many years’ of solid experience. He or she should also be a voracious reader and a frequent user of subtitled audiovisual products.

The main types of subtitling include:

• subtitles in other languages (the most frequent ones)
• shorter subtitles in the same language (mainly used in news broadcasts)
• subtitles for the hearing impaired (used when viewers have hearing problems)
• real-time subtitles (used in live events)

Did you know that in Switzerland you have subtitles in 3 languages at the same time?

Dubbing

In many countries, the audiovisual industry requires a previous dubbing process. Of course, it is not the great dubbing actors who translate the words they will speak, but rather, a translation and idiomatic adaptation of the literary script is required before the important task of dubbing can take place.

Localisation is particularly important at this stage. The translator must be able to adapt the words and phrases in the dialogue to the local idiosyncrasies of the country or region where the final audiovisual product will be consumed. Translation for dubbing requires professionals with many years’ of solid experience in the localisation, interpretation, translation and adaptation of all types of texts.

You may not believe it, but did you know that the translation of porno films is a huge segment of the translation for the dubbing industry?

Audio description

Fortunately, we are becoming increasingly aware of the need to adapt reality so that blind and visually-impaired people can enjoy it. One of the consequences of this increased awareness is audio description: small audio pieces that explain the audiovisual product being screened to blind and visually-impaired people.

The translation of audio descriptions (as well as the translation of audio guides) is a relatively new type of work, which is highly demanding for translators. Professionals must be able not only to literally translate the original text into another language, but they must also be able to adapt the pace, pauses, style and tone of the text so that it can be really understood by the listener, bearing idiomatic particularities in mind. It is hard but fascinating work.

Did you know that the first audio description was invented in the 1970s? The author of this invention, Gregory Frazier, was able to market its revolutionary device thanks to his friendship with August Coppola, the brother of the famous film director.

Multimedia educational products

The unstoppable technological progress that we experienced in the last decade has brought the improvement of interactive training and e-learning environments. Virtual campuses have mushroomed and access to knowledge is now easier than ever before.

In this sense, the translation of audiovisual and multimedia educational products is crucial to overcome the language barrier. Training sessions, specialisation modules, seminars, conferences, practical workshops, expert consultation, multimedia presentations… The range of possibilities is as extensive as the range of potential clients.

Meticulous localisation, wide-ranging knowledge of teaching methodologies, and expert use of the translation languages are key factor to ensure international success of your audiovisual educational products.

Did you know that e-learning was invented by the Greeks? In Ancient Greece, teachers would send educational contents to their students be means of epistolography – that is, by sending letters.

If you create entertainment, training or informational audiovisual products, you should contact us because:

• We have specialised audiovisual translators with many years’ of solid experience in translation for dubbing and subtitles.
• We have translators who specialise in teaching methodologies. These experts will supervise the quality of the translation process of your training materials.
• We guarantee the quality of each and every one of the translation process stages. We also guarantee maximum confidentiality.
• Our prices are fair and affordable.

Will you internationalise your audiovisual products?Talk with us.