At Raptor Translations, we offer both multilingual subtitling and multilingual voice-overs. However, there comes a point where businesses ask themselves “Which one do we need?”
If a video has a strong visual message- a voice-over may be better. However, for training manuals, subtitling may be better.
What is Multilingual Subtitling?
With subtitled videos, the audience hears the original language and read translations appear at the bottom of the screen. The existing audio remains unaltered and viewers get to hear the original tone and inflections of the narrator and interviewees. This provides the viewers with an authentic experience of the original recording or film.
What are the drawbacks of Multilingual Subtitling?
If the speech is long, this can be a hindrance. Subtitles are usually only 2 lines. Due to this, when translating, the translator will cut irrelevant parts. This has the drawback of loosing its original meaning.
What are Multilingual Voice-Overs?
A voice-over is recorded in the target language translated from the original script. The viewer of the video gets to listen to the content in their own language, allowing no misunderstandings. The translations here, too, often require adaptation to be suitable for the recording. This will vary, depending on the language, the complexity of the video, and on whether the audio has to be exactly synchronised. Obviously, all this is factored into the price.
What the drawbacks of Multilingual Voice-Overs?
If your video is complex, this will cost more. If your video needs to have synchronisation, this will cost more. The use of the video. If you plan to use the video on a video platform such as YouTube or Vimeo. This would require the voice-over to be ‘burnt in’ as it’s known.