Top 22 websites every translator must know

Hello fellow translators! In our line of work, it is sometimes challenging to keep up with the latest resources, tools and tips. To help you out, I have compiled a list of my top websites that every translator should know about.

So, without further ado, here we go:

Communities and news

ProZ.com

The great and once-almighty ProZ is still one of the most popular websites for translators. Although the website design and mechanics might seem a bit outdated in 2022, it is still a great platform to find new clients, collaborate with other translators and stay up-to-date with industry news.

LinkedIn

This might sound like a broad one, but LinkedIn is a great platform for translators. Not only can you use it to find new clients and collaborators, but you can also join one of the many translator groups on LinkedIn and learn from your peers.

It’s also a great place to build your brand, especially if you’re willing to invest time and effort into sharing your knowledge and expertise.

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders is a non-profit organization that provides translation and interpretation services to humanitarian organizations around the world. If you’re looking for a way to use your language skills for good, Translators цithout Borders is worth checking out.

Slator

Slator is the go-to website for industry news, analysis and insights. If you want to stay on top of the latest trends and developments in the translation industry, Slator is the place to be.

Source: Slator “Get a hold of trends in the translation industry with Slator”

Multilingual

Established in 1987, Multilingual is one of the oldest and most respected periodicals in the language industry. It covers a wide range of topics, from business and technology to linguistics and translation studies.

Dictionaries & language resources

The Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, WordReference

The Free Dictionary, Wiktionary and WordReference are all great dictionaries for English speakers. With definitions, synonyms, example sentences and more for millions of words and phrases, these dictionaries are essential for any translator working with English. Granted, one should always be careful when using online dictionaries, as they are not always 100% accurate, but that doesn’t make them any less useful.

Linguee, Glosbe, Reverso Context

Linguee is a dictionary and translation memory tool that uses real-life examples of translated texts to help you understand the meaning of words and phrases. It’s an invaluable resource when working with technical or legal texts, as you can quickly check how a certain term or phrase has been translated in the past.

Glosbe and Reverso Context offer similar services to Linguee. The choice will ultimately come down to personal preference and your specific language pairs, but all three are options worth considering.

Thesaurus.com

The devil is in the details, as they say. And when it comes to language, the devil is definitely in synonyms. Thesaurus.com is a great tool for finding just the right word when you’re stuck. Just type in a word, and Thesaurus will show you a list of synonyms, each with its own “popularity meter,” example sentences and more.

Microsoft Language Portal

If you’re working with IT or software localization, you know how ambiguous and confusing some of the terms can be. Microsoft Language Portal is a great place to start your search. It’s packed with resources for translators working with Microsoft products, including glossaries, style guides and localization tips.

European Union Terminology Portal

If you’re working with EU-related content, or any social/political content for that matter, getting the terminology right is essential. The EU Terminology Portal allows you to search for EU-specific terminology in all 24 official languages of the European Union.

“define” operator in Google

This one is a bit of a wildcard, but it’s too good not to include. Google’s “define” operator allows you to quickly look up definitions of words and phrases right from the Google search bar.

Just type “define” followed by the word or phrase you want to look up, and Google will show you a definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary — one of the most respected dictionaries in the world. It will also include etymology, usage over time, and other relevant information that will help you understand the term better.

Google Ngram viewer

Speaking of usage over time, the Google Ngram viewer is a great tool for seeing how often certain words and phrases have been used in published books over the past few centuries.

Just type in a word or phrase, select the language, and choose the period you’re interested in, and the Ngram viewer will show you a graph of how often that term has been used during that time.

Tech

DeepL

Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to imagine today’s translation industry without machine translation. DeepL is perhaps the most impressive MT tool there is, having repeatedly outrun the more popular alternatives in numerous translation quality evaluations.

The best part is that DeepL allows you to edit the machine-translated text and have the engine learn from your changes. In a way, it’s “augmented translation,” where you have much more control over the output than with regular MT.

Smartcat

Smartcat is a cloud-based translation management system that offers a complete workflow solution for translators, agencies and enterprises. It’s packed with features that make it easy to manage your projects, collaborate with others, and automate repetitive tasks.

As a translator, you will especially enjoy that Smartcat is free to use for personal use. Moreover, its marketplace allows freelancers to find new clients and projects, and get paid directly through the platform.

Wordfast Anywhere

Wordfast Anywhere is a free, cloud-based translation tool that offers many of the features you would expect from a paid CAT tool, such as translation memory and terminology management.

It’s not as feature-rich as some of the paid CAT tools out there, but it’s a great option for those who are just getting started in the industry and don’t want to invest in a full-fledged CAT tool just yet.

Organization & productivity

Protemos

Love it or hate it, invoicing and project management are integral parts of any freelance translator’s business. Protemos is a cloud-based translation management system that offers basic invoicing and project management features. It’s a great tool for those who want to keep their business organized and streamlined, and it offers a free plan for personal use.

Smallpdf

Although not directly related to translation, PDFs are an integral part of the translation industry. Smallpdf is a free online tool that allows you to do various small tasks with PDFs. This includes converting them to other formats, merging multiple PDFs into one, adding digital signatures, and more.

Toggl

Time is money, as they say. Toggl is a simple time-tracking tool that allows you to track how much time you spend on each project. This is a great way to see where you’re spending too much time and where you can optimize your workflow.

Into23

This list wouldn’t be complete without a ~self-plug~ mention of our website. Although we are just starting our blog, we are already working on some great content that we think you will find useful.

We’ll be covering a wide range of topics, from language learning and translation technology to business tips and advice for freelance translators. So if you’re looking for some fresh perspectives on the translation industry, be our guest!

Source: Into23 “Your go-to platform to ensure your business is understood Globally”

Phew, that was a lot! I hope it was worth it, though, and that you found at least a few new websites that you can add to your bookmarks.

Do you have any other websites that you think should be on this list? Let me know in the comments!

I would like to thank Eli Knutsen, Ditte Gry, Faustina Dongu, Lydia Yang, Kees Kranendonk, and Philipp Wacha for their input on this blog post.

How businesses succeed by using localized gamified e-learning content

The stratospheric increase in distance learning and training over the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to continue, and that growth is fuelling the gamification of more and more education and training content. Read on to find out all about the gamification of e-learning content, including tips and insights on localising content. 

Pic by Elizabeth Mcdaniel (Unsplash) “Pandemic-driven distance learning is likely to continue, with providers embracing e-learning localisation to achieve their objectives” 

Elearning gamification 

As the name suggests, this approach entails applying gaming tactics and formats to e-learning activities. It helps make e-learning much more immersive, accessible and enjoyable. Gamification leverages humans’ needs for socialising, competition, status attainment, and self-expression. The growing popularity of augmented reality and virtual reality is also feeding into the gamification trend. A great example of a gamified learning platform is the language-learning app Duolingo, which uses rewards, levels and quizzes to make the experience much more engaging than reading a textbook. 

Huge growth

A growing trend in an expanding market, gamified e-learning content is only going to become much more prevalent. In 2020, the global e-learning market’s revenue—covering corporate, academic and government content—was estimated to be US$250 billion. Buoyed by the rapid uptake of remote work and learning, that’s expected to reach US$1 trillion by 2027, according to a recent Global Market Insights report. That’s huge growth, and in the Asia Pacific that expansion is partly being driven by rising government investment, increased internet connectivity in developing markets, and the digitalisation transformation, including the adoption of cloud infrastructure.

Many companies are localising their gamified e-learning content, just as they do with their text and video e-learning content, so as to reach much wider audiences in a cost-efficient way.

What is localisation?

Pic by Maxime Lebrun (Unsplash) “By localising its China outlets, KFC workers felt valued and the content was tailored to the country’s cultural norms. Making a video for India but using a metaphor from an American rodeo? Consider producing content in a culturally neutral format instead

As well as being effective at increasing engagement, gamification also lends itself to localisation, which is the process whereby learning or training content is not just translated but comprehensively tailored for specific cultures and languages. 

Localisation encompasses much more than translating content. It is proven to better engage learners and consumers alike. Therefore, an e-learning localisation service is usually preferable to an e-learning translation service.

Why localise e-learning content?

Pic by Melissa Newkirk (Unsplash) “Making a video for India but using a metaphor from an American rodeo? Consider producing content in a culturally neutral format instead”

Localising your online training or e-learning content results in several benefits. 

Inclusive learning culture

Creating a cohesive corporate culture is highly challenging, even within offices located in the same country, let alone in different markets spread across the world. Localising your training content is an effective way to engage workers across borders, and effectively create an environment in which all employees feel valued. For example, if KFC didn’t localise the training content produced in its Louisville, Kentucky, headquarters for its 8,100 outlets in China, there would not only be a lot of confusion, the workers wouldn’t feel as valued as if the content had not only been translated but specifically tailored to the cultural norms in Mainland China. 

Enhances employee performance and boosts retention

Though English is de facto the language of business, most people that speak English outside the Anglophone world do so as a second language. This creates a barrier to engagement as people tend to learn best in their native tongue. As localised e-learning content is more engaging, it tends to be more effective, and employees that are invested in building their knowledge base and up-skilling are easier to retain.

It’s easier to implement

Self-directed e-learning is a smoother process when the instructions and content more generally are tailored to a specific environment. For example, there will be fewer misunderstandings and follow-up communications.  

Best practices 

Analyse current and future needs

The information and insights derived from clearly setting out what your needs are now and what they will likely be later on will help guide the vendor selection process. For example, if a training program that mainly encompasses online text and multiple choice questions will be expanded to include video content, then you’ll need a partner that will be able to handle that too. For example, if video content will be an important component of gamified e-learning content, look for a media localisation agency that is adept at multimedia localisation services.

Create a localisation strategy 

This forms a roadmap that determines what content will be localised, what languages and cultures it will cover, and when it will be rolled out. It covers the authoring tools that will be used, the vendor onboarding process, testing of localised content to check it is fit for purpose, down to the types of e-learning voice-over artists that will be used. 

Devise a quality control process

Poorly localised gamified e-learning content can have the opposite effect of increasing engagement. In the most extreme case, an incorrectly localised piece of content could cause offence, especially when it comes to sensitive topics. To prevent this from happening, check your e-learning localisation partner has a thorough localisation testing regime in place. Not all localisation testing services are made equal, so make sure the process is watertight.

Elearning localisation tips 

Focus on creating culturally neutral content

Localising gamified content that has a culturally specific format and lots of specific references, like an animated narrator that uses a long metaphor from the equestrian sport of rodeo, would be difficult to understand in a culture where the sport isn’t popular, such as in India. Therefore, producing original content in a culturally neutral format makes localisation easier.

Use the right tech

Check the compatibility of the authoring tools across the markets where the localisation will be deployed. For example, Articulate, ISpring Suite and Lessonist are popular in China, whereas Elucidat and Coassemble rank highly in Europe. 

Also, the mobile device is an increasingly important access tool, especially in developing markets where mobile penetration outpaces computer adoption and the rollout of broadband internet. Therefore, checking that the localised content will be readily accessible via the preferred access methods in a particular market is the optimal approach.

Find the right partner

Localising e-learning content is a complex undertaking, one that’s best undertaken by a partner that’s highly experienced not only in the subject area but the markets, languages and cultures that the content will be tailored for. 

Make room for expanded text

Mandarin is the most succinct written language, so creating the gamified e-learning original content in this language and then localising it for use in English in North America would require more text on the screen. Therefore, leave space to accommodate additional text when the content is first created. 

Localising gamified e-learning content is a highly effective way of engaging learners when done right.

Contact into23 today and get your free quote for your business now!

Translating Blockchain and Crypto Documents the Right Way!

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency remain among the most popular subjects. However, the complexities of the technology need optimal translation to ensure it is understood globally.

Both blockchain and cryptocurrencies remain among the hottest topics in the business world. In 2020, the global blockchain technology market was around $3.67 billion. According to an analysis, it will grow at a CAGR of 82.4% from 2021 to 2028. Similarly, the global cryptocurrency market was estimated at around $1.49 billion in 2020. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.8% from 2021 to 2030. People have accepted blockchain currency because it is more secure and decentralized.

All these statistics highlight that blockchain technology and cryptocurrency are here to stay. 

Today there is a massive demand for blockchain and cryptocurrency. This demand influences how companies provide services and are willing to revolutionize their work culture. However, the language barrier is a major concern for cryptocurrency and blockchain network businesses. But translation services can help them.

A communication breakdown due to localized documents hinders disclosures between two entities. But there is a translation management company that provides blockchain and crypto document translation services. Let’s learn more about Into23. 

What is a Cryptocurrency translation service?

Cryptocurrency translation services provide the translation of content and documents related to the investment and transaction of cryptocurrency. For this type of service, the translator needs to be an expert in both the technological and crypto fields. 

Cryptocurrencies don’t have a single authority setting the value; they are decentralized. Miners, traders, and investors related to cryptocurrency come from different parts of the world. And just like any globalized industry, professional translation plays a very important role in the investment and transaction of the currency. 

The blockchain system is now beginning to appeal to many industries, from finance to insurance to tech startups, and most importantly, all that high-value on the global level. But to break the language barrier and pave the way into foreign markets, one needs the service of a translation management company that can deal with these types of specialized translation services. 

If your firm plans to build a new cryptocurrency or conduct an Initial Coin Offering, you must consider a cryptocurrency translation company, such as Into23.

Types of Blockchain and Crypto documents that one can translate

Initial Coin Offering: ICO

An initial Coin Offering is an unregulated means to easily raise funds for a cryptocurrency venture. But unlike Initial Public Offering, investing in the ICO doesn’t mean the investors will get an ownership stake in the company they are investing into. Nowadays, almost anyone can launch an ICO since the regulations related to the launch aren’t that strict. 

But if you want your funding to stay secure from all the potential international investors, you must make sure that ICO is easy to fathom, and this is where the crypto translation service comes into the picture. With translation services, you can allure investors through engaging content. 

Financial reports

Even though cryptocurrencies are not financial assets, businesses dealing with them have to evaluate financial reports. The financial reports are the first documents that the stakeholders and shareholders need to understand. 

You need to ensure that all the financial reports are properly translated, and for this, you will need an expert crypto translation service as such type of translation requires both linguistic and crypt experts. Everything needs to be translated properly and with 100% accuracy, from income tax reports to balance sheets.

Also, you need to find a linguistic and digital currency expert that leverages the right kind of software as the high volume of figures in the financial documents makes them prone to human error. In such a case, only technology can help in maintaining 100% accuracy. 

Websites

When we talk about blockchain and cryptocurrencies, we know that geographical boundaries don’t restrict them. That’s why they are considered global currencies. But if you are dealing in the global market with a global currency, you need the local audience to understand your business in a better way. 

The only way to reach a wider audience on the digital platform is to use translation services for your website. The crypto translation experts will translate everything from the documents on your websites to the website copy, and then you will make more sense to the local audience. 

When choosing a translator for the localization of a website, it is recommended to choose a company with experience in translating with search engine optimization, as harnessing the power of SEO is as important as 100% accurate translation. 

Apps and software

If you are dealing in the cryptocurrency or blockchain market, you must have a dedicated app or software. But do you think that the English language-based app or software will be more relevant in crypto-dominant countries like Mexico, Russia, Japan, and China?

If you are looking to translate cryptocurrency, you must consider app and software translation since the company’s approach to providing the app and software translation will be based on your specific business goals. They can make the audience comfortable with the software from the very first moment of interaction as everyone prefers the local language. 

White papers

A whitepaper is a document released by the developer that explains the technology and purpose of the project. It explains how the cryptocurrency was conceived for prospective investors, highlighting its purpose. 

So, suppose you are launching brand new digital coins. In that case, you need to translate white papers with 100% accuracy. Inaccurate translations can prevent investors from investing in your company. That is why crypto translations even provide services for white papers. 

Insurance documents

Another important document that needs to be translated for a crypto or blockchain company is the insurance document. Since insurance documents include many financial jargons, they are not easy to deal with. 

You should never plan to take the insurance document translation into your own hands. Let experts translate them according to the language and the local context of the local language.

Need an express Blockchain and Crypto documents translation service?

New technologies can always result in apprehension. Therefore, you should never add confusion with difficult-to-fathom and inaccurate documents and content. To keep things simple and clear, you need to convey your status, motive, and goal. For that, you must use blockchain and crypto document translation services. 

Unlike other fields of translation like legal, medical, or literary translation, blockchain translation is still a new kid on the block. Professionals should always handle whitepaper translation, ICO localization, website, and app translation. 

But you should never choose just any translation management company as the one dealing with cryptocurrency and blockchain translation should be well-versed in the digital currency realm. The professionals dealing in these kinds of translation need to be both subject matter experts and linguistic experts. That is why one should always choose a translation management company specializing in blockchain and cryptocurrency translation services. 

How will we help you?

At Into23, we offer an end-to-end translation service for every type of blockchain and cryptocurrency content and document. Whether you plan to localize your ICO or software, we encompass all. We have a vast network of skilled and certified translators who are not only linguistic experts but are well-versed in both cryptocurrency and blockchain. 

Here are some of the highlights of our world-class cryptocurrency and blockchain translation service;

All languages and content covered. 

We cover all the languages of the major cryptocurrency markets; we even cover every type of content related to cryptocurrency and blockchain. So, after choosing us, you won’t have to scour the internet for any other kind of translation service provider. 

Industry-leading technologies 

With our industry-leading technology, we can automate your translation project management, distribute the content to our translator and achieve 100% accuracy. 

So, the next time you wish to reach a wider audience in the crypto-dominating market, choose Into23 and localize every aspect of your presence to make processes seamless, profitable, and alluring. Contact us today and get a quote now!

How can Translation Services help you create a successful Global Business?

Translating marketing materials and legal documents has become indispensable for businesses to expand their business worldwide. However, translation can be a challenge and may cost more money and time if you’re unfamiliar with the process. Read on to understand how Into23 will provide multilingual legal and business translations that meet all regulations and guidelines.

Translation and localization play a crucial role in ensuring greater business reach and revenue generation.

Our Workflow: The Process We Follow

  • Customer Consultation

With more than 20 years of experience, we know how important accuracy is in the translation process. Even a tiny mistake can change the meaning of a whole sentence and phrase, resulting in losing money, customers, and reputation. 

For eg. In legal translation, you don’t need a creative angle. Instead, you need an accurate and explicit reflection of the original document. This is why businesses must look for a legal translation company with knowledge of intricate details of the legal system to ensure that translation meets all the requirements. 

At Into23, we follow a multidisciplinary approach with the highest quality and reliability. We have a team of native translators and proofreaders who have a wealth of experience in translation.  

Our translation process starts with consulting clients to know their specific requirements and instructions. After which our team begins the translation process. In addition, we have developed our custom workflow for an accurate and fast translation process.

  • Analysing Project

Analysing a project is one of the crucial steps in the translation process. Failing to analyse the project correctly can lead to many issues throughout the project life cycle. And this is true whether you are translating, managing, revising, or working on any other part of the process.  

Into23 analyses the client’s needs and scope to identify the project type and other aspects to translate the document without uncompromising quality.  

  • Implementing Projects

After analysing the content and language requirements, our experts start translating the document. All the translations are executed by our native translators, who have expertise in the specified subject matter. Moreover, our translators use the latest and best translation software available to help ensure quality and consistency.

  • Proofreading and Editing

This stage is a very crucial part of the translation process. It ensures that the translated document is 100% correct. Without it, grammatical and contextual errors could go unnoticed which can impact the meaning of the text. 

You’ll see many errors if relying solely on machine translation tools. That’s why we use native translators to maintain the accuracy and quality of the translated document.

Business Document Translation Services

  • Flexibility

With a vast network of linguists, we strive to meet the requested deadlines while maintaining premium quality. We work with:

  • Adobe FrameMaker translation
  • Adobe InDesign translation
  • XML translation
  • Microsoft Word translation 
  • Microsoft Excel translation
  • Microsoft PowerPoint translation
  • S1000D
  • PDFs translation
  • Articulate storyline documents
  • Misc others

Our service is available 18 hours a day, 7-days a week. We respond to any request within one to two hours. 

  • Professionalism and Expertise

We work exclusively with professional translators who specialise in different domains. For contracts, we use a legal translator to ensure translation accuracy. We have a regional selection process to choose the most competent and efficient translators. Our expert linguists will ensure that the translation meets the strictest quality criteria.

  • Swift Response

Our customers rate us as one of the best translation companies online. Our highly dedicated and agile team will process your request or translation quote within 1 to 2 hours. Once you send the request, you will get immediate confirmation of receipt. Our team will analyse your requirements and send you the quote. As soon as we agree on the terms, our translators begin the translation process. 

  • Certified Document Translation Services

We offer certified translation services for our legal customers that require a certification stating that the translation is a true and accurate translation of the source text without any additions, edits or omissions and that the translation was done by a qualified translator. A legal translation company cannot add/remove the text or interpret the meaning. The certification also acts as proof that a qualified translator performed the translation.

Rigorous Legal And Judicial Translation Services

  • Expert Legal Translation

All our professionals are highly trained and experienced in dealing with the complexities of the translation process. We follow a rigorous inspection approach to ensure the correctness and accuracy of the translation.

  • Multiple Languages Legal Translation

Legal translation requires professionals with an in-depth knowledge of legal jargon and fluency in source and target languages. Our linguists are underpinned by legal expertise and requirements. We will help you translate certificates, agreements, contracts, memorandums, and other legal documents into more than 100 languages.   

  • Automation In Legal Translation

With the evolution in technology, Machine Translation (MT) has also become a good option for fast, secure, and flexible translation. MT will produce better output for some languages e.g. English to French, than others e.g. English to Korean or Japanese. It is important that you use custom MT engines that have terminology for the legal domain and not a generic MT engine like Google.

Machine Translation is a software-based automated translation process that is best suited for:

  • Litigation documents
  • eDiscovery and discovery materials
  • Reference documents

This is why we use the combination of human touch and machine intelligence. We first use the machine learning tool, and to remove all the errors or potential ambiguities, our experts manually edit the whole document.

  • Privacy Policy Translation

A privacy policy is a legal document outlining the personal data you collect from customers and how you use, store, and share it. It helps customers better understand what type of data your website collects when they visit it.

In many jurisdictions, having a privacy policy is critical. Privacy laws like PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) give consumers the right to know more about how their data is collected and handled. So, it is required that your translated document meet the various standards set by the legal authorities.

We have translators across the globe who know their country’s laws and requirements, helping you with hassle-free multilingual privacy policy translation.

  • Terms-of-use Translation

With most websites being easily accessible worldwide, you need to translate its “Terms-of-use” because it also works as a legal agreement. We are one of the well-renowned translation companies online that offer multilingual translation so that your non-native customers can easily understand the terms for using the site.   

  • Overseas Business Agreements 

As our world globalises, business translation becomes an increasing need. This helps businesses boost their client base and revenue.

Whether you want to translate financial documents, patents, operational documents, certificates, audit documents, or import/export contracts, a legal translation company can help you. 

However, translating business documents comes with many challenges, such as dealing with language barriers and legal systems. Our linguists specialise in translating overseas business agreements. We will help you convey the message to your global customers so you are speaking to them in their local language in a culturally-relevant way.

Why choose us?

We understand how crucial accuracy and quality are in the translation. We follow a well-designed process that combines AI technology and human intelligence for top-tier translation. We ensure that your business and legal translation reflect the same meaning as the original one and meet all the requirements. Our highly experienced team of linguists has years of expertise in dealing with the complexities of the translation process. We also provide certificates for the translation of legal documents. We offer website, eLearning, transcription, eCommerce, multilingual voice-over, marketing, crypto & blockchain translation, and localisation services.

We use a centralised translation ordering system to ensure that your multilingual document is translated consistently and can save up to 60% of your current translation spend. We also ensure that your brand guidelines are strictly followed across all content types and languages. 

Have a project on your mind?

Speak to our experts now! Or, you can share your link or upload your file to get a quick quote.

Top Four Reasons Why e-learning Localization Should Be Your Priority

4 Reasons why translations are important to e-learning

4 Reasons why translations are important to e-learning

When you want to ensure that your e-Learning courses not only reach a wider market but also have a greater impact, Localisation remains vital to meeting this goal.

If you are a native English speaker and want to learn about the core history of China, you would probably go for a historical text that talks about it. Chances are, such primary records are in the native language (Chinese), and you would need a translated copy to understand what’s written in that.

That should not be a problem if the text is appropriately translated word-by-word. However, the translation would probably focus only on the words; it might not consider the local emotions and cultural significance associated with them.

And that’s where e-learning localisation comes into the picture.

Today, the learning and education space has significantly turned with technological advancements. The concept of e-Learning has become the new normal, especially since remote working has been implemented in most sectors.

However, with benefits comes challenges as well. Managing a global workforce, analysing their progress, and customising their learning process turns out to be another problematic situation for businesses.

E-learning Localisation: How is it Different from Translation?

Understanding the importance of localization of e-learning using how the colour purple is interpreted differently.

In Brazil, the literal translation of the word ‘Purple’ means mourning. Similarly, in some African regions, the translated version of purple symbolises wealth and royalty.

Imagine your e-Learning course uses purple as a word to signify something, the learners from Brazil can take it as a bad sign, and the readers from Africa might assume it is royalty. 

Therefore translation and localisation of an e-Learning course are essentially different functions. Localization of your e-Learning is the process of adapting the learning resources to the target audiences and their cultures.

To offer your learning resources to a global audience, you must ensure that the content is properly localised offering them a culturally relevant experience. People feel more connected and engaged when the e-Learning courses are in their native languages, leading to a better understanding and faster accomplishment of learning objectives.

Achieve Learning Goals with Ease for Diversified Audience

To achieve such results, you must offer an equal platform. In other words, it is essential to provide audiences with culturally nuanced e-Learning courses that go beyond mere translations. 

Using a professional e-Learning translation company can help ease this process and offer s stronger foothold in the market. Setting your global workforce up for success or reaching out to an audience in a language that resonates ensures your e-Learning courses are utilised extensively.

Removing Cultural Dissimilarities to Enhance the Learning Experience in Diverse Locations

The colour yellow symbolises affluence and courage in Japan whereas, in France, yellow signifies weakness, disloyalty, and jealousy.

So if your e-Learning course is targeting users in France translation without cultural nuances should be avoided. That’s one of the major reasons why e-learning localisation is crucial for a business. It considers cultural nuances and aligns your learning resources with the intended audience’s culture.

Besides this, e-learning localisation also helps remove the cultural dissimilarities in symbols, texts, gestures, audio narrations, etc. For example, the Eastern nations prefer a more formal tone compared to the Western ones that are even fine with a friendly tone in the learning resources.

Develop an Inclusive Learning Culture

Most forward-thinking businesses are moving to a ‘gravitate towards’ learning culture.

In such organisations, employees get pulled towards your e-learning resources and find them valuable for their growth. Consequently, they voluntarily look for what they need whenever they need it.

However, the issue arises when your learners are unlikely to prefer your courses because they feel those resources are for someone else. Even if they feel reaching them, the language barriers and cultural differences lead them to lose them again.

Therefore, it becomes extremely important to localise your e-learning content so that your learners feel included and valued, no matter wherever they belong.

Help You Comply with the Law

Besides other advantages, localising your e-learning courses can also offer legal benefits. 

In many regions, you must translate and localise your content to comply with the law. For instance, in countries like Wales, all the most commonly used language options in the region (English and Welsh in this case) are mostly made available to the common masses. Furthermore, in some cases, this is a legal requirement.

In such scenarios, you must ensure that the content localization is appropriately done so that it is easily compliant with the law and order of the target region. 

How Can Into23 Help You with Localizing Your e-learning Content?

Into23 is adept at ensuring your learning courses are personalised to your target audience, their culture, and their native language. This in turn allows learners to easily and appropriately implement the knowledge they learned during the training.

However, one of the objections to e-learning localization is that it is a time-consuming activity. But with professional and experienced localization services, it does not has to be.

Into23 offers solutions to help you communicate with your target audience like a local! Our native translators localize the content of your e-learning courses by adapting it to the target audience’s language. Consequently, you get the right tone, terminologies, and culturally relevant localized copies of your e-learning courses. 

Get in touch to discuss your next e-learning localization project!

Part 2: Do’s and Don’ts for translating a successful Brand Message 

Lost in Translation

Engagement can come to a standstill if critical steps are not taken to ensure content resonates with the target market.

Have You Ever Realised What Could Happen if Your Brand Message is Delivered Incorrectly?

Or what if your clients perceive something else about your brand message while you want to convey something entirely different?

That could pose a pretty bad impression on your brand image; unfortunately, there are many instances in which such incidents have happened. It often occurs when companies globalise their brand through cross-cultural campaigns.

But how is that possible when your brand message is the same for a specific marketing campaign? Well, one of the major reasons could be a poor translation used in such campaigns that might miscommunicate the brand message. These “miscommunications” often happen due to a lack of cultural awareness and nuances when a brand literally translates the brand message from one language to another.

How Bad Could the Consequences Be?

The consequences could be really bad, believe us!

Let’s understand this through an example. Suppose you work for an organisation where you have a decent image, and everyone admires you. Now, consider you are transferred to a different team abroad where people are not fluent in English. To communicate with them, you used an ordinary word-to-word translator.

Unfortunately, one day, you wrote an email to your project head using that translator that turned out to be offensive in their regional language. What he understood of your message was entirely different from what you wanted to convey. However, due to a poor translation lacking cultural relevance and understanding, you were thrown out of the project at the same moment.

And that’s not it. Although you had a good image among the team you last worked with, the incident severely impacted that, too.

Well, you might have understood the message here. The same can happen with your brand image too. Remember, just because a marketing campaign poses a success story in one country does not necessarily mean it would also be a hit in the global markets. In fact, for the worse, such global campaigns can go far beyond offending the international markets.

Without the assistance of an experienced, culturally adaptive, and aware team that helps your business talk like a local, it would be challenging to recreate an authentic and resonating brand message in the global market.

Some Epic Fails in Global Branding: When the Catch-Phrases Caught Despair!

Electrolux

The Sweden home appliances company entered the US market to promote one of their vacuum cleaners with the tagline: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.

Although the sentence was grammatically correct, it also had a double entendre, meaning Electrolux is good for nothing. Well, who will buy something that’s of no use at all?

Pepsi

One of the famous examples of the translation-gone-wrong category is Pepsi. When the company entered the Chinese market, the translation of its marketing campaign “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life.” went way more literal than expected.

In Chinese, the translated version of the tagline meant “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave.” It wasn’t only humoristic but left a bad impression on the nation whose people believe in ancestor worship as a part of their culture.

 ADD THE ACTUAL CHINESE TEXT

Perdue Chicken

American chicken company Perdue Chicken came up with a clever tagline, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.” to enhance brand awareness. However, their branding strategy went wrong when they entered the Spanish market.

The translated version of this message ended up something like this, “It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate.” Well, neither the line made sense nor this marketing campaign in Spain!

ADD THE ACTUAL SPANISH TEXT

Coors

One of the oldest and most popular brewing companies in America, Coors has also been a victim of the wrong context and translation. Their advertising team introduced a campaign with the slogan “Turn It Loose!” in the Spanish market to appeal to the people having a good time while drinking their beverage.

However, the idea went entirely different as the meaning of this phrase as per direct translation in Spanish was “Suffer from Diarrhoea!” And obviously, nobody wants that, right?

ADD THE ACTUAL SPANISH TEXT

HSBC Bank

Like many other companies facing translation issues regarding brand messages, HSBC has also been there. Their tagline stateside was “Assume Nothing,” which was completely fine. However, it didn’t work out in the overseas market.

The resulting translation in many countries was “Do Nothing,” which was definitely not the message the company wanted to convey to its customers. Due to this translation error, HSBC had to spend around $10 million to fix it and come up with a new tagline.

Like these, many more popular brands have committed the same mistake in some way or another while translating brand messages into the global markets.

However, almost all of them have learned the same lesson: ‘Conquering new markets is accomplished by following the right marketing tactics, and right marketing means translating the ideas, not just the words!

Reading until this point, you might understand how important a brand message is for a company. On top of that, you would probably be wondering how crucial it is to translate your brand message in a way so that its real essence is not lost.

Well, both of your considerations are correct, and that’s why it becomes essential to know about some factors that can make or break your brand image in the global markets while translating the brand message. Besides this, you must ensure that you are using the right resources and considering professional translation services that communicate with your customers in their native language.

Therefore to ensure business success and avoid pitfalls contact Into23 today and get a quote now!

Part 1: Do’s and Don’ts for translating a successful Brand Message

Effective translation ensures greater outreach and engagement.

For a long time, people have misinterpreted brand messages with branding. Well, the two are different concepts. While branding aims to impact perceptions about a brand that urges the audience to choose it over its competitors, a brand message catches the eye, penetrates the mind, and forms perceptions.

Forming and promoting a brand message is one of the crucial phases of a branding strategy. But why? Just because it helps the audience analyse and shape their perceptions about it? Well, on the one hand, yes! But other than that, it also portrays your brand’s overall image and story. It encompasses everything your brand is known for — your vision, mission, and values.

Imagine someone asking you, “What’s unique about your brand?” or “Why does your brand exist?” 

How you answer these questions will probably shed light on your brand message. It will help your clients understand what change you want to make in their lives.

Translating Your Brand Message: The Dos

Professional Translators Make a Difference

Content, in any form, has high visibility and impact on the audience. When content holds such significance, the best choice would be to leave it in the hands of professionals.

Talk Like a Local with Native Translators

Machine translation is good when you need to translate something in literal terms. However, they do not always work when you need to maintain a specific tone or adapt the content while keeping cultural relevance in mind.

Using translation services from professionals native to the market will help you translate your brand message without losing the actual meaning you want to convey. It ensures that the sectors you wish to target drive better results with your brand message. Also, these native translation experts can update you regarding the dynamics in the local market so that you can adapt your brand message accordingly.

Keep an Eye on the Visual Presentation

Presenting your brand message is one of the keys to successful market penetration. Therefore, it becomes crucial to consider your website’s localisation while translating your brand message. Apart from the text, ensure that you also take into account the font style, size, and colour of your brand message.

Simply put, you might need to create different visualisations for different targeting languages in order to get the same result irrespective of the variety of audiences.

Transcreation Could Be Better Than Translation

When your brand message is in the form of a slogan or a tagline, the effective way is transcreating it rather than translating it. For this purpose, it is better to consult native translators who also deal in transcreation services.

While transcreating your brand message, you need to generate an entirely new set of words or phrases that offers the same meaning in the target language and creates the same impact on the target audience as the original version does on your fellow speakers.

Remember Your Target Audience, Like Always!

This is the most important thing to keep in mind. Whether you want to translate your brand message or any other marketing campaign, make sure you always consider your target audience, their cultural differences, and their needs.

Since the brand message highlights the story and values of your brand, you must translate it in a way that reflects your company’s values and vision while keeping local market specifications and culture in mind.

Translating Your Brand Message: The Donts

Dont Go at It by Yourself!

Even if you have an advanced translation management system equipped at your place, it would not be a good option to translate your brand message alone. Undoubtedly, you could be pretty good at forming a business vision; translating it using the right context, terminology, and tone for global markets is entirely different.

Remember, your brand image is the most crucial thing that makes people aware of you, and the right brand image is formed when the correct and insightful message is delivered to your target audience. Ruining things at this stage can harm your brand image in the long run. Therefore, it’s better to rely on professionals for this task rather than going at it by yourself.

Using Machine Translation Wont Be a Good Option

No matter how advanced machine translation tools have become, they are still ‘machines.’ And it is challenging for a machine to understand the idea, emotion, or vision behind a short brand message having multifold meanings.

Moreover, such tools can only translate your brand message word by word, which could be problematic in translating the message into different languages (which we have already observed in the earlier sections).

Forgetting to Proofread Might Create Havoc

Although you have hired professionals to translate your brand message, sharing it with your audience without proofreading can create trouble for your brand image. Even a single spelling mistake can change the meaning and context of your message. Therefore, ensure you double-check your brand message before releasing it to your target audience.

How Can Into23 Help You with Translating Your Brand Message?

Believe it or not, your brand lives in people’s minds, and to make sure the best possible chance to stay there, you must ensure that your brand message is effective enough.

At Into23, we not only focus on translating your brand message. Instead, we focus on the correct translation that aligns with the cultural aspects of your target audience. We not only help businesses with translations, but we also assist them in communicating with their customers in their local language and make the audience understand the brand’s relevance.

No matter what language your target market speaks, we ensure to deliver your brand message with your original idea in their native language keeping cultural relevance in mind.

If you are looking for reliable and proficient translation services to translate your brand message, do give us a chance. Contact us now to discuss your project!

Why Translation Services are important for your Business Goals

Do you want to sell your products internationally and let your website do all the talking with your multilingual customers? Professional multilingual translation services can help you. They allow you to avoid language barriers and expand your business overseas. 

Translation Services help businesses expand into untapped markets and avoid language barriers. Have you thought about expanding your reach with multilingual content?

Language barriers are falling, driven by technological evolution. International translation companies can help you take advantage of global opportunities. A study shows that the global translation services market size is projected to reach $46.22 Billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 2.07% from 2021 to 2028. Businesses are going global, seeking out opportunities across our increasingly connected world.  

Translation plays an important role in bridging the cross-cultural language gap, allowing you to reach your international customers in their native voices. Localising your content allows marketers to better connect with their target customers, providing them with relevant information about your products and services. 

Why Invest In Translation Services?

Companies invest considerable time and money in developing content that resonates with their target audience as this is indispensable for generating more leads and higher ROI. To further increase leads and improve ROI, companies need to consider delivering this content in the native language of all their target customers. It has been proven that people are 75% more likely to buy when the information they are given is in their native language. 

Investing in translation is an effective method of increasing your engagement with your non-English speaking prospects. Translating and localising your marketing content gives you an edge in global engagement over your competitors.

Here are some of the benefits of translation:

  • You can penetrate a wider market
  • It can boost your branding, customer trust, and revenue
  • Improves SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) / SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
  • It will drive significant traffic to your website

Seamless Communication with Accurate Human Translations

  • Context and Culture

Translation allows you to connect with a diverse multilingual international audience seamlessly. You’ll find numerous AI-based translating tools online. However, in most cases, these tools cannot understand the context of the message, resulting in the wrong translation, especially when it comes to the nuance of culture. You may be familiar with some words that mean different things in other countries. For example, “pissed” means angry in the US, whereas it means “under the influence of alcohol” in the UK. 

If you are thinking of localising your marketing materials, you should consider finding the best translation services company that combines human and A.I. intelligence to deliver cost-effective and streamlined translation solutions. 

  • Accuracy and Efficiency

Human intervention in translation ensures accurate communication while maintaining the essence of the original message. A linguist fluent in the source and native to the target language can best translate the context, tone, intention, and concept. This enables them to emotionally align your content, which improves the chance of translating prospects into loyal clients. 

Enhanced and Professional Translations

There are various challenges in multilingual translation, such as understanding hidden meanings and nuances in a document. The task becomes more challenging when translating legal documents because they need extensive research and knowledge of unique terminologies and jargon. This is something that A.I.machine translation tools are incapable of. You need to consult with the best international translation companies to ensure your content meets all the necessary professional translation standards.

At Into23, we offer industry-leading on-demand multilingual translation services. We have advanced language translation technology to deliver translations into over 100 languages. 

  • Unmatched Quality

We have a network of proficient multilingual translators and voice-over artists. We provide dependable quality assurance and certification for medical and legal translation. At Into23, all translations are done by target-language native translators to ensure consistency, accuracy and quality. Our linguists can also provide cultural advice based on your target markets.

  • Value-Driven Translation Services

Our clients rank us as the best translation services company because of our multicultural, customer-focused translations, helping them achieve greater ROI.

  • Accuracy and Speed

Our dedicated teams of translators have a wealth of experience and deliver high-quality translations irrespective of the size and language of your project. We strive to deliver accurate results within your deadline. 

An Extensive Service Range

  • Translation & Localisation

Translation refers to translating the content from the source language to the target language(s). Localisation refers to all the other activities involved in having content ready for a particular market. For example, this can include recreating graphics with text, generating the translated index for a document, ensuring the right fonts are used for a language, ensuring double-byte languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese) or bidirectional languages (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu) are displaying correctly, ensuring there is no truncation on the UI for translated languages. 

  • E-learning Translation

With the surge of Covid-19, learning and working remotely became the new normal. According to a survey, the eLearning market is projected to be worth $325 Billion in 2025. As the world opens up, hybrid working is becoming the new normal. Companies are also contending with the Great Resignation. Employee experience management has become a critical business priority to help companies retain their workforce. E-learning platforms are great options to keep your employees engaged and provide personalised development and training needs. All global companies have a multilingual workforce. Providing this e-learning content to your employees in their native language is important for keeping your worldwide employees happy.

We offer end-to-end eLearning translation, from on-screen text translation to audio script translation and multilingual voice-over recording. We have specially designed filters for working with XLIFF files exported from Articulate Rise content and Articulate Storyline. 

  • Marketing Translation

Marketing translation involves translating marketing material so it is culturally relevant to your target audience. The process of marketing translation requires properly adapting the language and style to the local culture, focusing on the accurate delivery of the message but being creative with how it is translated. Moreover, the translator should be a copyeditor who understands how products and services are successfully marketed in their target language.

Marketing content is the most high-impact content you produce. So, it is important to select the best translation services company for better outcomes. 

We have a team of creative translators who offer more than translations and ensure your content is relevant and localized. They are familiar with the marketing language essential for engaging the target audience and will produce a creative translation that will catch your customers’ attention. We offer:

  • Marketing message and campaign translation
  • Advertising transcreation
  • Product description translation
  • Website and other marketing collateral translation

Our agile and robust translation technology allows us to automate the project management, distribute it to our translators and return it to you quickly. 

  • Legal Translations

Accuracy is the most important aspect of legal document translation. An accurate, clear reflection of the original legal document is crucial. However, the process of legal translation can be challenging because legal terms and systems differ greatly from country to country. The translated document must contain correct terminology. It must be a complete and accurate representation of the original, it should not contain any additions or deletions. Failing to do so can result in loss of money and clients. 

We offer a rapid turnaround and high-quality legal translation services. We have a team of translators who specialise in the legal field. Moreover, we follow strict NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) guidelines to secure your important data.

  • Website Translation

Your website is your face to the world. It is the primary channel through which people learn about your business, your products and your services. Making your website available in all the languages of your target prospects will maximise your opportunity of winning new customers in those languages. Website translation involves adapting the web content to these languages and ensuring it conforms to cultural and social norms for these languages. It is also important to ensure your website is correctly adapted to offer currencies and shopping cart options that are relevant in different languages. This allows you to interact with your clients in their native language, which ultimately helps you engage them better.

Into23.com offers multilingual translation management solutions to ensure that your translated content remains in sync with the source language. Whether you are using WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Tridion, Adobe Experience Manager, or any other CMS (Content Management System), we are here to help you with your online content translation.  

  • eCommerce Translation

Language can be a barrier to expanding your eCommerce business internationally, but it is also a doorway to new opportunities. Translating your product description, labels, and other marketing materials into different languages will help you boost your sales. A survey of over 3,000 global consumers shows that 75% of customers prefer to buy products displayed in their native language. 

Our multilingual translators will ensure the translation of your product descriptions is accurate and SEO-friendly so that you can rank high on the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). We also can translate your user reviews as this helps as social proof to allow you to drive more leads. For this user-generated content, we use a combination of machine translation and quick human editing to keep the cost down.

  • Business Translation

Our business translation is a full end-to-end offering for all business content. This can be eCommerce, eLearning, legal documents, financial documents, HR documents, investor relations material, sales promotional material or any other content a business produces.  

We offer: 

  • One centralised point for all translation needs in a business
  • A customised portal where you can upload and request new translations
  • For procurement, full visibility of all translations done across the business, including any discounts and other savings. 

We can remove the pain and complexity of translation across all your business functions. We will ensure that you speak with one voice across all languages. 

  • Multilingual Voice-Over

Companies today use video and audio to communicate with clients, partners, audiences and employees. This can be through marketing videos, how-to or explainer videos or as part of their eLearning content. As with text, to give your users a great experience, these audio and video content should be available in their preferred language. 

We have a team of professional multilingual voice-over artists who work from their home recording studio This allows us to offer a flexible and affordable price suitable for 95% of most business audio and video needs For high-end advertising videos, we advise contacting professional advertising agencies who can provide TV-ready video. 

Our process starts with the original language script. We translate it into all the target languages. Once the translated script is ready, we will engage our foreign language voice-over talent to record the different language versions.

  • Transcription Services

Our transcription services cover a wide variety of use cases. For legal companies, we transcribe audio files, most legal cases require transcription of any audio submitted as evidence. If this audio is in another language than the language of the court, we also offer a translation service for the transcribed audio. In other cases, a business may have some audio or video content that they want to translate or add subtitles to, the original script may no longer be available. We can transcribe this audio, with or without timestamps. 

For corporate events, we offer transcription services (often coupled with the translation of the transcribed script) for keynotes, these are usually then used to add subtitles (including multilingual subtitles). Our mission is to provide our clients with the best quality transcription services at affordable prices.

Have a project on your mind?

Speak to our experts now! Or, you can share your link or upload your file to get a quick quote.

Grow your business globally with a strong localization strategy

Home to almost 60% of the World’s population, Asia also has millions of people speaking different languages.

Every successful business strives to achieve global excellence; however, while going global, they must engage as a local with their target audience. Their brand voice should resonate naturally with their target customers in their local language. To achieve this, brands need a localization strategy. At its core, localization is about translation but it is also more than just translation. Companies today are using video and audio content to engage with their prospects, customers, employees and partners. So, as well as translating their digital content, companies should also consider localizing their audio and video content using voiceovers for different languages. 

Voice-over localization is a three-step process. First, you will need to translate the audio script into all your target languages. This should be done by professional translators, native speakers of the language they are translating into. The second step is to record the script in each of the target languages. The third step is to integrate the recorded scripts into each language version. You may also consider adding the translated script as subtitles for each of your languages. In some cases, there may be an additional initial step, if you don’t have a soft copy of the audio script, you will need to transcribe the audio first. 

Today, voice-over work is in high demand for eLearning content. Traditionally, eLearning courses were long-form, most from 30 minutes to an hour. However, today, more and more eLearning courses are available in short, bite-sized chunks to allow learners to consume them at their own pace. The rise in demand for voice-over in the eLearning industry is evident in the growth of the demand for eLearning voice-over. 

According to the latest statistics and trends, the eLearning market will grow exponentially. The total estimated worth of the industry was around US$ 315 billion in 2021. According to industry experts, we expect the industry to grow at a CAGR of 20% until 2028. That means that the total market size of the eLearning industry will be around US$ 1.35 Trillion markets by the end of 2028.

When it comes to simplifying learning, and increasing learner engagement, audio and video content play an important role in achieving both. The demand for voice-over services is also rising in the corporate sector. Many companies have adopted new working models like the hybrid working model (home working/office working). Offering online eLearning training content to their employees is great for increasing employee engagement. We expect eLearning training to continue to grow, leading to increased demand for localized voice-over services. Today, eLearning training is more efficient than classroom training as learners can learn at their preferred pace according to their schedule.  

With the help of a voice-over artist, businesses can add a dialect and overtone to their content to which the local audience can connect. An expert voice-over artist can help companies understand the different approaches used in the local language and then incorporate them into their content. 

Standard dialects and visuals can allure more potential buyers and build a stronger connection with the audience, increasing revenue. So, let’s delve into voice-over translation and understand it better. 

 What are the benefits of voice-over translation?

Attract more local clients & sales

According to Harvard Business Review, 72.4% of customers say they are more likely to buy from a brand if the information regarding a product is in their native language. It shows that you can even boost your sales by using the power of voice-over translation; you can attract more local or native clients and boost your sales. 

A local customer will be more interested in interacting with any kind of information if it is presented in their local language. Therefore, if you plan to target a foreign market with a different language, you must use voice-over experts to make this expansion successful. 

Reach a broader audience base

If your target audience is not limited to a single language, try reaching out to them in a different language. Consider multilingual voice-over translation services to reap the maximum benefits. With this type of translation, you can reach a broader audience base. By promoting the video in your native language, you will no longer be confined to language barriers.

Types of voice-over translation

  • Voice replacement

One of the most common voice-over translation services within video content is voice replacement. Engineers mute the original audio, and the voice-over artist replaces the verbal content with his voice in the native language. 

One of the biggest challenges of this type of voice-over translation is matching the speed and delivery of the original voice. For example, there must be an emphasis on specific points in the original voice, some pauses, or breaks. It becomes difficult for the new speaker to match it accurately in such cases. 

  • The UN-style

The other most common voice-over translation service within video content is the UN style. There are many videos where both the original voice and the audience’s native language need to be heard, like in the case of eLearning videos. The UN-style translation never replaces the original speaker as the native language is just spoken over. 

The audience can easily hear the original voice for the first couple of seconds, followed by the native language voice. The sound of the native language usually surpasses the original speaker. It is helpful if you wish your audience to relate to the original voice. 

  • Off-screen voice over

This type of translation is ubiquitous in the eLearning realm. All the voices used in the translation are usually heard off-screen in this sector. The user can simply keep following the on-screen animations and texts.

Many international translation companies provide off-screen voice-over. You should go with this type of translation only when one doesn’t have to play the video. It is also the most straightforward type of translation since it requires only a single actor as the new language just needs to be synced. 

  • Dubbing

Dubbing might be the most recognizable type of translation. If you want the video to look like it has been initially shot in the native language, then dubbing is the right option. By the look of things, dubbing makes the video look more pristine in terms of the native language. 

For this, you have to choose from international translation companies as dubbing might be one of the most effective types of voice-over translations, but at the same time, it is challenging to implement. 

Into23 voice-over translation process:

A standard voice-over translation process is not as simple as it sounds. Precise and accurate voice-over translation requires both detailing and the skill of a professional. During translation, accuracy is of utmost importance because even a single mistake can change the entire meaning of the video. The translation process begins with transcribing the original audio content of the video. There is no way one can translate the content without going through the script. 

Into23’s voice-over services involve language script recording and translation of the script; we also record the translation in different versions. Professional translators conduct the translation process, and professional voice actors do the voice. Into23 works with voice actors that primarily use their home studio. How does that benefit our clients? It allows our team to offer services at economical prices, offering a price that is more competitive than high-end professional recording studios. We must clarify that we do not target voice-overs for the movie or TV industry as these do require these high-end recording studios. 

Let’s understand the typical process of voice-over translation.

Firstly, we consider the type of voice our client is looking for, e.g., age group, accent, male or female. Our team offers 4 to 6 voice samples matching the profile; the client then chooses their preferred voice. Once the voice-over artist is shortlisted, we provide them with a brief. Our brief includes the following things: 

  • Voice style: in general, eLearning will be conversational. But because the courses are long, the conversational tone needs to be engaging.
  • Pronunciation: Guide for any brand names or unusual words/terms.
  • Audio recording specification: We specify whether we want 16-bit audio, 24-bit or 32-bit audio files. The usual is 16-bit. 
  • Audio sample rate: The usual sample rate is 44.1 kHz for eLearning but 48 kHz for dubbing/video.
  • Channel: Mono or Stereo channel. The usual for eLearning is Mono.
  • File format: MP4, Wav or MP3?

The process:

  • Phase 1: The artist records the script. 
  • Phase 2: During the post-processing of the recorded script, the professionals remove pauses, breaks, verbal ticks, or noises. 
  • Phase 3: They also validate the script recording to ensure accuracy. Re-recording is requested if any parts need correction. For eLearning courses, we split the audio files following the flow of the course.
  • Phase 4: We also take client feedback and implement the necessary modification due to script changes, pronunciation change requests, etc. Into23 allows 2 to 3 rounds of corrections.

The pricing model:

Our pricing model depends on the length of the script or the final audio length (in minutes). Voice-over actors charge per final audio minute. However, we estimate the final length after recording; we prefer to quote based on the script length in words.

· Up to 10 mins of audio is less than 1500 words.

· 30 mins of audio is a script between 3000 and 4500 words

· 1 hour of audio is a script between 7500 and 9000 words.

What’s new?

The future of voice-over translation will be a combination of AI and human voice recording. AI-generated voice recordings will allow a voice-over actor to produce a recording quickly, and then edit it to correct any mispronunciations or other errors in the generated audio file. Into23 is also planning to offer synthetic voice recording services by 2022. We shall collaborate with some of our voice actors to provide this as a service. It will result in faster turnarounds, guaranteed high-quality output, and lower costs. For more details regarding our voice-over translation services, contact our experts now!