The most crucial element in any translation task is to preserve the language and the meaning. When you are doing subtitles translation, word-to-word or direct translation doesn't always work which can either turn out humorous or might offend people. You'll ask why? It is because some words and gestures have different meanings and denotations. For example, the word “Gift” in USA & India means a present but in Germany, it means poison.
There are a lot of advantages of subtitles in a video. It mends the bridge between cultures, languages and much more. Globalisation in digital terms takes a whole new turn with subtitles translation. A good translator will be able to find something that captures the tone, meaning and emotions of the speaker. There maybe days where a simple video will take a lot of rephrasing and adjusting to connect with the audience better.
Here are some tips that you can keep in mind when translating subtitles.
- Keep your audience in mind
Knowing your target audience is important. If the gesture on the screen is offensive but the subtitles are glorifying it, you may get in trouble. While writing for the audience, being empathetic is the best solution. That is, keep yourself in that person's shoes and imagine how the reaction will be. You don't have to be overly critical but being a tad-bit careful can save you from trouble.
- Ask yourself these questions
- Will one be able to follow the plot if the sound is on mute?
- Are my pauses natural? Am I able to keep up with the breaks?
- Is my viewer getting enough time to read the subtitle before the next one comes?
Pro tip: Try to only keep 20 characters per second for all languages except Chinese and Korean which is upto 10 characters per second.
- Am I able to capture the emotion via my english subtitles or any other language subtitles?
- Are my subtitles taking over the screen?
- Research
Do as much research as possible to avoid any issues or language barriers. Researching thoroughly will give you a head-start on materials and more. You don't want to get into a situation where you write in a haste, submit it and later realise that your tonality was wrong or the fact that you wrote didn't match the screen and visual text.
- Focus on the language
English subtitles are the most common ones across the globe. There is a possibility that your practice session with any other language can hurt someone's chances to understand a video. The best quality subtitles one can get is from the ones who translate into their native language or mother tongue. You can most definitely learn about different languages but it is always better to keep the language that you are most confident in as a priority.
- Localise
If your country has multiple regional dialects like Gujarati, Punjabi etc. in India, then you need to learn how to localize the content for those regions. You can understand some basics by talking to the locals and taking notes accordingly.
How can VerboLabs help you?
VerboLabs has been a pioneer in content writing, subtitling, movie translation services and much more. We've done it for more than 350+ clients in nearly 70+ major global languages. From transcription/translation to subtitling, we can help you out in every step of the way. Not only english subtitles, but we can cater to every other major language.
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