A picture paints a thousand words. Videos can relay information to specific target audiences succinctly and with a more personal touch. Content is conveyed quickly and easily, since both our sense of hearing and sense of sight are involved.

Short, interesting videos on websites grab the interest of potential customers and increase traffic. Millions of videos are watched every day on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, etc.

You should also make your videos available not just in your native language, but also in other languages for all your target audiences and markets so that you can achieve a greater reach.

But what is the quickest way to translate your videos into multiple languages?

Three important questions to ask yourself:

1. Subtitles or dubbing?

For many videos, the best option is a translated voice-over, which is laid over the original language dialogue as an additional audio track.

To know if this is the right option for you, you need to know what you want to do with the video:

Who will see the video? Which target customers do you want to reach? Which platform will the video be published on? How big is your budget?

Voice-overs are normally more expensive than subtitles, because they require professional voice actors as well as the use of a recording studio. The production process usually takes longer too. Videos with sound seem more professional and “high-quality”, and are therefore better suited for “important” communications intended for longer use, such as a company image video or a video that accompanies an important product launch. Videos such as user testimonials or information about company events have a shorter lifespan and are better candidates for subtitling.

2. Source text template?

The “template” for the translation of subtitles is the source text. Ideally, this would include existing time codes, for example in SRT format. These time codes synchronise the displayed text with the spoken word and images on the video. If you do not have the spoken text as an SRT file or as a script in a Word or Excel file, your language service provider can often create a text version for you, known as transcription.

The original spoken text is typed out and “smoothed” if needed: Stutters, slips of the tongue, filler words such as “um” and “urr” are removed and, if needed for fast speakers in the source text, slightly shortened, so that there is not too much text to read in a short time period. Additionally, the transcribed text is split into logical chunks and given time codes so that it synchronises correctly with the video. It is also important that during this process, the text is created on the basis of the moving image to allow for harmonious transitions. The resulting SRT file can then be translated.

3. Source text check and in-country review

Particularly for very company-specific or specialised videos containing a lot of abbreviations or brand names, it is advisable to have the customer check the source text once the text template/SRT file has been created. This means that the spellings of product names or device designations can be adapted or defined as terms that should not be translated and that these rules will be followed in all of the target languages. This gives us the best possible source document to ensure that the translation process runs smoothly. Equally, it can be a good idea to have customer employees in the target country review the video before it is published. During this process, the source and translated texts are made available on a web platform so that the reviewer can make any linguistic changes necessary for their target market. This guarantees high satisfaction and a highly effective video.

Good translations are paramount for subtitles

Some languages need more time, and therefore more space, to convey the same ideas. For videos, however, translations must not be too long, otherwise they will no longer correspond to the video. The aim is that the audio content matches the subtitle shown. Sometimes it can be necessary to shorten the content slightly, without changing the original meaning.

STAR Deutschland offers transcription of audio and video files, multilingual subtitling and post-processing as well as voice-overs from professional voice actors. Our professional translators use their flair for language to make sure that your message is communicated perfectly in every language.

Our workflow – simple and efficient

 

 

Checklist

When it comes to subtitling and voice-over projects, we take you through the most important questions, step by step.

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Further information

You can find more information about our translation services here:

STAR translations

“Why is Japanese so expensive in comparison to other Asian languages?” – this is a question that we are regularly asked by customers, and by colleagues in other STAR offices too. Yet it cannot be answered in a single sentence.
The following explanations are an attempt to give readers some greater clarity on the situation.

Socio-cultural differences

It’s not just a cliché – customer focus and the notion of service are still very important in Japan, despite the increasing awareness of price and sustainability over here; the expectations and demands placed on consumer goods are extremely high. Most Japanese consumers are happy to pay a higher price for quality branded goods, provided they meet their expectations and the complete package is just right.

And what applies to consumer goods, naturally also applies to the services industry, which brings us to the topic of translation.

So, what does this (extra) level of service actually look like as part of the translation process?

Example 1

Japanese is known for its many forms of polite speech – both in the spoken word and the written word. Naturally, the document type, data medium, target audience, etc. must not be ignored during translation into other languages, however, in Japanese, the nuances are undoubtedly more precise and the adaptations require more work.

Let’s try to make this variation a little clearer: At a very basic level, there are three different forms of polite address. 尊敬語 (reverential), 謙譲語 (humble), 丁寧語 (polite), which are then divided into many different subgroups depending on the word in use. Let’s take the verb “to think” as an example. For this simple word alone, there are ten (yes, ten!) different variants, as the table below shows. Note that these are not synonyms, but instead it is the same verb used in different situations.

 

If you take into account that there are also differences in forms of expression between men and women (admittedly this is slightly outdated), then it becomes much easier to understand how much you can get “wrong” when translating. In which case, as the quotation marks suggest, it is often not actually a translation error, rather in many cases it is a question of personal preference that depends on who is checking the text.

Example 2

An example that is directly linked to the point above has to do with the frequent use of irony or ambiguity in marketing texts. When addressing their customers in advertisements, European languages often love to use both of these elements, as a means of sharing a joke or an unspoken jibe at their competition, for instance.
While this works well in Western markets, it causes problems in Japan, as these rhetorical devices would imply that the end user is being spoken down to. Result: A translation that is technically correct, but will nonetheless be considered “wrong” by the end user.

Example 3

Use (or lack) of footnotes for disclaimers: Footnotes are common practice in Western marketing and sales literature, for example, to indicate optional equipment shown in the product image or limited availability, but these are only used in Japan in rare exceptions. The reason for this is plain and simple; Japanese customers expect perfectly localised content.

Example 4

Owing to the standards highlighted in example 3, during customer review, the translations are not just checked for errors but are subject to extensive market-specific changes.
The logical consequence of this is that any non-Japanese observer might confuse or equate the many “corrections” with “incorrect” translations.

Of course, the above examples only show part of the full picture and they can only give a small insight into the difficulties encountered when translating into Japanese.

Undoubtedly, the fact of the matter is that when translating into Japanese, the context (who is the document aimed at, how will it be published, etc.) and framework information (e.g., specifications for Japanese texts) are indispensable.

Economic situation

A widespread misconception that is always being thrown around Western media states the following: “In Japan, apples and melons cost 100 euros each and everything else is unaffordable.”
This statement isn’t completely false; there are actually apples in this often cited price category and there are even people who buy them (we’re back to socio-cultural differences – apples as a status symbol), but – never fear – you can also buy apples for 1 euro each!
Nevertheless, when compared to the majority of their Asian neighbours, the price and salary structure in Japan is proportionally high and the GDP per capita is correspondingly higher than in Europe.

As the fruit example shows, you cannot generalise, however there is an underlying trend. Defining unit prices (or even attempting to standardise) for different languages does not match reality. If a tradesman in Berlin worked for the hourly rate that is standard in Prague, he would probably soon struggle to make ends meet. To a certain extent, the same could be said of Tokyo and Bangkok.

This state of affairs is naturally well known, and is nothing new – but when it comes to translation, it is often overlooked.

Another important factor: Supply and demand of resources. Japanese is not only geographically but also linguistically isolated to a certain extent as there is not a language family that it can be grouped into. When a language falls within a large family of languages, as is the case with German (west-Germanic/indo-Germanic family), there are, in principle, more resources available for that language. If there are more translators, the costs are lower.

DTP (desktop publishing) – Japanese sentences

It sounds simple in principle: Select the customer’s preferred font, insert the text, done.
So it can’t really be that difficult, can it?
But if you take a closer look, it quickly becomes clear that a simple copy and paste won’t quite cut it in Japanese, and language-specific skills are essential.

When typesetting in Japanese, different writing systems need to be harmonised: Chinese characters (kanji 漢字), Japanese syllabic characters (hiragana ひらがな and katakana カタカナ), Latin alphabet, Chinese and Indo-Arabic numerals.

As if that weren’t enough, Japanese can also be written both horizontally and vertically.

Bringing all of these typographical elements together and creating a unified form out of the chaos can sometimes be rather time-consuming. Though Chinese and Japanese may not look hugely different from one another to the layperson – having several writing systems, as is the case for Japanese, ultimately also acts as a multiplier when it comes to effort needed.

*Example Japanese magazines. The majority of magazines in Japan are set out with pages to be read from right to left, even if the majority of the text is set out horizontally.

InDesign: Japanese special functions

All InDesign versions, regardless of the language used, are naturally compatible with one another. This means European versions can open a Japanese InDesign file and vice-versa.
However, the InDesign version for European languages does not include the typographical functions or layout grids and text frames needed to edit Japanese texts.
If you are familiar with the software, one look at the paragraph and character panels will make this immediately obvious.

More information about “Kinsoku-Shori”, “Mojikumi” etc. can be found here.

Japanese texts do not flutter

Most written languages in the world use some form of separation between words. Lines of text are broken at the gaps between words. The lengths of lines vary because words the are a different length. This can give the impression that the text is fluttering. However, Japanese is written without spaces and, aside from a few exceptions – which, nevertheless, absolutely must be taken into account – a line break can be inserted in the middle of a word after any character.

Because of this, there is no ragged margin in Japanese, like you would commonly find in Western texts. For the vast majority of cases, Japanese texts use full justification.
Where full justification is not applicable, for example, in assorted headings, teasers or image captions, text is set out with a ragged margin with line breaks following content considerations rather than being placed according to the space available. So, this should mean that the text is easier to read for DTP.

Japanese fonts

The fonts that are used in brochures, instructions or flyers created in Germany, often do not cover Asian writing systems such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean.
Global, or world fonts are extremely complex to create; 26 Latin letters would require up to 50,000 characters or glyphs. This means that the fonts used in the source document often cannot be used in the layout work for the Japanese translation.

The “Latin” fonts must therefore be replaced or combined with Japanese fonts – an additional and often intensive work step. It requires careful consideration to retain the optical design and impression of the original, since – even though it may not be obvious to the untrained eye – Japanese fonts still have a wide range of personalities.

Ranging from classical, “serif” style fonts with a decidedly traditional feel to clear, modern “sans-Serif” style fonts, anything is possible.

We would be happy to advise you on the selection of Japanese or Asian fonts that will best match your corporate design identity.

Varieties of different Japanese fonts

If you need more detailed information and have questions about Japanese and everything it entails – we are always available to advise and assist.

More information about our translation services

Fabienne, Nadège and Frank are specialist translators for STAR Deutschland, working into their mother tongue, French. In this interview, they tell us about their job, their daily work life and the challenges and experiences that they have encountered over time.

STAR: Can you please tell us why you decided on a career as a translator?

Nadège: I was always interested in languages, and German especially. When I completed my school leavers’ exams, the French Baccalaureate, I majored in Philosophy, French, English and German. I definitely wanted a career that had something to do with languages. So that’s why I chose a translation course, with German as my first foreign language and English as my second.

Fabienne: Foreign languages were always a hobby for me. For my German Abitur exams, I took three languages and afterwards, I studied German and Romance Studies in France and Germany. I gained my Masters degree in Heidelberg. It’s a fascinating job, seeing as you must always be up-to-speed with at least two languages and be constantly aware of current developments in both countries. Language is in a state of constant flux and there are many neologisms that have to be integrated into the texts we’re translating at the moment.

Frank: I studied engineering and was always interested in languages. I wanted to bring the two together. I have always enjoyed looking through technical publications to find the French equivalent phrasing.

STAR: French native speakers are often very proud of their language. Is that the case for you, and what is so special about your mother tongue?

Nadège: Yes, indeed! I am proud of my native language. French is a very beautiful language, but it’s also relatively complex. The grammar is not super simple, and there are a great many exceptions to the rules.

Fabienne: French has this legendary reputation for being a difficult language, but what about Chinese or Hungarian or Thai with their non-Latin alphabets and their many eccentricities? Speaking completely “objectively”, I do think that my language is beautiful. The way it sounds, the extensive nuances, the complicated rules as well as those silent letters and word endings that can pose quite a challenge. I can give you an example of a nice, not-too-technical false friend: “car” in French is not the family car you might picture, but rather a coach.

Frank: When it comes to the technical side of things, I have to admit that French is lacking in comparison to German or English. It is always a challenge to faithfully reproduce complicated technical texts. French does not use compound nouns, so you can’t just stick individual words together to make new ones. This makes translation harder.

Our specialist translators, Fabienne, Nadège and Frank (pictured here with Bob, second from right)

STAR: What challenges do you need to master as part of your everyday work?

Nadège: One of the daily challenges would be translating highly specialised texts, for instance, because they use a very specific set of vocabulary. It might be a legal text or complicated technical concepts, which require a lot of research. Aside from that, we sometimes encounter metaphors or a play on words that is difficult to translate because the target language doesn’t have an equivalent. Sometimes it is the type of text that provides the challenge, say if there are length restrictions that need to be complied with. The translations must still be understandable despite being shortened and that is not always easy.

Fabienne: Over the years, clients’ requirements have increased and the complexity of the texts require more research. There is sometimes enormous time pressure on a delivery deadline and there are certain particularities that are unique to each customer and that sometimes contradict each other. It’s certainly never dull, and being flexible is a distinct advantage.

Frank: I translate texts that are often very specialised and require previous knowledge. Source texts are not always written well and sometimes you lack context; particularly for very short translations or supplements to a text that I didn’t previously work on. Many translations also go through an approval process, but the reviewers do not always have the same desires and expectations. That makes my work harder. Marketing texts are often very tricky because you need to take a step away from the original text. Generally, they take longer than a purely technical text.

STAR: On that note, is there anything that you would like to say to the authors of texts that you will subsequently translate?

Nadège: As an example, with texts that have length restrictions, I would like the authors to be aware of the fact that a translation is sometimes longer than the original text. For some texts, the context is completely lacking. In this situation, it is always helpful to send reference files, such as screenshots or images, to help avoid any misunderstandings.

Fabienne: The writers of source texts should keep in mind that the text will be translated and that their slogans, claims, idioms or jokes cannot always be translated exactly into a foreign language. In these cases, I always try to find something new, idiomatic or fitting so that the French text has the same effect.

STAR: What do you think about machine translation? What opportunities and risks does it present for your profession?

Summary of the answers from all three translators: Machine translation has advanced at a rapid pace and the advantages it brings cannot be ignored as it offers cost and time savings. Its output will always be better when it is trained with high-quality, correct and approved reference material.
Having said that, the results are often unreliable and not always coherent. Correcting and finalising machine-translated output (known as post-editing) requires more concentration than simply working with standard reference material. Simple technical texts are often correctly rendered by MT engines, but for complex passages, we believe a translator is still required.
It is a new kind of translation, a completely different skill. As human translators, our job is to detect the intricacies and nuances. The devil really is in the detail!
I’m not currently worried about the future of my profession, as it is not yet possible for machine translation to replace a human translator for legal texts, advertising and marketing texts as well as other specialised text types. Time will tell!

STAR: Surely your job also gives you cause for laughter, now and then? Can you think of any examples of funny errors or misunderstandings in a source text or a translation?

Fabienne: One example that I recently came across was in a translation that I was proofreading: “Barcode not readable” = “Code bar non lisible”; (instead of “code barre” for barcode, the original translator has put “code bar”, which could be back-translated to mean “nightclub code”).

Frank: In English source texts, I often see “break” where “brake” is meant, and a common spelling error in German texts is “Reperatur” instead of “Reparatur”.

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