Despite the translation working as a bridge between two different languages, many people find it surprising when they get to know the strong role that the translation industry is playing in the business world. Even videos are being translated for business and personal purposes. With the ongoing trend of influencers, YouTubers, and vloggers, translation has become paramount as world-famous influencers and vloggers have to opt for their video translation for a wider reach and to make their content accessible for more people. They can not do that on their own and collaborating with an experienced video translation company is evident. People often take it lightly but the selection of a good and competent video translation language service can be a serious ordeal given the fact that the market is full of translation companies who claim to be good at what they do.
However, there are specific practices that you can only get to know when you start working with them. It is important to be mindful of these factors for choosing the right video translation company..
Expertise and experience:
Your hunt should start with scanning your shortlisted LSPs for their expertise and experience.
Video translation experience
This goes without emphasizing that you should probe about the video translation experience of the company. They should have a proven track in video translation. Prior experience can help you to get accurate and precise video translation. Be mindful of the fact that translating a video can be tricky. There are either captions, subtitles, or dialogues along with details of the happenings of the videos. So a company with past experience in industry type and target language like yours can be your best bet.
In-house vs. freelance translators
You should also check about the team, their profile, and professional expertise for quality video translation. Make sure that you check if the company is using in-house or freelance translators. The in-house team might work more dedicatedly as compared to the freelancers. They can offer consistent work and control over quality whereas freelancers have their own perks.
Translation Quality and Services Offered:
The quality of translation can not be compromised. You need to make sure that you sit without teams, check their previous work, and inquire about their professional video subtitling services.
Accuracy and fluency
An accurate, grammatically correct, and fluent translation in the target language is everyone’s priority. You should also check the mechanism that companies follow for translating the videos. Make sure that they have human translators who are also native speakers and they don’t just rely on machine translation. Videos can get boring for people who do not understand your language. So, without an accurate and fluent translation, the videos are of no use and your hard work can go down the drain so it is important to consider all factors.
Service options
You should also sit with them for the brainstorming sessions to ponder over services such as subtitling, voice-over, closed captioning, and cultural adaptation of the script. These services if chosen wisely can hold and retain a viewer. A random translation brings no good for a video.
Technical Capabilities and Workflow:
Video translation is a technical practice and can come up with many challenges. The placement of the text especially according to the people speaking and the timings can get tricky.
Considering the technicalities that video translation involves, it is important to check that the company that you have selected has the relevant people with relevant expertise to integrate the translation of the videos in the form of subtitles, and captions in an effective way that it does not even sound like a translation.
Workflow and communication
How the workflow and communication are carried out inside a translation agency mainly reflects the work norms that they practice so inquire about the workflow and communication process. Also, ensure clear communication throughout the project to avoid last-minute hiccups and complications. This also helps with timely delivery and avoids ambiguities.
Pricing and transparency
The video translation can get expensive and financially draining. You should be getting the quotes from different companies and ensure to compare the quotes with their work practices. Also, look out for the transparent pricing which includes everything and necessary services. In addition, be open to your LSP and inquire about the hidden charges if any. Many translation agencies come up with hidden charges halfway or at the end of the process that can create communicational rifts for both parties.
Security and confidentiality
Your videos are your asset and may contain important and private data. Therefore, concerns for safety and confidentiality should be raised in advance to avoid a data breach. Ensure that the company has robust data security measures in place to take care of your confidential video content. You should also insist on signing the non-disclosure agreement if needed. A professional translation agency can be your best bet to sail through the process smoothly.
Technology Integration
Technology and machine translation software are evolving with every passing day. Your translation agency should not be the one practicing old-school norms and doing things manually. Because it not only slows down the whole process but also keeps you bothered by every little detail. So make sure that they make wise use of technology and offer integration with content management systems or other platforms if any. Using a translation management system also helps streamline the translation workflow and also helps to keep track of the progress more transparently.
Conclusion
Choosing a good and professional video translation company may look simple apparently but has its challenges. With the market full of language service providers, it has become tough to filter the competent and experienced ones. A few practices that can help businesses find experienced video translation agencies with native speakers familiar with the video translation formats may include looking for expertise and experience, translation quality, technical capabilities, and looking into the data security practices and technology integration of the partner translation company.
