𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦: 3 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘴🕒
People who deal with multilingual voiceover on a daily basis will understand the difficulties of fitting numerous languages into a video timeline.
It’s the editors on the front line who deal with the difficult task of text expansion and contraction, which is rarely taken into consideration when creating a video intended for translation or dubbing.
So, we thought it would be worthwhile to provide our top tips on creating multilingual videos and making the life of a voiceover artist and video editor easier.
Here is a short snippet of our tips:
- Allow space for language expansion/contraction
- Consider timing and pace of VO
- Be flexible with the timeline
- Create a longer version
Let’s dive into more detail!
Allow for language expansion/contraction by leaving space
In the original English language video, leave enough space between sentences and sequences so there’s room to fit longer voiceover in the video timeline.
Text expansion happens when a language is translated from one language to another, and the new version is longer than the original. Text contraction works the opposite way, when a text is shorter after being translated.
The problem with text expansion is that when you have transcreate it (edit the script so that it’s shorter) to fit the video’s original timeline, it’s difficult to keep the exact meaning as the English version.
Consider the timing and pace of the required voiceover
The original English voiceover should be suitably paced so the translated speech fits the video as naturally as possible. If the text is a lot shorter or longer than the original, it can sound unnatural when dubbed.
Having good knowledge of what text expansion and contraction is before producing a video that’s going to be voiced over in other languages is beneficial to the client as well as the studio engineer.
If you’re considering making a multilingual video, we’d be happy to advise you on the overall timing for the English version to allow for script expansion/contraction. Don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Try and be flexible with the video’s timeline
Take a typical three-minute corporate video originally produced for an English market, which is spoken at a mid to fast pace and the script has a word count of 400, for example.
The client wants the video translated into the 10 most popular languages for maximum global reach which could include French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Hindi. When the script is translated, it could be as long as 600 words or as little as 200 words. This would significantly affect the spoken length of the script.
Written text can contract/expand to as little or as much as -55% to +60% depending on the language. This level of variation can cause difficulty for the video editor and in these circumstances, transcreators would be required to meet the three-minute timeline for the best results. This can be a costly option and is always a compromise on the overall outcome.
So we would advise to try and be flexible on the video timelines.
Create a longer version of the video
European languages tend to expand when translated from English, with French expanding as much as 30%. Asian languages tend to contract when translated from English by as much as 60%.
For example, a study found that there are some words in the English language that require multiple characters, such as elephant. However, when expressed using Chinese or Japanese the word can just be one character.
There are many factors which can affect the length of a translated script for voiceover (such as the terminology, sentence structure, subject matter, the speed of language and the written style).
By creating a longer version of the video, you can cater to different audiences so they can get the full experience of what the video was intended for.
Conclusion
Now you know some best practices for making your video content multilingual.
Remember, don’t just translate or transcreate into every language, use market research and data to back up where you should target.
Contact us today and read more about multilingual voiceovers.