Video script translation quality

Q:  Our client wants to translate.  Is this the best approach?

It’s a tough call.  The person whom the client uses as translator makes a big difference.  Let’s see if I can explain the various possibilities, because the video producer/director is the one who must deal with the effects when they occur. The best scenario (and the most rare) is that the client’s translation is perfect, and that it fits the timing of the video perfectly.  This “best scenario” happens about 3% of the time.  So, let’s consider the more probable.  About 30% of the time, the client’s translation is fine.  Ask your client nicely how much translation their translators do for their company, and for what purpose.  For example, is this the first or second time they use these people, and what have they done in the past - the corporate website and brochure, or just an employee procedures manual?    Basically, gently discover if the client’s translators have been translating high-profile image pieces for the company, or just an occasional letter or document.  If the translators have been doing high-profile work and if their work has already been accepted by the client’s target market, then you’re on a roll, and the only thing that could go wrong would be that their tranlsation is a bit too heavy, being the “written word” not the “spoken word” as required for media scripts, and it may be a bit too long and require shortening in order for the foreign voice talent’s recording to fit in the timing of the original language.  So now, to the “not so good” results…  57% of the the time when the translation provided by the client it has problems, possibly serious problems.  And these problems will upchuck all over the producer/director unless that producer/director is ready for this scenario.  Forewarned is forearmed.  Of the 57% of scripts that have translation trouble, over half of these will have grammar, stylistic and word-choice problems - including mis-translations and outright errors.  But the script is savable, and needs to be saved.  So,  the producer/director must inform the client that the script needs help (requiring tact - a director’s specialty!) but the producer/director is thereafter often held responsible for providing the grammar corrections and fixing  faulty translations in languages the producer/director does not speak.  Certain companies  can really help here, such as @International Services  (http://www.internationalservices.com).  Such a company can review and repair the script quite quickly. ——-  And now we come to 25% of the cases - the directors nightmare…   Unacceptable, possibly horrifyingly bad translations.  1 out of ever 4 scripts is a disaster.  And the producer/director almost never has any idea of this until the voice talent begins to complain - loudly.  By then, it is the recording session, and the time to peacefully broach the subject of a lousy translation to the client has long past,  the deadline is  down to  the wire, and scrambling begins.  The good news is that if a director/producers simply understands the above scenarios, and sets the stage with the client, so that the client’s script will be “grammar checked” significantly before recording (perhaps by @International Services), then problems can be discovered long in advance of the recording session, and quietly faced together, without the hair-raising rush of “What do we do now?”

Music Localization

Q:  We never change our music for a commercial translation.  Is there benefit to doing so?

A:  There is great benefit to localizing music.  You can actually increase your impact on your target audience up to 100% with this simple change.  Music localization has different impacts on your various audiences.  For adverising, a 100% increase in impact is a powerful tool.  Yet almost no one uses it.  Why?  First, most producers and directors never even think of music localization - is not within their experience.  And people avoid things in which they have no experience.  For those who consider music localization, most are unclear how to select the proper localized music, and some fear that is better to make no change than the wrong change.  Because the value of music localization is determined not by the audience - as it should be - but rather by the client’s internal staff, who are notoriously fickle and afraid of change.  If you are in advertising and if you are targeting a specific population, and if you know the dialect of that population, then use of music from that dialect - almost any music! - and you commercial or spot will be received much more warmly than with no music localiation at all.  Music localization can change a ho-hum commercial that view people absorb, into an exciting experience that gains over 90% of the audience’s full attention.  Using music of a style that is beloved by the population makes audiences sit up and really take notice - to really listen to a commercial or radio spot.  Exactly what the commercial is for - attention.  It is still amazing how many people fear music localization, mostly because they simply cannot “feel” the music themselves, because they are from a different culture.  Or, their clients cannot “feel” the music for the same reason, and sadly the client’s opinion is more important than the success of the commercial.  It is amazing what a little “salza and merengue” can do for a Spanish commercial, or drums do for an Middle Eastern commercial, or lyre music for an Asian commercial.  But, hey!  Who wants to increase impact 100% anyhow?

Mixing techniques to cut costs

Q:  We’re looking for suggestions that will provide lower budget alternatives alternatives for our clients for translating vignettes and talking heads. Ideas?

When translating videos from one language to another, there are a variety of techniques.  How the project audio is edited and mixed can have a strong effect on budget.  The most expensive approach to video translation - that produces the highest “class” results, is a video translation tecnique called lip sync (aka dialog replacement).   This technique involves removing the original language voice track.  Then, translate the script, and adapt the translated script for the lip movemments on screen.  (more about this in other parts of this site).  Then, a professional voice actor, who is experienced at lip sync, records the voice track.  At this point, the audio studio editors then tweak almost every short phrase of the entire project to align as best as possible with the lips on-screen.  So, this technique is both the most effective and the most costly approach to video translation.  A lesser expensive way to handle lip sync, is not to try to replace the voices  perfectly with lip movements, but to use a mixing technique that produces the effect of a “news reportage” or “documentary style” mixing.  This is a technique in which the translated script is shortened a bit, but not adapted for the movements of the lips.   The voice talent records, and tries to time the voice recording sentence by sentence, or paragraph by paragraph, rather than word by word.  Then, during mixing,  the original spoken language is retained in the background softly, while the foreign voice is louder to the forefront.  With this “news reportage” approach, it is not necessary to try to match the lips, and the entire video translation process - from the first step of script adaptation, to voice talent recording, to editing and mixing - are all much much faster.  And, therefore, cheaper for your client.

Casting tips for foreign voice talent

When casting talent in a language that is not your native language, most producers and directors lose their bearings.  First, a foreign language can cloud the judgement, making us rely on sound - or rely on what the talent says about himself or herself - rather than relying upon the other skills we possess, that would usually be trusted such as our analysis of diction, performance, and overall effect.  When listening to a language we do not speak, is much easier to miscast a talent than in our own language.  Easier to choose someone who has an accent in that language, for example.  How would you know?  And there are so many talents who declare that they have a “neutral” accent - wildly inaccurately. So often our company receives demos for consideration of talents used by other companies, and when we pass them on to our Quality Assurace studio in the native country, they study the talent demo and say, “The pronunciation is sloppy, and the performance wooden.  This talent would never be accepted as a good narrator in this country.”   This most often happens with talents who live outside their native countries.  Often, these talents would not survive as voice talents inside their own countries where there is competition, and their prices are low to get work in the new country.  What makes these talents attractive to producers and directors is that these talents speak the language of the country where they live - this makes the producer/director feel at ease, unfortunately without reason.  The first way to assure that you have selected a true professional is if the voice talent makes a full time living with their voice inside their native country.  That is a sure-fire way to know a true professional.  Then, ask if they do national commercials - and, if yes, how many per year?  Talents who do national commercials have what is called a neutral accent, the most prized.  Then, assure that these talents are professional VOICE talents, not stage or camera talents.  98% of all fine voice talents are not camera talents.  They concentrate solely on their voice.  If the talent you choose meets these benchmarks, you have a fine, professional talent whose work will enhance your corporate image and increase your sales.

Voices and technology concatenation

Q:  For concatenated computer applications, like IVR, are there secrets to successful translation?

There are quite a few secrets, so let’s try one at a time:  translation for concatenation.  The approach to translation for technologies that concatenate (technologies that form sentences by putting phrases or fragments together at run-time), is quite different from “normal translation”.  This is the first downfall of most developers - the assumption that anyone who speaks a language can translate an application that concatenates - particularly if that application inserts variables at run-time such as dates, times, numbers, spoken names, and more.  Actually, it is exactly the opposite - a very special translator is required to translate concatenating products.  Why?  Because the way foreign languages concatenate is vastly different from the way English language concatenates.  So, if your application has a prompt “Transferring to…” and you plan to insert a person’s name (e.g. “Joe Brown”) your application will not play properly in Russian or Polish or a number of other languages.   If you plan to insert a number in:  “You have <number> messages.” your application will not play properly without reprogramming or data table alteration in 98% of the world’s languages.  First, because many languages have up to 25 different ways to speak the same numbers, varying with what they modify (e.g. “messages”), and also there are many more possibilities than just “messages” - many languages have multiple plurals, such as “messagi” and “messagu”, and the developer will need to modify the programming to play the correct plural for the correct number of objects.  Translating for technology requires not only someone with experience and outstanding grammar, but also someone who can tell the developer clearly when and where to alter the programming. Plus, the translator must understand the concept of translation for technology - an amazing number of translators just translate “You have…” word-for-word as “you have”, where in their language , the technology should really say/play  “there is” or “there are” - not “you have.”

Script translation and dialects

Q:  How important is the “you” issue in translation?

There are quite a number of ways that dialect impacts a translation.  By “translation” at this moment, we mean just the words themselves, not the accent of the voice talent.  The first impact, is the way of saying “you”.  In most languages, there is an informal “you” and a formal “you”.  Native English speakers have trouble imagining how this could be a problem, because we only have one “you”.  So,  try to think of “old English”.  Once upon a time, a well-brought up person addressed an adult - or a stranger - as “Sir” or “Ma’am”.  If you were polite, you said “Yes, sir” or “Yes, ma’am”.  So, we once had a formal version of “you”  (sir, madame) and those words were an indication of respect.  Failure to use sir or madame, showed disrespect for person to whom you were speaking.  In English, this respectful tone was lost during the liberating ’60s and ’70s, but still exists worldwide in many countries - but not all countries.  In countries with “Sir”, it is considered impertinent and disrespectful to address someone without the “sir” or “ma’am” unless you are truly close friends or colleagues.  In the non-Sir countries, you sound stuffy and snooty if you DO address them as “sir” - just as it would sound silly if someone called you sir or ma’am 100 times in one conversation.  The main problem with this whole scenario is that there is no way to completely win - there is no one mode of address that is perfect for everyone in some languages, Spanish included.  If you use the “tu” form (informal), you are bound to irritate and bother the “sir” people.  But if you use “Usted” (formal), you are virtually saying to one element of your viewers that this translation was not made for them.  Because there is no way to completely “win”, find out who is your audience and do your best to please as many as possible.  If the vast majority of your audience is from Mexico or Spain or Miami, use “tu”. Otherwise, use “Usted”.  If your target is extremely educated people or wealthy people, “Usted” - the formal - is usually more appropriate - why?  Because most people address the president or Yves Saint Laurent or similar people of stature as “sir” - een in today’s society - perhaps out of respect for their wealth or position. If the majority will not be a “vast majority”, but rather a “simple majority”, we suggest that you err on the side of caution, and use “Usted”.

Casting foreign talent

Q:  This experience has been quite frustrating.  We recorded a video in Spanish and Chinese, and we almost had to re-record because the client says there was an accent.  We thought the talent was neutral. Is there a secret to casting accents?

Sorry about your problem.  It is an old hold that so many fall into.  The frustrating thing about accents is — who has the accent - your talent or your client?  Meaning, perhaps your talent was fine, but your client’s reviewer had an accent and wants his/her own accent in the project, perhaps without being aware?  Or, perhaps your talent swore to you that their accent is neutral, but is not.  Companies that deal in foreign talents on a daily basis, like @International Services, receive hundreds of voice talent demos all claiming to be neutral, when some of them have ferocious accents, and almost none are “neutral”.   Most talent agencies will upload any demos that sound professional to their ears, neutral or not, or will believe what  talents say of their own skills.  Perhaps the easiest way to assure an accent is to work with a company that guarantees accent, like @IS.  And the only way to guarantee accent is to use talent located inside the native country, in the major metropolitan area - a talent who is a regular with directors and producers of commercials and television for that country.   A popular talent who works for many many directors in country - especially for national advertising - will be a neutral talent.  Each country has its share of character actors, or stage actors who record voices part time but whose real strength is their face and body not their voice.  You should really start to worry about talents who live out-of-country.  For an accent guarantee, @IS offers hundreds of talents with guaranteed neutral accents in their Director Center on their website http://www.internationalservies.com/is .  The Director Center can also be placed on your own website, with your branding.

Adaptation follow up

Q:  How serious is dialect?

Dialect has an amazing impact.  The effect of that impact is divided by intent of your project.  If you have a corporate project where the goal is training, then there are merits to be balanced, such as where will this training be viewed and by whom and for how many years?  The usual accent for training is “neutral”.  It is harder to find, but gives your training a long shelf life, because no matter what direction your company goes, this training can follow.  When training is recorded using a dialect voice talent, your project will work well for persons of that dialect, but listeners of any other dialect has the emotional reaction “Well, that is not for me!”, so the impact lessens.  The impact does not disappear by using anothe dialect, but the message is dimished.  For advertising - such as commericals and radio spots - intelligent use of dialect is a very powerful tool.  The reaction “That’s made for me!”  is what nurtures the emotional impact to buy.  So, a neutral accented commercial has less impact than a dialect commerical - on each individual in the audience.  A Mexican voice will sell better to Mexicans than a neutral voice, and far better than Puerto Rican accent or Cuban accent.  The accent in Spain is so radically different that Latin American Spanish that will probably not sell anything at all.  Another technique that can be delightful is mixing accents.  If there are more than one voice needed for your project, selecting one from each accent group can be a charming combination and lots of fun.  Content often brightens with multiple accents, particularly content with potential to be dull (apologies to all training directors!)  However, if the subject matter you are trying to convey is extremely serious, such as safety rules or chemical mixing, the charm of multiple accents can actually hinder absorption of the message.  So, where mixing accents can stimulate a training session, mixing accents can  decrease retention for something that is extremely serious.

Dialects and corporate videos

Q:  On the last video we translated with a company, there were complaints about words used.  What is this issue?

The concept of dialect is small, but important.  In Spanish, for example, there are 13 dialects of Spanish that may affect any corporate video, subtitling or document project you may have.  Dialect affects you in several ways.  First, the accent of the speaker.  In English, a dialect accent refers to, for example, a Kentucky accent versus a New York accent.  A Louisiana accent versus a Boston accent.  Each of these regions have very recognizable ways of speaking English.  Yet, American is a dialect of English in itself — U.K. English is the real “neutral” English, and England also has a boatload of dialect accents inside its small country, not to mention across the Commonwealth.   There is an accent that could be called the “broadcast accent” for most countries.  For English, is U.K. English, so there is a broadcast for the language family (English) as well as a broadcast for each country.   Dialect also affects Spanish in the words spoken or written, as well as the sound of the accent.  Little things like “hammer” or “concrete” may be totally different words from one dialect to another.  Or, the difference can be quite major such as whether to use the formal or the familiar version of “you” — one can be considered “snooty” by one dialect and the other too aggressive or familiar to another dialect.  The closer the dialect you use is to your audience, the more effective will be your project.  So, although “neutral” sounds nice, it may be better to have “Mexican” for California, “Puerto Rican” for New York, “Cuban” for Miami, or “Neutral” for South America.  Yet, if your audience is comprised of a variety of listeners, the “neutral” is really the only choice - because neutral is the least offensive and most acceptable of all accents and written word.

Lip Sync Adaptation for Dubbing

Q:  What is the secret to lip sync?  Our scripts don’t match.

A: Lip sync is a bit tricky if one is not trained or experienced.  Basically, the first step for lip sync is to adapt the script.  When translated, a script reflects the new language, but the lips of the persons on-screen reflects the words of the original language.   For example, the word “Drat!” in English, move the lips for “d” and then a wide mouth for “at”.  Whereas the equivalent in French could be “Zut!” (pronounced “zoot”).  This is a closed-mouth vowel “oo”.  So, if recorded in French as “Zut!’, will not match the lips on screen.  In such a case, perhaps the word “Alors!” could be used in French instead, giving a wide mouth sound.  This will sync to the on-screen lips much better, yet have the same meaning.

Preparing a script for dubbing lip sync requires much experience.  The more experience an adaptor has, the better the results.

Added to the open-mouth-closed-mouth scenario is the fact that translations are about 15% longer than an original language.  Therefore more words need to be spoken in the same amount of time (which causes much lip-desynchronization), or the number of words must be cut back - without losing message.  “without losing message” being the difficult part.

Lip sync is the highest form of video translation, and is the most effective and the most valued.  Because of the script adaptation and need for specially-trained voice talents, lip sync becomes the most expensive of the alternatives.  But it sells the most, as well.  Non-English speakers are so accustomed to seeing movies and television in lip sync, that they often don’t even know that was not filmed in their language.  Depends upon the quality of the lip sync and the audience.