In this era of digitalization, videos are king. The videos are created for various purposes from technical support videos to multimedia modules. If your company wants to get recognition in the global markets then multimedia localization services provide them with a platform.
Multimedia localization helps in educating internal and external customers. But do you know that multimedia content is very difficult to localize? From subtitle translation to capturing the screen, there are many steps involved in this process.
Let’s have a look at them.
You Cannot Localize Everything
Before starting a localization, you must view each part of the content to know whether it will resonate with the market or not. Remember that each video in your marketing content is not suitable for localization. If the content in your video is culturally not sound and has many technical problems then localizing them is waste of time and money. If you have already worked for multimedia localization before then you may get confused that which videos need to be localized and which do not.
You must be wondering how to differentiate between them. Go for localization if the content contains;
- Videos containing people in personal, professional, and economic settings that detach the target audience from a new market.
- Animations that don’t work properly with a language have grammatical systems.
- The picture is not universal to be used globally.
If we look at the technical side then it is important that your multimedia content should be in a separate file so that it can be easily extracted, exported, and translated. Therefore, if you are unable to retrieve XML or XLIFF files then it will take a lot of time in extracting and copy-pasting the text.
You Must Go for Terminology Management
Whether you are going for advertising translation or multimedia localization, the translation and localization best practices include term base terminology. It contains the vocabulary related to your content. It helps in creating consistency in the translation and localization process, no matter what your target language is. Before going for the localization process, take time to update terminology. For this, you must know which brand names should be in English. Moreover, you need to list the key terms that are related to your product and services and specify them so that they can be used in each target language. In addition, make sure that all technical, brand-related, and product-related terms are approved by the market reviewers. In this way, they can be used in the content easily. Marketing translation agencies, adopt different ways to organize the marketing and advertising knowledge bases.
Script and Subtitle Translations Should be Invulnerable
The first step in localizing a video is translating the script and looking for a subtitle translator. This translator can alter the subtitles in original English words. After that, he sends the scripts through a localization engine. The important thing in this phase is that every single sentence of localization content requires approval from a native speaker and in-market reviewer before moving on. The script translation matters so much because, in this phase, you have to spend a lot of time and money to make alterations. In this way, the script works according to cultural intricacies and within the time limit. You can also check the emotional underpinnings and tone which is present in the original video. The translator can use the new content with the same texture. The script should be in final form before you go for the voiceover process.
Voiceover can Make or Break the Flow
Do you know that many localization projects go down the drain because of poor voiceover management? You should start on time with the assistance of an experienced vendor and plan so that you can navigate the tedious process more smoothly. Do not base your entire voiceover strategy on one or two superstar voice actors. Keep looking for talent so that your multimedia localization project moves in a timely fashion without any delay. In this phase, it is important to perform QA by syncing the tracks with the video. It is very important to record the segment so that voice fits properly in the localization process.
Relying on Engineers and It is more Time-Consuming
One of the main reasons that multimedia localization is time-consuming is that it relies heavily on engineers. They spend a lot of time syncing voice tracks to video, doing on-screen text translations and subtitles, and going for QA in layouts and timing. For this, you need to hire a competent audiovisual engineer on staff or hire a professional translation agency that can handle all these things professionally in the localization process. Some tasks in the localization process can be more difficult than your expectations. For instance, if you want to create Korean-version support videos for your software then engineers have to capture images that are related to the Korean interface. Such images can make sense with the user interface.
Taking Assistance from Native-Speaking Reviewers
No matter, if you have a team of competent translators, voiceovers, and engineers who are working on your content even then there is a probability that few errors will emerge in the finished product. The best way to save your company from releasing sub-standard content is by hiring native reviewers. They spend the necessary time approving each piece of content. If you have a centralized localization management platform then it becomes very easy to connect all the stakeholders in one place and to keep consistency in the content. Don’t release the video unless it is not approved by the QA. Reviews can tell whether the audio is unnecessarily cut off or if the syncing voice is making the video funny. Use the reviews in the QA process before releasing the video. It can save you from common localization mistakes.
Wrapping Up
You should know that not every professional translation agency provides robust multimedia localization. Before selecting the translation agency, make sure that they are providing multimedia localization. The professional translation agency must follow the above-mentioned steps to avoid any mistakes in the smooth multimedia localization process.