So…. If you don’t speak the language, how will you know if your translation is accurate and equally important timed correctly?

You know, that’s a really big fear a lot of people ha when they think about translating their media projects into a language they are not familiar with. And to be honest they should be concerned because if it’s not done right quite frankly you could be at risk of loosing your client and in some cases legal issue could arise.

So this could very well be the most important question you ask yourself.

A well-planned translation process is critical to getting an accurate and correctly timed production script.

The solution is to always have A checks and balance system in place. We call it… “Building The TRUST FACTOR”.

Sounds good, but how do you build this trust?

Well there are basically three steps.

1. Make sure the vendor you use will have your scripts translated by linguist who have had years of proven experience in specific fields. And that the translator working on your project is the most appropriate native-speaking subject-matter specialists for that project.

2.  Find out what the Quality Assurances are.  There should not be a simple quick check before final delivery.  Every step of every process should include measures to ensure that your project is executed to the highest standards. Employing only the best linguistic resources, project managers, and Quality Assurance procedures,.

3. As an extra precaution, we would always encourage that it be reviewed on your end as well. By this I mean having your client not only check the script for accuracy but also gain an understanding of why the translation has been edited this way for timing purposes.

If the vender involved follows this process, you’re practically guaranteed excellent results.

Now having said that there can be issues with the client review process because they don’t really understand the timing aspect of working with media.  Usually the combination of the steps above will build a conscien-ces on accuracy. But there may be occasions where the client’s review may differ with the editing of the translation for timing.

The client MAY say that this isn’t an accurate translation. What they are really saying is that this isn’t a word for word translation. And they are correct. But that does not mean there is an accuracy issue.

Basically what your client needs to understand is that we’re working with media that has restraints build into it. And that a literal translation of the English script will usually will work very well.   A colloquial or “Spoken Word” approach is necessary in order to match the timings of the English.  You simply can’t have an English paragraph that is 20 seconds long and an Spanish translation that’s 30 seconds long.  Somethings gotta give.

The good news here is that you do NOT need to compromise on the accuracy to get the timings you need.

Here is a very simple English example of what I talking about.

“I will need to go down to the grocery store and it’s too far to walk. Do you mind if I drive your car to get there?”
VS
“I need to go to the grocery store. Can I borrow your car?”

Now I will admit that this is a pretty aggressive edit, and depending on the actual speed and timings of the English source you may not have to go that far.  But if you needed to, it’s implied that it’s too far to walk so a car is needed and the rest is simply a more efficient way to say the same thing.

So as you can see there’s a BIG difference in the actual time it takes to say those phrases but the content and meaning stays the same.

I really hope this has helped your understanding of script translations for video.  Please visit the Video section of our website and check out our educational videos on a number of translation and language services topics.