Translation Client Zone

A quick experiment with dialects

Feb 15th 2012

By Bianca Bold

Here’s some background for those who haven’t read or listened to the two previous posts: I started tackling the relevance of dialects in my field, and then Fabio M. Said kindly contributed with his views on the differences among the Portuguese language variants. I believe discussing the results of an experiment I did in this area is a good continuation to this sequence of articles.

Before moving on to the experiment itself, let me share a few considerations I found in an interesting essay by Michelle de Abreu Aio, who discusses literary translation between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. The author observes that the regional differences might indeed lead readers to a total lack of understanding or even the false belief of having understood the text. She claims that translators must go beyond mere adaptation in order to reach the foreign audience with the same linguistic intensity as achieved in the original community.

The experiment

As a graduate student in Translation Studies, I carried out an experiment to check the reception of a short text by a sample of five Brazilians living in Toronto in 2010. They were exposed to two versions of the same text without knowing details on what differences there were or even what the whole experiment was about. One of the texts was in Brazilian Portuguese, and the other was written in the European variant. My intent was to gain an insight into the participants’ opinions and feelings about both versions.

I asked the interviewees to imagine they were in a doctor’s waiting room in Toronto, where they found two informative booklets (of which my texts were a short excerpt). The content focused on how to deal with gambling problems in the family.

Questions and answers

(1) They were first asked to choose their favorite version and explain the reason for their choice. This should come as no surprise to translators: the participants’ favorite text was the one written in Brazilian Portuguese. However, I was actually more interested in the subsequent part of the interview: listening to their reasons and explanations.

Brazilians explaining why they prefer the text in Brazilian Portuguese:

• “Because I come from Brazil. If I had gambling problems in the family, my understanding of the situation and the search for solutions would be easier if I read a text written in my native language.”
• “It’s written in Brazilian Portuguese, which makes my reading and understanding easier.”
• “Both texts convey the same message, but this text sounds more familiar.”
• “I think it’s more personal. It sounds as if it’s talking to me […]. If I had a gambling problem in the family, this one would have more influence on me.”

(2) I also asked them to list aspects they liked about their preferred text (without ever bringing up the question of regional variants).

Brazilians listing what they like about the text in Brazilian Portuguese:

• “It’s more direct, especially in terms of sentence structure.”
• “It’s easier to read.”
• “Some words sound more familiar.”
• “It sounds more colloquial, more informal, due to the expressions used. The expressions in the other text sound strange.”
• “The ideas are more clearly expressed.”
• “The comprehension is immediate. The reading is more fluent, without any barriers to comprehension.”
• “It sounds as if it’s trying to be helpful without giving me a lecture.”

(3) Lastly, I inquired what they disliked about the other text—again, leaving out any mention of countries or variants.

Brazilians listing what they dislike about the text in European Portuguese:

• “It’s not impossible to read European Portuguese, but when I compare, my understanding of this text is not as immediate. My reading is less fluent.”
• “I probably took a bit longer to read it, as compared to the other text.”
• “It sounds a bit funny. Some expressions are not used in Brazil and could lead to misunderstandings.”
• “The grammar sounds strange.”
• “The spelling and expressions sound strange.”
• “It’s less clear.”
• “The language is more formal. It tries to teach me some strategies, but in sentences that I wouldn’t be able to use.”
• “The whole text is more distant […]. I don’t feel it’s talking to me.”

This is certainly a tiny sample within a huge market, but the consistent responses are a sign that these Brazilian readers did not identify with the text in the European variant. As you can notice, the differences pointed out by the participants go way beyond just spelling, so the new spelling reform has changed very little (refer to Fabio’s post for more on this issue).

Note that I’m not trying to suggest that Brazilian Portuguese is better than European Portuguese. It’s all relative. If my interview had included Portuguese folks, I’m sure I’d have heard similar comments, except they’d be referring to the text in their native variant as their favorite and listing positive qualities about it. By the same token, they’d have their own list of “complaints” about Brazilian Portuguese.

The bottom line: the variants are just different; and readers from different backgrounds react differently to them. Therefore, each readership deserves to be treated as a group by itself, with its own needs and expectations.

Now, it’s really up to you… Would you rather hear from your target audience that your text is fluent, clear, familiar, and easy to read? Or that it sounds funny, strange, unclear, and not very fluent? It all comes down to your own goals, who you want to reach, and how effectively you want to reach them.

What’s next…

Our guest writer Christos Floros will comment on what he thinks makes a translation agency which is good to work for.

Recommended readings on the topic:
(1) Brazilian vs. European Portuguese Explained for Non-Portuguese Speakers, by José Henrique Lamensdorf
(2) Portuguese Translation: What Clients Need to Know, by Lyris Wiedemann

Audio version of this text:

Other options: left-click to play in new window | right-click to download file

Brazilian Portuguese, dialects, effective communication, European Portuguese, experiment, language variation, podcast, target audience

[Resources] Mistakes to avoid

Feb 13th 2012

By Bianca Bold

No comments

Resources to benefit from

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Levent Yildizgoren at a translators’ powwow in Toronto, and I was glad to learn about a brochure he has written to provide clients with strategies to avoid common mistakes in translation projects. The topics included in his publication are in perfect harmony with the material you find in this blog, and some aspects have actually been tackled in our previous posts.

Here are the nine mistakes discussed by Levent in his text:

1 – Doing it yourself
2 – Relying on machine translation
3 – Not telling your translator what it’s for
4 – Not providing all the details to your translator
5 – Not agreeing on the quality criteria
6 – Not using previously translated documents
7 – Choosing the cheapest translator
8 – Not planning the translation project
9 – Not using plain English in your copy

The Nine Translation Slip-ups to Avoid! is a free brochure. Just click on the link, follow the instructions, and you’ll get a beautifully formatted PDF in your mail box within a few seconds.

I’ll certainly be quoting from this brochure in future posts, as it addresses topics I’ve been meaning to write about.

I have more good news: Levent himself got excited about collaborating with us as a guest writer some time soon. So stay tuned!

As with other resources I find pertinent to share with my audience, this one has been added to the “Useful links” section (on the left).

Enjoy!

resources
Brazil and Portugal, two countries separated by a common language

Jan 30th 2012

By Fabio M. Said

1 comment

Cultural awareness

Continuing our discussion on the importance of dialects in translation and localization, Fabio M. Said goes deeper into issues regarding the differences between the Portuguese language variants. Thank you for your input, Fabio!

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As a Portuguese translator working in Germany, when talking to a prospect about a translation project, I always check if the prospect needs the translation done in a Portuguese dialect that I am able to translate into. I was born in Brazil, I spent the first 30 years of my life in Brazil, and I was educated in Brazil. I have had only limited exposure to European Portuguese (mostly talking casually and briefly to people from Portugal and reading some texts written in European Portuguese) and no exposure at all to other Portuguese dialects spoken in Africa. So I would hardly accept any job offer to translate into a dialect other than Brazilian Portuguese, nor would it be ethical on my part to accept such an offer. And that is what I try to explain to prospects.

Buyers of translation who contact me rarely know that Brazilian Portuguese differs substantially from European Portuguese. Major differences include not only everyday colloquial language (words, style, spelling, even grammar), but also specialized vocabulary. They are still the same language (“Brazilian” is not a language), but with highly specialized dialects. After all, Brazil and Portugal have developed differently in the past two hundred years, and, of course, their separate historical paths have impacted on their local dialects and on the mutual understandability between speakers of each variant. To quote from Bernard Shaw, they are like “two countries separated by a common language.”

It is precisely those differences that make it extremely important for a translation buyer to know which language dialect their text should be translated into. A text written in Brazilian Portuguese will most likely not be understood correctly by an average native speaker of European Portuguese, and vice-versa. Yes, the overall message would, perhaps, be understood, but not the nuances, details and between-the-lines information. It could come across as funny, awkward or even plain wrong. This is an even more important point to consider if communicating effectively is really a top priority. Those who just “want that translation done” may very well hire a Brazilian to translate a text and give the translation to readers in Portugal, or, worse still, commission a native speaker of European Portuguese to proofread a translation into Brazilian Portuguese. Some people have even asked me to translate texts into a fairy-tale entity called “neutral” Portuguese that could be used in Brazil, Portugal or Africa, and I politely turn down the offers, explaining that there is no such thing as “neutral,” or globally “standard,” Portuguese. But those who demand the highest quality in translation and who know that communicating effectively—i.e. targeting the message to the specific audience one wants to reach—is key to the success of a product or service would never want to do such things. And they usually have no problem accepting that a native speaker of Brazilian Portuguese should translate into Brazilian Portuguese and a native speaker of European Portuguese should translate into European Portuguese.

But what about the Portuguese language spelling reform that has been in force in Brazil since January 2009 and in Portugal since mid-2011? The reason behind the spelling reform was to make Portuguese a uniform language globally, thereby making it easier to perform internet searches and understand Portuguese documents on the Web, no matter which Portuguese dialect these were written in. But this is utopia. The spelling reform only changes about 0.5% of Brazilian Portuguese words and about 1.5% of European Portuguese words. Besides, the reform only applies to the spelling, and not to other language elements like syntax, regionally/culturally specific vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. So this reform will not unify the two variants into one “standard” language—at least not in the current scenario.

And, most important of all, the new spelling reform will not change the fact that translation buyers need a native speaker of Brazilian Portuguese for a translation that will be used in Brazil and a native speaker of European Portuguese for a translation that will be used in Portugal. But this, of course, only applies to translation buyers who really want high-quality translation and effective communication, which—I am sure—you do.

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What’s next…

To further illustrate the importance of dialects, Bianca will share the results of a quick experiment she has carried out with a small sample of Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

Recommended readings on the topic:
(1) Brazilian vs. European Portuguese Explained for Non-Portuguese Speakers, by José Henrique Lamensdorf
(2) Portuguese Translation: What Clients Need to Know, by Lyris Wiedemann

Audio version of this text:

Other options: left-click to play in new window | right-click to download file

Brazilian Portuguese, dialects, effective communication, European Portuguese, language variation, podcast, project specifications, target audience
[Resources] Two must-reads

Jan 27th 2012

By Bianca Bold

No comments

Resources to benefit from

This quick post aims to help disseminate two pertinent resources the American Translators Association (ATA) has made available recently.

Resource #1

Interpreting and translation are very different activities. The basic difference is that translators work with written texts, whereas interpreters work with oral communication such as in business meetings, conferences, courtrooms, doctor’s appointments, among other situations. While it’s possible for the same person to work in both fields, the dynamics of hiring a professional for a translation job may differ greatly from that of hiring an interpreter.

Targeting buyers of interpreting services, Chris Durban has filled a huge blank with another short and sweet guide endorsed by the ATA: Interpreting: Getting It Right. Just like its twin publication, Translation: Getting It Right, this new resource provides non-linguists with highly useful tips for making smart use of their budget and reducing stress when purchasing interpreting services.

Resource #2

Seeking to help translators draft their own contracts and agreements, the ATA Business Practices Education Committee has put together the Guide to a Translation Services Agreement.

This publication provides not only a customizable model contract in one column, but also enlightening explanations in the second column. While undoubtedly handy for language professionals, it’s certainly useful to translation customers as well.

I’ve also updated my blog post on translation agreements to include the link to this guide.

Many thanks to the ATA members who have put in time and effort to develop these materials.

To help with ease of access, both resources have deservedly been added to TCZ’s “Useful links” section (left column).

Hope you all make good use of them!

agreements, interpreting, resources
Dialects: a culturally-sensitive issue

Jan 14th 2012

By Bianca Bold

3 comments

Cultural awareness

A while ago I discussed how crucial it is for clients and translators to be clear about the specifications of each project from the outset. Two of the ten items listed as relevant in that article have to do with dialects: source language and regional variation, and target language and regional variation. This matter is so important that it deserves a post—or several—of its own.

Dialects are one of the elements taken into consideration when you do what’s commonly known as “localization.” This term derives from “locale,” which refers to a given geographical, political, or cultural region while also considering this region’s language and local variant.

Some scholars and professionals defend that localization is much more than “mere” translation, because it involves the adaptation of the whole message to fit a particular culture. The article “What Is Localization?” concludes that “localization is like translation but with a cultural twist and a rewrite attribute.” Nevertheless, others argue that the very notion of translation intrinsically encompasses localization: all translations necessarily involve cultural considerations and adaptations. Well, there’s certainly a lot to discuss on this topic—much more than what I have in mind for this particular post. I just wanted to introduce the issue by tackling these concepts and showing how language variants, culture, and translation/localization are interconnected.

It’s only natural that non-native speakers of a language find the divergences between two or more variants of the same language imperceptible. However, as the previous paragraph suggests, differences between countries go beyond linguistic nuances and involve cultural matters. A good, commonly known example is how sensitive language variation is for French-Canadians and for the French of France. Most people also seem to be aware of how different the language spoken in the US is from that spoken in the UK. In addition, there are many other cases of regional language variation, such as Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese, the wide array of Spanish variants, various dialects of Farsi/Persian (also known as “Dari” in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), among others I won’t even begin to detail.

The case of Spanish certainly deserves more attention than I can give it right now. But just to mention in passing, the Spanish-speaking countries have reached an implicit agreement on what’s called “international Spanish” or “neutral Spanish,” which works fine under certain circumstances. I intend to address this quite unique scenario in more depth at another time.

Problems with the translation itself

Although language variants are often mutually intelligible to some extent, sometimes the nature of the differences and their high frequency result in uncomfortable bumps in the texts: distractions and obstacles that prevent immediate understanding. For instance, a text that is simple, informal, and direct in one country might sound too formal, harsh, and wordy in another. A translation that doesn’t sound as fluent or natural as the original might fail to appeal to that particular readership. Therefore, a number of aspects of this very text will need to be adapted in order to reach the target readers appropriately and generate the desired results.

Your image and the readers’ attitude

If you are unaware of the importance of regional variants, you might hire translators from different backgrounds as if they were interchangeable. However, mismatching the target variant and audience might undermine the reception of your text and the communication as a whole.

Not taking regional linguistic differences into account might suggest disrespect on the part of the translation buyer or his/her lack of familiarity with the target culture. This often affects the way the audience responds to the text. Readers who are relegated to the position of what’s often called “chance receivers” might not interact with the text in the same way as the primary addressees.

Therefore, being aware of regional linguistic variation is the first step toward producing a translation that speaks properly to its intended readers. By appropriately translating and localizing your texts, you present your brand as culturally aware and earn the respect of your target audience by showing that your business is committed to their particular needs and interests.

Language professionals: a central piece

A serious professional should be ready to deal with language variation issues. It’s the translators’ job to raise the awareness of those involved with translation—from staff in translation agencies to members of professional associations, and translation buyers. For instance, if clients don’t specify upfront the variant they need (which happens more often than we’d imagine), translators are expected to clarify this point before going ahead with the project. I believe most colleagues would agree that it’s unethical of a professional to simply assume his/her variant is the one requested and start the translation without first checking with the client.

If you have two professionals working on the same project, for example, one in charge of the translation and one taking care of editing, avoid hiring people from different backgrounds. Save time and money by respecting regional differences and working with teams of translators and revisers who are prepared to meet the specific needs of the audience you have in mind.

What’s next…

Still on the same page, my colleague Fabio M. Said will discuss a few issues involving translation into European Portuguese and also into the Brazilian variant of Portuguese.

culture, dialects, effective communication, language variation, localization, project specifications, target audience
Controversial approach: “penalties” for low rates?

Dec 30th 2011

By Bianca Bold

3 comments

The cost-time-quality triangle

We all tend to agree that the “you get what you pay for” rule generally applies to goods and services regardless of the industry. In the translation business, what I describe in a previous text about the common scenarios involving the cost-time-quality triangle is usually true:

“Lower rates are often charged by novice translators or those who have no option but to work for extremely long hours to make a living. Conversely, more experienced professionals usually charge higher rates, which are, more often than not, proportional to the quality level of their services.”

In a subsequent post under the same category, I briefly analyze the relationship between a professional’s working hours and translation rates. Those who charge peanuts have to work incredibly hard to make a decent living. Moreover, those who have no choice but to work very long hours are less likely to focus on their translations, do exhaustive research, and revise the text until it’s impeccable, among other details that interfere in the quality of their output.

All these arguments seem logical, as quality is a direct result of a combination of attention, research, revision, and expertise, of course. A professional needs to spend time with a text to be able to put all these into action. If time is not available, one will expect a drop in quality. Naturally.

Now what if a “bottom-feeder” intentionally disregards quality because the rate s/he is getting is “not enough” to pay for his/her full attention, proper research, and careful revision? Sad but true, as you can see in this Google Groups discussion. I’ve reproduced the original text (which is a reply to another translator’s message) and highlighted the parts I consider a must-read.

This is an interesting scenario, especially because I believe it happens more often than we would expect. And I don’t mean the intentional “customer suffers” approach. Instead, the real, widespread problem is the circumstantial—and sometimes inevitable—results of low rates, as I’ve described.

This attitude will sooner or later boomerang back at unprofessional individuals like this one and damage their reputation, as Kevin Lossner points out in his comment under a blog post about it. To complement the cycle, I quote Werner Patel’s explanation, found in another a blog comment, of how it can backfire on clients:

“If they [clients] are too short-sighted to realize that they’re only hurting themselves by throwing peanuts at language professionals, they will eventually go out of business due to lack of quality and professionalism.”

There has been good discussion around this topic through blog posts and comments, as seen in Ryan Ginstrom’s and Corinne McKay’s posts, both published in 2008. Still, I thought I should bring this up again by adding a few extra lines about it and making these links available. The subject is a perfect fit for this blog, in harmony with a bunch of previous articles, and I don’t think it’ll ever be outdated.

What’s next…

The upcoming series of posts will discuss cultural awareness issues that are inherent to translation, starting with the importance of taking regional language variants into consideration.

cost, professionalism, quality, time
Beware of the translation industry “bottom-feeders”

Dec 15th 2011

By Christos Floros

6 comments

The cost-time-quality triangle

This article came all the way from Greece and was kindly written by Christos Floros—Thanks a bunch, Christos!

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Last time I checked, we lived in a free-market economy. As freelance translators, we provide services and expect to build a solid reputation and earn enough money to live on through our work. But what happens when we come across “bottom-feeders” who mess everything up?

I am not speaking about the aquatic animal that feeds on the bottom of the ocean, but about translators who choose to accept virtually any price for their services. By doing this, they “earn” their living but affect the whole industry by contributing to the fall of the price for translation services. They also affect quality even if they don’t realize it, because experience, quality, and price are interconnected.

By messing up the variables within the cost-time-quality triangle, they pose a threat not only to themselves (by undermining their own career), but also to the industry as a whole, including translation buyers, who generally try to reduce translation costs. This is a dangerous tactic from the translation client’s point of view: perhaps the cost will be reduced, but will the quality be the same? If so, kudos to you for driving the price down while maintaining quality. Your profit margin will be larger. If the quality isn’t the same, there is the danger of affecting the prospects of your company in the long run due to the questionable quality the “bottom-feeder” delivers.

During my career, I’ve come across many translators who choose to work for half my rates, sometimes for a third or even a fourth of them. So naturally I ask them why they are doing that and how they expect to earn enough money to support themselves. Most of the time, their answers are puzzling and confuse me even more.

Some of them are university graduates trying to break into the industry. With no practical experience in translation, they are willing to accept virtually any rate in order to get a foot in the door.

Others prefer to work in-house for a translation agency that charges, for example, 10 cents per word for translation and offers them a mere 1-1.5 cent for their work. They like the “security” the agency offers and are usually too busy with their “mass production” to think about quality.

Some are trying to establish a freelance career but are not that good at negotiating with clients. They are afraid that, by rejecting a couple of low-paid jobs, they’ll be thrown out of the game.

There are also those who don’t believe in themselves: they think they are not “good enough” (nor will they ever be) to charge a certain amount, so they settle for a much lower price.

I can understand these concerns, but I don’t understand the point. I mean, what’s the point in working their butts off, most likely producing sub-standard texts, and not getting the (financial) credit they deserve?

How do they expect to excel in their work if they believe that there are no alternatives, if they are afraid of taking the next step, if they think they are not good at what they do or they are unable to convey the value of their work to their customers?

In theory, the generally accepted value of any service is based on the illusion of the value of money in a specific region of the world. At least, that’s what a nice political economy professor used to tell us during my freshman year at university.

If we accept this theory, we can charge a dollar per word or a dollar per 1000 words. If I value my own work, if I believe it’s top-notch, I’ll probably go for a dollar per word. If I don’t value my own work, if I am unsure, if I have no alternative, I’ll go for a dollar per 1000 words.

In essence, there are a lot of translators out there who don’t value their work. In fact, there are more than I ever would have imagined. My guess is that the problem of “bottom-feeders” in the translation industry is more of a quality issue: if they think their work lacks the necessary quality, then they’re happy to receive a third of the price of another translator who thinks s/he produces high quality translations and expects to get paid accordingly.

On the other hand, it takes two to tango, so behind most “bottom-feeders” there is usually a “translation company” trying to drive the prices down for its own purposes (usually for a bigger margin). I’ll try to analyze this side of the coin a bit more in an upcoming post.

On a lighter note…

By Alejandro Moreno-Ramos

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What’s next…

Speaking of “bottom-feeders”… Bianca’s next post will address a controversial attitude that involves “penalties” for low translation rates and takes the saying “you get what you pay for” to a whole new level.

bottom-feeders, cost, Mox, quality
Subtitling – Part II

Nov 30th 2011

By Carolina A. de Carvalho and Bianca Bold

1 comment

Specialized translation areas

The sequence of two posts on subtitling and the text on audiovisual translation were written by Carolina A. de Carvalho and Bianca Bold. Thanks once again for the collaboration, Carol!

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Learning a bit about the subtitling world may help your communication with the specialized professionals involved in this task. Our last post addressed topics ranging from the type of information you should provide to translators when you need a subtitling quote, the subtitling steps, and the most common subtitling services and their (dis)advantages. Other pertinent aspects of this popular form of audiovisual translation are discussed below to wrap up this sequence of posts.

(4)    Why didn’t you list (audio) transcription as a common step of the subtitling process?

Transcription of the audio is not necessarily part of subtitling. A common misconception is that the translator needs to type the text in the original language before, and only then begin working on the subtitles proper. The truth is most translators work faster by listening to the audio in one language and typing it directly into the other language.

Nevertheless, the transcribed material is sometimes used by clients for preparing manuals or other sorts of texts in the source language (i.e. original language). Most subtitling professionals will provide you with the transcription if you make it clear you also need the original content in writing. Remember this service takes time and, therefore, should be agreed upon beforehand. It will certainly be charged as an extra service.

(5)    How many professionals do I need to hire?

This depends on what product you need and the type of professional(s) you hire. Some translators only do the linguistic part of the job, whereas others handle the full video editing process. Some of them will deliver the subtitled video after having outsourced the video editing phase, for instance. Here’s our advice: describe the final product you need; the translator will most likely give you some options and tell you what s/he is able or unable to do.

To maximize your results and minimize costs, we suggest you do everything at once. Translating the material this week with one professional, then looking for another professional to edit the film next month might result in wasted time and money. Even if two or more professionals are involved, the process will be streamlined if they can communicate and agree on certain technical details.

(6)    Besides the video itself, what other material should I provide?

Other than the reference materials you’d usually send before any sort of translation task, good written support materials (audio transcription, original script, dialog list, etc.) often make translators less prone to misunderstanding the audio. It might also speed up the process, since the professional won’t have to listen to an unclear excerpt numerous times before s/he gets the right message. Many translators add a surcharge when this type of written reference material is not available.

(7)    Are there legal issues, such as intellectual rights, that I should be concerned about?

If you are the creator or legal owner of the audiovisual material, you obviously have the right to translate and distribute it. And, when you hire a translator, you usually retain the intellectual rights over the translation as well. This may not be the case in every country and every situation, though. So, if you have intellectual property concerns, discuss them with the translator in advance.

In the case of third-party contents (films or TV shows, videos from another company, or even materials downloaded from websites such as YouTube), you must acquire the rights to translate them and distribute it. A copyright breach could entail legal consequences for you and the professionals involved.

Now that you know a bit more about subtitling, we hope you can optimize the communication with your translator from the onset of each project and, consequently, achieve the best results. Feel free to email us and use the comment section to ask questions about subtitling and the audiovisual translation field.

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What’s next…

Stay tuned for new posts under TCZ’s most popular category so far: the cost-time-quality triangle. We’ll soon have a post by Christos Floros discussing more issues related to the cost-time-quality tradeoff.

audiovisual translation, multimedia translation, reference materials, subtitling
Subtitling – Part I

Nov 15th 2011

By Carolina A. de Carvalho and Bianca Bold

3 comments

Specialized translation areas

This text on subtitling, divided into part I and part II, and the one on audiovisual translation were written in collaboration with my business partner and specialist in subtitling, Carolina A. de Carvalho—Thank you again, Carol!

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Many clients who ask us for subtitling quotes don’t know exactly what they want, or what to expect. The explanation? They haven’t heard much about the process, let alone its steps or possible products. It’s understandable that those who have never needed to have a video subtitled might assume it’s as simple as typing the text onto the screen through some specialized software. Well, it’s far from that.

With the Q&A sheet below, we intend to give you an overview of the subtitling process. Our goal is in line with the general goal of this blog: to help you get the product that most suits you, and with the best possible quality, by better communicating your needs to the specialized professionals.

(1)    What information should I provide to get a subtitling quote?

Basically, you should discuss with the professional(s) all the pertinent specifications of your project. Give special attention to the format of the video you have and what end product you want. Do you have a “hard copy” of a video (VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) or a digital file (AVI, MKV, MPEG, WMV, MP4, etc.)? As usual, sending the original video up front is the most reasonable way of dealing with this, but we understand it’s not always possible. If that’s the case, don’t forget to inform the length of the material and its subject matter (how technical is it?). If you have the transcription (i.e. the text of the video in a written format), go ahead and send it. It can also be useful if you explain the purpose of the translated video: will it be shown at a film festival? On a TV channel? Sent as internal communication to your company’s employees? Serve as marketing material for your clients? Put on your website or YouTube? Last but not least, all steps of the project should also be crystal clear: who does what and when.

(2)    What are the most common products and their (dis)advantages?

First things first: do you only need the translated text so you can prepare a written training manual, for instance? If so, subtitling is not necessary, and most translators can work from the audio to produce a written translation (and charge accordingly). However, if you need a DVD or a video to broadcast, keep on reading.

Digital video files are becoming more and more popular. They can, however, have only one subtitle file attached to them, so if you need the video translated into two languages, you’ll need two video files. But the mobility of these files makes them incredibly practical. They can be easily uploaded to your website or USB drive, sent by email or through FTP servers, and so on. Also, they can be conveniently saved onto a CD-ROM whenever you need something “concrete” to hand to your clients, for example.

Another option is a DVD (category that also includes Blu-ray and VHS). This technology stores images and texts independently and allows for the existence of various subtitling channels, which viewers can switch on and off. This means you can have a video subtitled in multiple languages, and the audience can choose whether to read the French subtitles, the Spanish subtitles, or none at all. A possible downside of DVDs has to do with their “physical” existence: you have to carry them around and burn the number of copies you need, instead of being able to send the video by FTP or email, or uploading it to a USB drive or website. While a digital video file can be quickly burned onto a CD-ROM, a DVD is not easily converted into a subtitled video file; it’s totally feasible, but requires the right software and expertise.

(3)    What are the common steps throughout the subtitling process?

Without getting into the nitty-gritty of subtitling, I’d say most professionals begin with the translation proper. While they type the translated text into the subtitling software (or word processor), they need to decide where exactly each subtitle and each line begin and end, i.e. how to segment the text so that readable chunks are shown on the screen. As subtitles are constrained by space and duration, our job is to facilitate the reading process by making the text flow as much as possible.

The next phase is the synchronization of the written text with its oral counterpart. It’s crucial for the subtitles to be shown on the screen as their respective sentences are heard. For this to happen, the professional has to mark the exact time when each subtitle appears and disappears.

When translators use specialized subtitling software, the result at this point is a text file (TXT, SUB, SRT, etc.) containing the translation and relevant technical information such as timing, formatting, line breaks, and so on.

Strictly speaking, this is where the job of the audiovisual translator ends. The final step consists of editing the translated video with “attached” subtitles or authoring a new DVD in the translated language(s). This job is usually carried out by professional film producers, and many translators don’t perform this task. So, if you need someone to edit the final video, ask the translator if s/he offers this service or can recommend a video producer. Bear in mind that film editing is a separate task and, as such, will be charged separately according to the technical requirements.

What’s next…

This Q&A sheet is to be continued in our next post. Its final part will address the materials you should send to subtitle translators, how many professionals you need to hire, how audio transcription is unrelated to subtitling, what copyright issues may be involved, and other relevant aspects.

audiovisual translation, instructions, multimedia translation, project specifications, subtitling
Audiovisual translation

Oct 30th 2011

By Carolina A. de Carvalho and Bianca Bold

4 comments

Specialized translation areas
This text and the next one were written in collaboration with TCZ’s first guest writer, who also happens to be my business partner, Carolina A. de Carvalho—Thanks a lot, Carol!

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What do you do when you need to translate a video? Just send it to any translator, and s/he will know exactly what to do, right? Nope. Any serious professional will ask you how exactly you want it translated and might offer you an array of options. Now, would you know what choices you’d be given and which one would be the best for you?

Does any of this remind you of an earlier post entitled “Defining project specifications”? That’s precisely the reason Bianca highlighted in that post the importance of talking to your translator about all relevant details before every project begins. The problem is that projects in some specialized areas have even more specific aspects to be discussed, and of course you can only discuss them if you’re aware of their existence. The main motivation for creating this new category of posts is to explain a bit about the processes and nuances inherent to some specialized translation areas so that you feel more at ease when discussing your projects with professionals.

Let’s begin with a brief overview of what’s commonly referred to as audiovisual translation or multimedia translation. This field includes all modes of translation dealing with sounds and images, such as movies, documentaries, TV shows, advertisements, video games, institutional or educational videos, interactive software, and theatre translation, among others.

Although the script of an audiovisual product might seem to be an ordinary written text, some important elements are not easily retrieved from a mere sheet of paper alone, such as tone of voice, intonation, facial expressions, and visual prompts. That said, it’s almost always the case that the audiovisual translator will do a better job if s/he has access to the video and audio materials, to which the written text must be integrated. Scripts, transcriptions, and dialog lists are very important reference materials, but shouldn’t be used as the only source for translation.

Audiovisual translation modes

The development of technology has brought numerous advances to this field, which has resulted in the creation of new translation modes. For now let’s focus on a quick overview of the most common audiovisual translation modes:
- Script translation
The written text proper is usually necessary in several stages of a video production, for instance. The translation might vary according to what exactly the text will be used for (the purpose of the translated material).
- Subtitling
This mode involves the transposition of spoken speech into written text. The short written segments are usually a condensed version of the original, due to time and space constraints and the viewers’ reading speed—there’s only so much we can read in a few seconds. Subtitles are usually presented as one- or two-line segments that ideally appear and disappear in synchrony with the audio. This is the most popular audiovisual translation mode in many countries.
- Dubbing, narration, voice-over
These modes belong to a wider category often called revoicing, i.e. when a new audio track is produced so that the original speech is (partly) replaced by a translation. It involves the reinterpretation of oral speech by professional actors or voice talents. In dubbing, synchrony between the original actor’s lips and the dubbing actor’s voice is one of the main goals. Narration in audiovisual translation usually refers to a descriptive translated text that is read by an off-screen narrator, meaning viewers can only hear the voice but can’t see the person who’s speaking. In voice-over, the translation doesn’t entirely replace the original: viewers can still hear a split second of the original voice at the beginning and end of the speech. For this reason, voice-over doesn’t deal with lip-sync constraints. These translation modes are more time-consuming than subtitling, especially because they involve the participation of more professionals, thus resulting in higher costs.
- Simultaneous/consecutive interpreting
This option is often used for live events broadcast on television, such as Oscar ceremonies, live speeches by prominent politicians, etc. It works more or less as conference interpreting (simultaneous or consecutive), except that it’s done remotely: the interpreter is usually at a TV studio, and his/her output is broadcast over the original sound without replacing it completely.
- Interactive software and video game translation and localization
Several aspects of interactive software and video games, such as written texts and audio files, have to be extracted and then translated and localized before being reintegrated. While the extraction and reintegration work is usually carried out by software engineers, translators take care of the linguistic matters. Dubbing, narration, and subtitling are often part of this process as well.

Audiovisual translation and media accessibility

Some audiovisual translation modes aim to facilitate the access of disabled/impaired people to audiovisual products. The translation here doesn’t happen from one language to another, but from images or sounds to verbal language, in the form of texts that can be heard or read. Below are the two most common types:
- Closed captioning
Also referred to as subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (or hearing-impaired viewers), this mode resembles regular subtitling. The difference is that the captions are designed so as to include relevant non-verbal sounds such as a dog barking, doorbell, laughter, and so on. Sometimes different colors are assigned to different characters, and the lines can also be displayed closer to the character who’s speaking, instead of in the center of the screen.
- Audiodescription
A description of images is read out loud and integrated into the soundtrack of a video to help blind and visually impaired people understand the audiovisual media. This insertion of succinct and, ideally, objective information has to take place within the gaps between speech or important sound effects.

What’s next…

Our next articles will address in more detail the most prominent audiovisual translation mode in many countries: subtitling. If you’d like to feel more comfortable when discussing your needs with a specialized subtitling professional, we hope you’ll find our next posts useful.
audiovisual translation, media accessibility, multimedia translation
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