By Sarah-Claire Jordan
Media used to refer to the newspapers and other publications that circulated within communities. Now, with the technology we have developed over the years, it has come to include radio/audio and television/video as well. Translation of texts is one story, but translating for radio or video presents a whole new set of challenges. If you work with just any translator with little or no experience translating for other forms of media, you won’t get the results that you need.
What is it about audio and video translations that makes them so much more complicated than traditional text translation? There are many differences, which quickly turn into great arguments for working exclusively with translators experienced in media production translation. Here are three of those arguments:
1. Working with audio presents timing issues
When you need a translation for a text, there aren’t any issues if it ends up a few lines longer or shorter than the original text. All that matters is that the translated text reads naturally and accurately. If you have a piece of audio to translate and then record, how it is done depends on how long the original audio recording is. If the translation exceeds the duration of the source audio, then changes need to be made to make it fit into that same amount of time without making any sacrifices that could jeopardize the quality of the final product.
2. Working with video presents both timing and syncing issues
Working with a translation of a video is even more complicated. Not only do the times have to match up, but in the case of doing a voice-over/dubbing, the translated audio has to make sense along with the video being shown with it. In the case of dubbing, this sometimes means trying to translate in a way that the words match the shapes of the speakers’ mouths in the video. Even if that isn’t necessary, the translator has to keep in mind that the original audio was written and recorded to go along with certain video, and that the translation must follow that as well.
3. Audio and video media tend to reach a wider audience
Videos and audio recordings end up being consumed at a much higher rate than text-based media. With so many TV channels, media websites, and podcasts, it almost doesn’t make sense to read as much as we used to for entertainment or otherwise. Add to that the explosion of Facebook and other social networking sites that have created the phenomenon of social media, and you get an idea of just how many people have access to video and audio these days. That being said, if these types of media are reaching larger audiences, they need to be understood by everyone, as in more natural language that a general audience can easily digest.
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