Going international is a dream for many companies, which makes translation for subtitles a worthy consideration for any video marketing content. One survey reveals that 80% more people finish watching a video with subtitles on it. They also help boost shares by as much as 15%.
What do these numbers mean for a business? It’s evident how video subtitles help your brand find leads and potential customers online. Subtitle translations can further expand your reach in the worldwide market.
Translating your video content’s subtitles is a great strategy to include in the business plan. Here are some useful and practical tips to grow your business using this tactic.
Translation for subtitles: the basics
Subtitling is a linguistic practice that provides written text at the bottom portion of the video. This text contains characters’ dialogue and other elements like soundtracks, letters, banners, and more. It is one of the three components of any subtitled audio-visual program, including oral text and image.
Professional translation takes it up a notch by translating the written text into a different language. The goal of subtitle translation is to make it easy for viewers to read, understand, and follow what is being conveyed. Therefore, it must be simple and concise as much as possible.
Why should you consider translation for subtitles? Here are some key benefits of this strategy:
- Inclusivity. Any business aiming to break through international barriers can produce inclusive content when translating video subtitles to multiple languages. Additionally, subtitling also allows people with hearing loss to enjoy any content thanks to this tool.
- SEO-enriching. Optimizing your video content’s ranking depends on many factors. Translated subtitles can help improve your position for search keywords. Search engines like Google cannot crawl video per se, but they take reference texts like captions or subtitles to index the content for certain keywords.
- Knowledge retention. Viewers can retain more information with subtitled videos. These written texts offer a complete audio-visual experience. When the audience listens and reads at the same time, it improves their comprehension of the material.
Useful subtitle translations advice for companies
Keep it concise
Studies show that it takes six seconds for the human eye to comfortably read a two-line, 37-character per line text. That’s around twelve characters every second. In Japanese translations, the standard is four characters every second.
The translation for subtitles must be adjusted according to the footage. A subtitle that’s too long can distract the audience. Surely, you don’t want your viewer to keep pausing the video and altogether leaving it unfinished.
Preserve the meaning
Word-for-word translations don’t always work. If you don’t want funny or awkward subtitle translations, you must know when to avoid literally translated phrases. Some words in the source language don’t have an exact match in the target language.
Adjusting the translated text that preserves the purpose and tone of the speaker is the quality of a good translation. Don’t be afraid to paraphrase whenever necessary.
Do research
Translation for subtitles goes beyond simply replacing the original text with its equivalent in another language. Translation work involves cultural context. It should always make sense for the target culture. Therefore, understanding the culture of the target language allows for better subtitle translations.
Format the subtitle properly
The subtitling format is as important as the text itself. You want to provide easy-to-read written texts for your audience so that they can focus on watching the video. Most experts go for lightly colored subtitles like white or light yellow. However, you must also consider what the background requires.
Additionally, the subtitled translations should appear on-screen in time with the character speaking the lines. Synchronization is another key element in translation work. A subtitling expert knows how to match the written text with the dialogue.
Go extra on subtitled videos
Another way to reach a wider international audience is to localize your content. You can target multiple regional dialects by converting common measurements like miles to kilometers and 12-hour to a 24-hour clock, depending on what the locale uses.
The takeaway
If you want to focus on growing your business, you can hire a professional translation agency to optimize your video content for you. Circle Translations offer great services for companies wanting to breach the international market. They take pride in their outstanding subtitle translation offerings that assist businesses to grow.
Are you looking for dependable professional translators? Find a team that is composed of dedicated specialists with the right skills, training, and experience in the field. Circle Translations is known to deliver top-quality translation for subtitles for audio-visual content!
