Dubbing, subtitling & co.: What to keep in mind for video localization

No question, videos are growing ever more important.

Statista forecasts that revenues from video marketing in Germany will grow by 7.5% to €2.741 billion by 2026.¹ E-learning with video content is also becoming increasingly popular. According to a study by the think tank mmb Institut, 90% of respondents agreed that video content will play a dominant role in continuing education in the coming years.²

Therefore, globally active companies will localize even more video content in future, i.e. have it translated.

In this blog post, we tell you what to keep in mind when developing and making a video, so that nothing stands in the way of successful localization.

Keeping localization in mind during the development stage

Videos involve enormous volumes of data. Even a small one-minute movie can require gigabytes of data. One often only receives files in closed format, for example mp4, and your digital agency keeps the raw data. An important question to answer during the development stage is therefore whether the video will later be used in other markets. If so, make sure the raw data is yours and available quickly. The more accessible and editable the components of the video are, the faster and cheaper localization will be.

Localizing the various video components

After securing the raw data, one can consider video localization in detail. There are two things to look at here: spoken language and text in the image.

In videos, spoken language either takes place on screen (i.e., the speaker is seen) or off (i.e., the speaker cannot be seen). You can dub spoken language into the desired foreign languages. This is done in recording studios in two ways: either lip sync (where the speaker is visible, for example, interviews) or as a voiceover. With voiceover, a narrator’s voice is recorded over the original. It is not lip sync and the original is slightly audible in the background. For voiceover, speech synthesis can be used as an alternative to classic studio recording. Speech synthesis is usually a little cheaper. However, speech synthesis cannot replace a real person’s voice in every subject matter or language.

Often, spoken language in video is not dubbed for economic reasons – subtitles are used instead. Naturally, these take up room in the image. This room – preferably at the bottom of the image – should be planned in, so the subtitles do not obscure anything in the image. Furthermore, one should keep in mind that the speakers should take breaks and not speak too fast. The original text, particularly in English, should have as much “air” as possible. A lot of languages require many more syllables for a statement, and thus more room, than English.

A few practical tips: Hasty speech and long subtitles in videos distract from the visuals. Video production is expensive: Therefore, it is better to invest in meaningful images – and less text – so the localized versions will be satisfying as well.

If the film contains titles and captions, they should be placed in such a way that there is sufficient room. If the original language is English, translations can be up to 30% longer. Shot lengths should be long if there is a lot of text, otherwise there will not be enough time to read. The text will ideally be saved in the text layer of the video project file, for example in Adobe After Effects or Adobe Premiere, where it can be replaced.

A must-have for efficient localization: Get the script from the digital agency that created the video. The language service provider can use this as the basis for their translation (in the case of subtitling or dubbing). This saves time and money compared to manual or automated transcription of the spoken word.

“Videos are like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get.”

That is why we carefully analyze videos in consultation with our clients prior to localization. In this analysis, we clarify the following questions, amongst others:

What is the video’s purpose and who is the audience?
Based on this, we choose the appropriate type of localization. Different standards may apply to an in-house employee training course than to a marketing video designed to appeal to prospective customers in their native language.

What video components have to be localized?
An apt localization strategy takes all components into consideration. For example, is there enough room for longer subtitles or captions?

Can the purpose of the video be achieved with subtitles if dubbing is uneconomical?
Subtitles and simultaneous captions, for example, can overload the image and overwhelm the viewer. Dubbing may be necessary after all.

Is localization even feasible based on the video content?
Let us take a how-to video as an example, where software usage is explained via an English voiceover. The user interface of the software being navigated is also in English. If the English voice-over is now translated into German, the question is whether German-speaking users have the software in English or German. In the latter case, the German version of the software should be navigated in the video, so it may be necessary to re-record the video with the German software.
Alternatively, you can just use screenshots of the software in the how-to video. The video can then be localized into many languages simply by exchanging the screenshots of the software with ones in the foreign language.

These issues are only meant to serve as examples. During our video-content project analysis, we discuss all key points with our clients to find the strategy that best fits the project purpose and budget.

Our conclusion

During the development stage, keep the possibility of video localization in mind. Make sure you have the raw data and provide it to us. This reduces processing time and costs. Let us know the details of the intended use.

And most importantly: Trust the power of images and use as little text as possible. Excessive text distracts from what is being shown and can overwhelm viewers, especially when localizing into other languages.

1 Source: https://de.statista.com/outlook/218/137/videowerbung/deutschland
2 Source: https://www.mmb-institut.de/wp-content/uploads/mmb-Trendmonitor_2020-2021.pdf