Subtitle Localization Know How: Here's What You Need to Know

With a lot of internationalized content of audiovisuals all over the world, we can see the increasing use of subtitles. In YouTube content, movies, and cinema, subtitles are the essence of providing a clear understanding of the content to the audience. It is the standard to reach a bigger audience, hence using subtitle localization is not a question.

Contents that use subtitles are said to hit bigger viewers than content that does not. However, translating subtitles only and not covering the difference of culture and language is a mistake. Subtitles that do not cater to the audience's culture will make the content not be received well by them. Making sure that the subtitle is linguistically and culturally relevant will give more benefit.

Furthermore, adding good subtitles will break barriers for the audience. Subtitles will make the contents more accessible for anyone with a disability.

However, you must not take this matter lightly. There are many important things to note if you want to cater to people with special needs. Let's dive into the localization process of subtitles.

Read More: 10 Common Localization Mistakes to Avoid Damage in Business

Subtitle Localization and Its Importance

Subtitle definition is the act of translating or rewriting the text of the audio-visual content to provide a clearer understanding for the audience. The subtitles will help people who do not use the language as their first spoken language. Subtitles will also give a certain ease when watching a video that contains certain information.

The use of subtitles is not just for entertainment videos on the internet. There are many contents that need subtitles. Some examples are tutorial videos, marketing videos, training videos, webinars, speeches, interviews, movies, YouTube videos, support demos, and also product demos.

Knowing how important subtitles are, it is understandable for you to use the best subtitle localization. Using the best localization company will make sure there are no mistakes when producing the content.

Subtitles that use different languages will also need to be culturally relevant and linguistically right. It needs to convey the right message without making the audience confused with the content. Some differences could be implied to make sure the target audiences from different languages and cultures will not mistake it for something else. Moreover, it also needs to be appropriate for their culture. Hence, it is quite a tricky job for a person to do.

Doing subtitles alone is not impossible, however, it could take longer which will not be effective. Since localized subtitles are not just translating content or rewritten text. Therefore, many are using localization companies. Especially if there is a lot of content that needs to be translated and localized.

The Basic Know-How of Subtitling

We still encourage you to use a subtitle translation company to outsource the job. However, in doing so you also need to understand the basic knowledge or know-how of the subtitle works. This will help you to understand a little bit about the technical issues and problems. Here are some of them.

• Adapting the Text

Commonly, people will read words in a slower manner than they will hear. This common knowledge will need to be applied to subtitle translation. You need to adapt the text so the audience can read it in time.

The process of adapting this text will also make sure that the audience does not need to focus on the text alone. The audio-visual content also needs to be watched along with the subtitle text. This problem needs to be solved when doing the subtitle translation.

Furthermore, some languages will result in a longer text when translating. This matter is due to the length of words and characters needed from a sentence. So, it is important to make the text not too long but still convey the same meaning at the right time.

To do this, a subtitle translator can change the words, change the grammatical structure of the sentence, merge the sentences, or use shorter words. This will help to make sure the text is concise and well-written.

• The Timing

You need to understand that one of the big aspects of subtitling is the timing. It is what makes the subtitle readable and understandable. Subtitles with the wrong timing will make the content unbearable to watch. Hence, the audience will not pay attention to it.

Timing in subtitles is tricky. The text needs to appear right when the speaker is speaking. It also needs to disappear soon after the speaker stops. A lingering subtitle after the speaker stops talking also makes the contents uncomfortable to watch.

A subtitle that is longer than it should be and still going on after the scene is changing is also not right. Therefore, the one who is doing the subtitle also needs to make sure that the timestamps are right.

• Localization

Subtitles that need to be translated into other languages also need to cater to different cultures and grammar. Try to search for a team that understands the cultural references of the text and see if there are some things that need to be changed.

This will help if there is some mistake of language in the text. Especially if the content will reach a global audience, companies should consider this matter carefully.

• Machine Translation

Many companies are using machine translation to make the localization process become more efficient. This machine translation will also reduce costs and give benefits. However, it is essential to make sure the translator does not rely on this machine and do some checking before submitting the final work.

• Translation Memory

In translation, creating a glossary and using translation memory will help the process. This will help to maintain the quality throughout the project.

The glossary and translation memory can also be used as localization resources in later projects that are the continuity of it. It can be used by multiple people and help translation projects finish faster.

• Quality Assurance

After the localization process is done, do not forget the quality assurance process. This process will make sure there are no mistakes made before you publish the content.

Quality assurance also makes sure there are some things that need to be changed regarding the time stamps and how the subtitles appear on the content. Use local experts to pinpoint cultural appropriation in the text.

Read More: 7 Problems in Translation and How to Fix It

How to Choose Localization Company

After understanding the basic know-how of the subtitle localization. You might feel a little bit overwhelmed by the information and thus decide to use a localization company to do the localization. The question is how to choose it. Here are some things that need to be considered before choosing a company for localization.

• See the Track Record

The first thing to do before choosing a company for localization purposes is to see their track record. The track records will give you some image of what kind of job they did and what kind of company they are. To do this, you can try to check the official website of the company.

Search the website and see if they have worked with other companies. A good company will have a good track record. If the website does not give any clue of their work history, try to look for other companies too.

Looking for a good company with a good track record could be hard. See your relation if you need some assistance with this matter. Sometimes, a company can hide its reputation from people. In this matter, mouth-to-mouth information is useful.

• Do Comparison

Try to make a list of the companies that have subtitle localization services. Try to search for the best choice and make sure you use the best. List their records and some qualities they have.

After that, do a comparison to see the best possible choice for you. Try not to be blindsided by how big the company is. Sometimes small companies also give a good service that the big company does not have. See if they have the services you need for subtitling.

Check If They Do Localization Quality Assurance

Localization quality assurance or LQA will make sure that the finished product of localization is well-localized and has the best quality. LQA usually will make sure that the localized content is done properly by doing some tests.

This process will make sure you will not end up with localized content that has failed. Localization quality assurance will check the subtitle text as well as how it will be seen in the audio-visual content. Hence, it will prevent unmatched text, cultural appropriation, subtitles too long, or a case where the subtitle does not appear timely. It is an important aspect you need to pay attention to.

• Meet Them!

It is not necessary to understand the technical process of localization. However, it is quite useful to understand the process of localization and make sure it caters to your needs. After listing some localization companies, you might try to propose some meetings to get a perspective of their work and what you need.

You can try to see if they are willing to explain the budget they need and also some process. This will give some perspective for you on how things work.

Conclusion

After reading the article, you must conclude that subtitle localization is a big matter in making audio-visual content. Not just for reaching the bigger audiences but also to make sure to convey the right message from the content. It is a must to make sure the subtitles are well-translated.