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. 

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.

The Era Where Hosts Became Influencers

Do you remember the popular daytime television talk program The Ellen DeGeneres Show? In 2014, The American talk show tapped into a wider audience by broadcasting its episodes to the people of China. It was the first American talk show to air in the Chinese country and was renamed “The Happy Lady Dance Hour.” Even though the show had subtitles and was streaming online, it experienced a massive increase in viewership because it reached a billion viewers in China.

Even though there are numerous cultural differences between Chinese and American culture, the show resonated with most people. Why?

Because it talked about human emotions, feelings, struggles, and other experiences that are pretty universal. This show exemplifies how people can relate to someone despite massive cultural differences. The only barrier that was there was the language barrier. In this case, subtitles and cultural adaptation helped the show break language barriers. They allowed the show to get new audiences and cast their nets wider.

Post-2014, podcasts became a thing with the rise of YouTube viewership and other auditory platforms. Like TV talk shows, the podcast format became extremely popular since people got busier and preferred listening to shows while multitasking. Let me be honest! You would agree with me if I’d say that most people won’t like reading this blog if they had a chance to hear it out loud while driving to work or while having lunch. Do you agree?

Imagine listening to a Morgan Freeman podcast, hearing his smooth, relaxing voice as he shares some of the exciting anecdotes of his life. If it’s Morgan Freeman, you would hang on to every word and might replay the episode multiple times. Right? I mean, who doesn’t love the baritone of Morgan Freeman? During the pandemic, podcasts continued growing with the rise of digital media. With portable audio devices, people can hear experiences and thoughts via audio recording. The podcast network today is also booming because of smartphones. With smartphones, people have a podcast player in their pocket! Hence, podcasts have become a new medium for distributing audio content. 

Podcasts: Do All Internet Users Communicate in English?

How Can your Podcast Reach A Wider Audience?

Today, international audiences, primarily the younger generation, have a great affinity for long-form audio content. These include interviews where people share their deep thoughts about specific interests. According to a report published by Reuters, 34% of their respondents (from 20 countries) said they prefer listening to a podcast as their level of adoption for long-form content has increased. 

According to Statista, only 22% of users in America knew about podcasting in 2006. By 2021, who knew that the numbers would grow exponentially? There was a 78% rise in the consumption of podcasts. Today, there are 120 million podcast listeners in America! Many forecasts suggest that these numbers will surpass the 160 million mark by 2023. 

Podcasts across the globe are witnessing a surge in interest.

From cooking to politics and even UFOs a wide range of topics is available on podcasts. A recent US-based survey by Edison suggests that 54% of podcast listeners are more likely to consider the brands they hear advertised on the podcasts they listen to. If this is used as a yardstick, imagine the global impact! In Asia, podcast downloads have grown by 216% in the past year alone! The news followed by Education, Kid & Family, Social & Culture, Comedy, and Business makes for 73.5% of all downloads. 

Even though these podcasting numbers seem impressive, you must remember that not all users on the internet speak or understand English! According to Statista, around 75% of internet users don’t speak English. 

Therefore, as podcast producer, podcasters aiming to go global must analyse the amount of potential audience he is missing out on. 

Take Podcasts From Niche to Mainstream

The Power of Culturally Relevant Voice-Over Translation

Multilingual voice-over translation of podcasts can have the same effect on podcasts as what “subtitles” had on Ellen’s Show! Voice-over translation can help a podcast reach internet users who don’t speak English, i.e., they can address the rest of 75% of the internet audience! We all know that users love buying from brands that communicate with them in their native language. The same goes for content. Therefore, podcasters can leverage the fast-growing podcast market by using multilingual voice-over translations so that they can engage with wider audiences speaking different languages. 

It can help a podcast brand or business reach customers in areas where local podcasts or shows are gaining popularity. An up-and-coming podcast and increase reach manifolds by dubbing their podcasts for Indian and Chinese audiences.  

Although voice-over translations can add an upfront cost to the podcast’s production, they will allow the show to reach billions of potential listeners. Avoid relying on online translators if your podcast or business wants to get this diverse and wide audience. Many websites offer voice-over services but relying on them may produce ineffective output. Never rely on average freelancers; always choose professional multilingual voice-over talent who can help you with content localisation. 

Producing translated podcasts requires real skills such as localisation, cultural adaptation, and relevance. A skilled professional can help you translate the podcast so listeners worldwide can understand and enjoy it. While addressing cultural differences, multilingual voice-over talent can help you maintain linguistic accuracy. Therefore, always rely on multilingual experts offering podcast localisation services. 

A professional, multilingual voice-over talent allows you to maintain the right tone, context, and dialect. When that happens, your podcast will impact the local audiences more. Hence, you’ll be able to build a stronger connection and achieve more listenership, therefore, more revenue. Let’s briefly specify what steps you can take to translate and make your podcast culturally relevant with voice-over translation.

Practices To Consider During Multilingual Voice-Over

Let’s Help You Get Listeners from All Over the World.

• Rely on Native-Speaking Linguists 

A multilingual voice-over talent can be your native-speaking host for your podcasts. Such professionals can ensure that your content sounds local, relevant, and informational to the local audiences. We strongly recommend you avoid the use of free voice-over software. Such free tools sound robotic, disrupt the listening experience, and cannot mimic the exact emotion of human speech. Although you can save time and money, using them may harm your listenership. Native-Speaking Linguists are aware of the correct tones and cultural sensitivities, which allows you to deliver a better experience. Word-by-word translation and mere machine translation can also pose a risk of offending listeners unintentionally. Your content can become extremely unrelatable, making your podcast lose potential or existing listeners. A multilingual voice-over talent can use the correct idiom, phrase, tone, etc., which will help you maintain the right conversational tone of your podcast. 

• Try Transcribing Your Podcast

Even before you choose a multilingual voice-over talent, you can try having a written script for your podcast. Having a script can help your brand easily create a multilingual podcast. Scripting makes localisation easier. How? Once you transcribe your podcast’s audio, editors can carefully check and review it. Native linguists can see whether the content is appropriate for local audiences. You can also repurpose the script and convert it into a blog. It will help your website rank on search engines! Your podcast episodes can rank well if you implement search engine optimisation to those scripts. You can add them as supporting text! Hence, it’ll make your investment in multilingual voice-over more profitable. 

• Address Cultural Differences

Let’s take Joe Rogan’s podcast example. Rogan has a massive proportion of podcast listeners in the USA; however, his content won’t attract global audiences. Since the content originates in American English, he can solely attract audiences from the states or other English-speaking nations. His podcast may have American cultural references or references from American TV shows. Any American reference may or may not resonate with native audiences from other time zones. Apart from TV shows, there can be references from books, music, news, sports, jokes, dialects, etc. In that situation, a Spanish listener won’t get the exact idea of the discussion. Hence, they won’t return to the podcast again. Seeking help from multilingual voice-over talent can help you localise your episode, which will generate new audiences and a good ROI.

• Always Choose a Professional Voice-Over Talent

Your business might have individuals with great writing skills; your podcast may have an engaging host. However, if your local and native audiences cannot understand the essence of your content, the effort gets wasted! Like Ellen’s Show, your show can have subtitles; however, subtitles may fail to convey the subtleties of the language. If the essence is lost, there is no point in providing subtitles. Your content can maintain the right grammatical and contextual accuracy by leveraging professional translation and localisation. Support from a team that offers multilingual voice services will help you get native-speaking hosts for all your target languages.

Get Multilingual Voice Talent Who Are Subject Matter Experts

Gain the Into23’s advantage with our expertise with Voice-Over Talents in Key Markets

The demand for multilingual voice-over is growing at an exponential pace. Today, TV commercials, games, webinars, marketing campaigns, tutorials, cartoons, audiobooks, podcasts, etc., are trying to reach an international audience. Professional multilingual voice-over can help such businesses get instant recognition and brand visibility. However, finding the right native-speaking voice-over talent is difficult because the industry is full of professionals delivering substandard work. 

At Into23, we offer multilingual voice-over services headed by professional male and female voice actors. These actors have an excellent experience presenting your content in the best possible light! They provide clear sound and production, ensuring your content sounds natural to your audience. 

We have a professional network of affordable voice talent, offering voice-over services in 300+ languages. No matter your requirements, our team will help you find the ideal voice talent. We have a bench of multilingual voice-over talent ready to address your needs. Contact our team today to know more about our services. Click on the “Get Quote” button to get our submission form. You can fill out the form to get a quick online translation services quote.

Is AI the Real Show Stealer?

Will AI eventually put voice actors out of their job? Well, this question needs a deeper level of investigation. We need to evaluate how AI voices can impact the overall voice-over industry. Today, AI mobile applications and devices like Alexa or smart speakers utilise computer-generated audio. However, we should know that these AI voices originate from real voice actors. 

AI voices often develop a base or foundation using human voice talent! Most of the time, the human voice is used as a vocal database so that the AI voice can sound more genuine. Do we see AI creating new jobs for voice actors, or will it put them out of work? Maybe. Maybe not. However, there is no doubt about how well a game-changer AI is. Let us now look at the benefits of using AI voice technology:

• Personalised customer experiences

AI voice technology can offer personalised audio experiences. It can help businesses create custom voices for their brand instead of depending upon the same voice in traditional voice production.

• Quick Turnaround Time

Marketers have tons of responsibilities. Investing in a traditional voice production session demands booking commitments, coordinating, reserving, retakes, post-editing, etc. With AI voice technology, they’ll be able to speed up the entire process. Organising an AI voice-over session is quite simple and fast. Instead of waiting for months, they can easily get the final output within minutes. They can quickly choose a voice character, upload a script, and make the payment. 

• Standard & Consistent Quality 

AI voice technologies can standardise quality. Traditional methods of voice-overs demanded studio acoustics, the same studio, mic, setup, feel, and audio software. To maintain the same consistency, one had to be very particular about these things. However, with AI voice technology, they can develop the same results every time. They can get consistent, high-quality voice-over compared to an in-house improvised facility.

• Scalability and suitability

AI voice-over technology can captivate the audience’s attention much better because advertisers have the option to scale the production. They can effectively expedite more audio ads to establish a solid brand presence in the market. When advertising teams have such opportunities to scale their operations, they can release ads on YouTube, Spotify, etc. They can also focus on creating audio commercials that are more relevant to the targeted audience. Using Audio advertising with AI voice technology is certainly the next big thing. 

Why AI Technologies Cannot Replace Real Voice-Over Artists

Even though AI voice technology has many benefits, modern-day shoppers or users want to know whether they are talking to a machine or a human. Many people engage better if they know they will get a response in a genuine person’s voice. Even if AI can manufacture the same tone, speed, and speech, it must work rigorously to perceive emotions correctly. For that, you need a genuine voice-over talent. 

Replacing voice-over talent requires such voice technologies to adapt to multilingual cultures and dialects. They must identify emotions, dialects, context, cultural relevance, and human-related factors. Also, the level of voice performance depends upon the extent of expressiveness. In that sense, machines aren’t good enough. 

• The Need to Address Different Cultures

Translating each word may work in one country but necessarily won’t work in another. During multilingual translation, the voice-overs must adapt the content to each market. It means that you need a dedicated language voice talent who is fluent in the targeted language so that they can produce culturally relevant content.

• A Dedicated Voice can help drive your Brand Identity.

A dedicated artist for your brand will play an essential role in building your brand identity. An artist like that can help you maintain a consistent brand image aligned with your company’s values. Dedicated voice-over artists are crucial in corporate video tutorials and eLearning courses.

Why Work With Into23?

With the growth in AI voice advertising, there is also a subsequent rise in the demand for multilingual voice-over ads. Do you plan to extend your services to different regions? Our

team works with professional voice-over actors experienced in dubbing long-form content in a professional studio. We ensure that your localised audio sounds relevant to the native audiences you are targeting. For that, we ensure that the voice-over is culturally appropriate and accurate. Even a single mistake can twist the entire crux of the video. Our voice-over artists have high-end home studios that help them offer services at an economical price. (We do not provide voice actors for film dubbing and TV shows since they need high-end dubbing studios.)

How do we deliver multilingual voice-over ads? We have a deep network of multilingual voice-over artists that can cover 300+ professional foreign languages. You can get your ideal voice-over artist and localised content, no matter how local or intricate your requests are.

Our professionals can help you localise your ad content in different dialects if you plan to market your products in a niche market. Different areas or localities have distinct tones, accents, styles, and dialects. Our voice actors can help your ad sound authentic in all dialects. Apart from all these benefits, we also offer cost-friendly voice talent. The current costs of professional multilingual voice-over are very high in the market. However, our team helps you find voice actors at an affordable rate. 

Into23’s product and service development team will soon introduce synthetic voice recording services. These services will get live on our website by 2023. We are planning to work with top-notch voice actors to provide this solution. Therefore, you can expect your dubbing process to be cost-effective, fast, and error-free at affordable pricing. We offer agile services because we have the capacity to deliver projects swiftly. We also provide flexibility in turnaround times and budgeting. We can help you resolve any technical issues during the voice-over process. Always abiding by our deadlines and ensuring absolute transparency in our pricing is what we stand for. Contact us today!

“Hey, Siri do you know The Simpsons?”

Technology & the Art of Conversation

Imagine watching an episode of “The Simpsons” the legendary American animated sitcom by the Fox Broadcasting Company. What if the creator, Matt Groening, replaced the original voice of actor Harry Shearer with Artificial Intelligence software like Siri and let Siri do the entire voice-over for the video? Will the show be able to hold on to its iconic identity then? That is a debate we can save for later. 

Robotic voices have been around for a while. Today, AI voice technology has become a critical part of our lives. You must have encountered customer service technologies that feature bot voice assistants that can hold a decent conversation with you. Apart from that, we also see Alexa, Siri, and Hey Google, a few technologies that have seen exponential growth with the rise in online content consumption. 

Remember the movie “Her”?

In the film, we see Joaquin Phoenix’s character in a near-future setting where he develops an affinity toward an artificially intelligent virtual assistant. The virtual assistant’s voice was that of a woman the actor Scarlett Johansson voiced. The movie released in 2013 was almost a prophecy for the things to come.

Many digital operating systems are progressively adopting AI voice technology to speed up and ease user communication. However, consumers want to communicate with digital characters which have a soul and personality, making the interaction more exciting. Can you imagine an OS voice done by Scarlett Johansson? Wouldn’t that be great? But, let’s not divert ourselves and instead focus more on AI! What goes behind AI voice technology and why it matters so much are some questions we must address! Let’s jump to our next segment, where we can roughly understand the technology behind these AI products. 

Is AI Voice Technology the “Swiss army knife” of Marketing?

Decoding the “Tech” Behind These Products?

As mentioned in the section above, AI or synthetic voice software has been around for a while. But they weren’t as good as they are now. The technological advancements in deep learning have allowed developers to replicate the intricacies of human speech with great precision. These systems are experiencing a higher performance because of the momentum “deep learning technology” has gained. That is why a new wave of startups is utilising synthetic voice technology to build corporate tutorials, software solutions, video games, digital assistants, etc. 

During the inception of this technology, synthetic or AI voices sounded robotic, monotonous, and awkward. All it was just words glued together to make a sentence sound decent. Nowadays, the picture is different. Today, developers can develop voice technologies that deliver natural pacing, good pronunciation, and emotion. With the help of AI, machines can also decipher and recognise the right patterns, styles, pauses, and tones. These features make AI voice technology a value-adding proposition.

Secondly, AI voice technology is cheaper, scalable, and easy to implement. You don’t have to record a real VO actor again and again to develop the synthetic voice. With features like Audio Deep Learning and Automatic Speech Recognition, businesses can dub their script in real-time, allowing them to personalise their ads or product modules.

Does that mean that hyperrealistic AI voices will affect the livelihoods of human voice actors? Let’s learn more.

Why Does This Innovation Matter? 

Join the Online Chatter: Audio Marketing and Artificial Intelligence

Today, almost every business understands how challenging it can be to engage existing customers or attract new potential clients. The market is extremely competitive as consumers interact with more than a dozen brands daily on different platforms. Achieving success in such a scenario is difficult. Hence, brands and businesses need a more agile approach to create advertisements that resonate well with modern-day shoppers. 

Consumers on the internet have loads of exposure to ads due to this competition. Therefore, more advertisers are finding ways to get their brand message to their customers. This is the space where they rely on audio ads. Audio ads on the internet utilise voice-over to deliver a message. Ads like these usually have a still image or motion poster over the screen with a targeted or personalised voice-over. 

Such ads can reach thousands of shoppers or clients at once! They can be deployed to multiple platforms and help the brand develop an emotional connection with the audience. Today, many audio platforms offer ads with a premium listening experience. A couple of them provide a lucrative ROI to advertisers. For instance, Spotify’s advertising team reveals that 81% of listeners on the platform take action after hearing an audio ad during a podcast.

The data further reveals different actions of the listeners after listening to the ad. Listeners tap on the banner to search for a product online, connect with a new brand, or share the content with their loved ones. These user actions allow the brand to boost customer engagement and acquisition.

Apart from Spotify, YouTube is another giant platform where marketers run voice-over ads. YouTube audio ads offer a new marketing tool for brands to drive users’ attention as many Youtube listeners treat the platform as an auditory platform for podcasts, lectures, songs, etc. These ads also offer many bidding and targeting options as campaigns. 

The platform has over 122 million active users daily. Hence, it is critical for marketers to make sure that their voice-over ads are crisp, clear, and engaging. The correct approach can help them grow rapidly! AI technology can also help marketers mimic a real human’s pronunciation, timbre, and tone of voice. Due to this reason, they can connect better with their audiences. Therefore, these features make AI-voice audio ads more engaging while allowing marketers to leverage hyper-personalised messaging. 

Combining the expertise of human translators and AI-enabled tech get the best voiceovers for your business with Into23.

NLG is a type of AI and language translation technology that is becoming more prominent in business platforms.

NLG standards for Natural Language Generation and it is changing the way we interact with machines and the way businesses gather data. What is NLG exactly, and what makes it different from other technologies? With the compound annual growth rate of the NLG market expected to reach 1.6 billion dollars by 2027, you need to know about NLG.

What is NLG?

NLG is a type of AI that automatically processes data into sentences and stories, in either written or narrative form, in a way that’s easy for us humans to understand. The NLG can take massive amounts of data from pre-set templates to form a sentence, reply, or inquiry that reads like a natural human conversation. This data and our inputted responses to this data create and add to a database of information that businesses and researchers can use to improve a process or product. 

When is NLG used?

NLG is being used for a vast array of applications, and chances are that you’re already encountering and engaging with this technology daily. Here are a few broad ways that both businesses and consumers use NLG,

• Chatbots or conversational AI assistants – Used on websites and business platforms to automatically answer customer inquiries. The advanced use of NLG carries a two-way conversation and responds to verbal commands. Examples are platforms Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana. 
• Machine translation tools – Tools that translate one language to another, such as Google Translate.

• AI blog writers – Used for content creation. The NLG uses one language model and data set to write sentences and full-length articles. 

• Analytics – The NLG is created to detail insights from business data and reports, such as financial reports and spreadsheets and put it all into a format or narrative that’s easy to understand for businesses and their customers. 

• Automated leading emails and messages – This NLG creates predictive text for users when writing in emails and messaging platforms. 

• AI transcription tools – With speech recognition, the NLG takes audio and turns it into text.

• Semantic analysis – A platform used to determine what language best resonates and reaches a specific audience of which the NLG is used to create messages to which the customer is likely to respond.  

NLG has become one of the translation solutions used by global businesses as part of their website localization, eLearning translation and more. NLG is used as part of the machine translation post-editing process used by international translation companies and translation agencies online. 

How the Natural Language Process (NLP) works

 

NLP is a blanket term that refers to NLG and Natural Language Understanding (NLU). NLP is a framework that converts unstructured data to structured data. NLU is the ability of a machine to use syntactic and semantic analysis to gather meaning from a piece of text or speech. It is the NLG that allows devices to create content from the NLU data content. In short, NLU lets a computer understand what data the user is giving it. At the same time, NLG provides data back to the user from the computer in a way the user can understand, thus the Natural Language Process.

Making an NLG requires several steps and a substantial amount of NLU data to create content that resonates and sounds natural. Whether it’s a chatbot or a machine translation tool, these are some of the steps and considerations that go into making an NLG,

• Content analysis – This step analyses data to identify the main topics that should be included and what the result of the process is expected to be.  

• Data interpretation – As patterns are identified, they are put into context for machine learning.

• Document structure and sentence aggregation – A document is created along with a narrative structure with the interpreted data. From there, relevant sentences are isolated and combined to depict the topic accurately. 

• Grammar – Grammar rules, along with the syntactical structure of the source language, are added to ensure that the text sounds natural.

• Final output – The final output is presented in a template or format of the programmer’s selection. Such as a message from a chatbot, a piece of the translated text, an audio reply for personal assistant devices etc. 

The Future of NLG

NLG has created ways for businesses to communicate data efficiently and effectively, which increases productivity and reduces business costs. It presents data and information in an accessible manner while collecting big data that will lead to specific insights into a business. NLG has been used in different business industries, from insurance, retail, finance, media, eLearning platforms, eCommerce and eCommerce translation, manufacturing, translation management and more. 

While technology has come a long way, NLG is still limited compared to real human writing and semantics. NLG can only act on the NLU data, which, currently, doesn’t stack up to the ingenuity of human writing and content, which makes the quality of NLG content one of its biggest weak points. NLG, however, is not without its merit as the NLP is superb at generating human insights from big data, especially at a volume that we, as humans, are not capable of producing. As NLG can be used in various markets, it is a valuable tool that can be used in many ways for any business. Take translation and localization, for example.

For businesses that want translation and localization services to expand into other global markets, NLG is an important part of a quality translation. Translators use machines to help expedite the translation process and fine-tune it with their human expertise. This process is called machine translation post-editing.

Related: Machine, mind, or machine and mind: how to best deploy today’s machine translation solutions

Into23 provides translation management and translation solutions that cater to your business. Into23 can help you use an NLG in multiple languages for your business; whether it’s a customer support chatbot or transcription services for a voice assistant, Into23 can help your customers interact with your business better.

Gaming has gone global, meaning that if you want your game to be successful, it’s time to localize. 

Worth more than $300 billion and with an estimated 2.7 billion gamers worldwide, to say the gaming industry is big is a slight understatement. With the increased means of online gaming and the ability to play with others from various regions across the globe, companies have had to step up and improve their customer experience and look towards multilingual translation services and player support.

Gaming localization, however, isn’t as straightforward as a website localization strategy. The interactive and visual aspect of gaming makes the translation process of games much more complicated. While gaming localization and multilingual player support may be more extensive, it is necessary to have a game reach the global market.

Why gaming localization and translation are important and why it’s different

Expanding a game globally is essential to ensure the game’s success and longevity but knowing this aspect is just one of many challenges with gaming localization. A game that is poorly localized will feel the wrath of the gamers that have played it and can demolish all the hard work that has gone into the game’s creation.  

The video game market is expansive and widely different depending on what part of the world you’re in. For example, the popularity of different video game platforms, such as PC, console or mobile, varies by region. Currently, the top three video game markets worldwide are China ($40.95 billion), the US ($36.92 billion) and Japan (18.68 billion), but each of these regions tends to favour different platforms. Consoles are popular within English-speaking countries like the US, but they are harder to attain in other markets, whereas in China, mobile games rank at the top of the most played. These differences make cracking into these gaming markets challenging as release strategies and various localization strategies and support are needed.

Once you’ve decided where to expand, you need to consider all of the aspects of the game that need to be catered to for that market so that your gamers get the best experience. Gamer engagement is key to keeping people playing, spending money, and coming back for more, so any blunders in the localization process change the experience for your gamers and potentially result in poor sales and retention. 

Examples of successful and unsuccessful game localizations

Translation blunders have brought failure for even the biggest companies, and the gaming market is no exception. With the direction that gaming is going, especially with most games having some online aspect to them, gaming translation and localization and refinement are quickly becoming tied to a game’s success.

Related: Words that altered history – translation blunders in international relations

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – An example of how gaming localization should be done.

CD Project Red did such a masterful job of localizing the Witcher 3 that this 2015 game still holds sway today and is one of the company’s selling games with many active players. Its effective localization was executed so well that it could pass for a locally-made game. Gaming translation services and proper translation management were used for each specific market that the game was released. The production crews even temporarily moved to where the game was being localized to create a truly authentic local experience. The game’s voice-over local accuracy has been one of its most highly regarded features. 

The success of this game is a testament to the power of an organized and properly executed localization strategy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Gaming translation at its weakest.

For a gaming series as large as Call of Duty, Activision should have known better. There was a massively controversial translation error in this game that became so notorious that it’s still held up as a standard of what not to do with gaming localization. 

When Modern Warfare 2 came out in 2009, there was a mission in which one of the characters said, “Remember, no Russian” this was to remind the character not to speak the language. In the Japanese version of the game, however, this quote was translated to “Kill them. They’re Russians”. This translation was so controversial that Sony Russia decided not to release the game in its Playstation store. While this quote was the most notorious, the game was, overall, so poorly translated that gamers often had to ask for additional assistance to get through missions. The game has since been remastered to fix these mistakes, but the errors of the initial release are not likely to be forgotten.  

Taking the time to find the right translation solutions for your game will help to avoid disasters like this one.   

Common aspects involved in gaming translation

Knowing what translation aspects are needed for your game is essential, as gaming is an immersive, interactive, and media-rich experience that requires much more than a mere translation to be understood and appreciated by a new audience. Will your game’s story carry the same meaning or impact in a new culture or region? Does that culturally-specific joke mean the same thing in another country? Will the game’s imagery create the same atmosphere for a different culture? Do you require foreign language voice-over talent or foreign language transcription services? What about customer service access in multiple languages? 

Here is a brief list of the most common aspects of gaming translation to consider,

• Visuals: All graphics, images, videos, artwork, and advertisements.
• Text: Subtitles, the user interface menus, captions.
• Audio: Multilingual voice-over recordings or dubbing for all speech and narratives.

Related: How to find the perfect voice for your multilingual voice over

It’s also easy to miss items such as the game’s social media pages and forums, customer service pages and contacts, marketing materials and advertising (digital and print), product packaging such as instruction manuals and user guides, localized product pricing, and website localization for the game.

Even with this short list, it’s obvious how much work is needed to ensure a quality translation and localization of a game.

Steps to prepare for gaming localization

If you’re ready to localize your game and don’t know where to get started, here are a few ways you can prepare for gaming localization,

• Decide your gaming market and language: This is a big decision and should be based on the type of game you have and the amount of translation you require. For example, if you have a mobile game, the Chinese market would be a great place to look at localizing. Still, then you need to decide if you’re going to localize in Hong Kong or the Mainland, as each of these regions uses a different form of written Chinese.

• Choosing a content translation services partner: Like it or not, proper translation management is essential. A translation partner is the key to getting the most authentically localized game possible. Partner with a translation agency that knows your region and goals and let them help you manage the process to get the best results.

• Documentation preparation: Consider all aspects of the game. There may be legal agreements needing legal translation, so it’s important to gather all essential documents for the translation process. Prepare a translation kit that includes LSP agreements, workflows, test plans, style guides, glossary key terms etc.

• Budget for misunderstandings and extra quality assurance: Have an established budget and guide that includes extra for gaming localization services, any potential misunderstandings, and extra quality assurance testing. International translation companies can help you develop a realistic budget for your localization goals.

• Get gamer feedback: If your game is already on the market, reach out to your players and see what features they would like to have or what they feel is missing so that you can consider that when localizing. 

At Into23, we offer gaming translation services and expertise for any language and region. Make us a part of your game’s global success with our high-quality translations and expert translation management to help make your game the next big thing. Ready player one? Contact us today to get started.

Scene 1

The era Booming of Localisation

Today the most popular American subscription streaming service, Netflix, caters to more than 190 countries! But how did it manage to accomplish that? With popular dubbed shows like Bridgerton and Stranger Things, the voice talent industry is helping Netflix expand its services to more countries. The Spanish hit “Money Heist” has also been dubbed in numerous local languages. Many countries love consuming this Spanish original in regional accents as they prefer dubbed shows over subtitles. 

The pandemic brought covid protocols and several travel restrictions to our lives; however, it couldn’t restrict the audiences from virtually traveling to witness new cultures via Web/TV shows. You may have noticed the massive popularity of action-packed anime. It is a testimony to how easily audiences can welcome content from different countries. According to a recent report, more than 50% of global viewers on Netflix watch anime, and these numbers seem to be on the rise. Japanese Dubbed series like Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist has also received immense love worldwide.  

These dubbed shows have put Netflix’s content in the front and center. Do you want to know more about dubbing? The dubbing process involves recording an alternative audio version of the content with a different voice. Although dubbing is quite similar to translation, the process is intricate and demands precision. It isn’t about repeating the same words in the local tongue; combining the right context and local flavor is the game! When content from different locations is localised, it allows audiences to enjoy the same thrill and adventure. 

Well, thanks to thousands of translation and localisation professionals who help us curate more localised content! Today many big streaming services have great opportunities for skilled localisation talent as they understand how translation and localisation professionals can help them deliver content to global audiences.

Scene 2

Make Your Business Talk like a “Local.”

If your business wants to go global, you must engage with your target audience as a “local.” Your brand voice should resonate naturally with its target customers and must communicate in their local language. According to a report, 70% of users feel more loyal to brands that provide support in their native language. Therefore it’s pretty evident how critical localised communication has become.

To achieve this, your brand needs a localisation strategy. Localisation is about translation, but it is also more than just translation! Talking to a customer in their native language requires you to maintain the right context, cultural relevance, terminology, and tone.

If implemented correctly, you can position your business to attract specific market segments. Due to these reasons, today, many businesses aim for multilingual and localised communication via video and audio content. Quite similar to what Netflix did, in the same manner, they want to engage with their prospects, customers, employees, and partners. 

They want to translate their digital content, but they also consider localising their audio and video content using voiceovers for the different languages. 

For instance, there is a surge in demand for voice-over work in 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 demand for eLearning voice-over. 

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 localised voice-over services.

The Interval

The role of Voice-Over Artists in the Whole Scenario

A professional voice-over artist can help businesses 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. Let’s briefly specify the benefits of working with voice-over translation.

• More Box Office Collection: 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. 

• Wider Fanbase: Reach a broader customer 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. Promoting the video in the native language will no longer be confined to language barriers.

Behind The Scenes

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 script transcription, where needed, 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. 

The Climax

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: 

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

The Different phases of Voice-over translation

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.

Into23’s 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 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.

The Cast

Different Categories 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

Another voice-over translation service within video content is the UN-style. There are videos where both the original voice and the audience’s native language need to be heard. 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 over 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. 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 recognisable 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 relatable 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. 

The End

Future Plans?

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, 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 2023. 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!

Important things to consider if you’re localizing your business in Chinese

Chinese is one of the most important business languages. It is second only to English in terms of being the most spoken, so here are a few important things to know while creating your localization strategy.

With a large population and a growing number of middle-class consumers, the Chinese market has been a new hotspot for businesses. The Chinese market can be a successful market for your business if it’s done right. It’s easier than ever to crack this market with the growth of technology, online shopping, eCommerce translation services, and eLearning platforms. However, there are some major points to consider if you want to localize for a Chinese area or region, as there are many pitfalls when localizing to Chinese.

History of the Chinese language and its different types

Chinese is an old and diverse language. In mainland China alone, around 70 million people belong to 55 different minority groups, each with their dialect and some that don’t even have a distinguishable written form. However, with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Mandarin was chosen as the official language of the country. Today, more than 70% of the Chinese population speaks Mandarin. 

Written Chinese

Written Traditional Chinese is around 6000 years old and is the oldest written language in the world. Cantonese speakers generally still use these characters, as do Mandarin speakers in Taiwan. Mandarin speakers in China use Simplified Chinese characters. Simplified characters have been around significantly less than their traditional counterpart as they were formalized at the beginning of the People’s Republic of China. The People’s Republic of China was formed in 1949, and at the time, the majority of Chinese could not read or write. To improve literacy, Mao Zedong initiated a new system of Simplified Chinese, simplifying around 2000 Chinese characters by reducing the number of strokes used for each character. Simplified Chinese was first used in 1956. 

While there are various spoken dialects of Chinese, these are the two major forms of writing. This is handy as even if the spoken dialect is different, Chinese can generally communicate through writing. 

Different dialects

Seven major dialects are used in China and its Special Administrative Regions (SARs). To reach the Chinese market with your business, you need to know where your target market is and what Chinese form is used there.

Dialect	Region Spoken
Mandarin (Putonghua)	Most of mainland China, Taiwan, Macau
Cantonese/Yue	Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou (Canton), and Wuzhou.
Min	Fujian province and parts of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hainan, and Taiwan
Wu	Zhejiang province, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces.
Xiang	Most of the Hunan province, the counties of Quanzhou, Guanyang, Ziyuan, and Xing’an, northeastern Guangxi province.
Gan	Jiangxi province
Hakka	Northeastern Guangdong, adjoining regions of Fujian, Jiangxi, Southern Hunan, and the older generations of Hong Kongers in the New Territories. In Taiwan, Hakka is spoken by some in the Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli parts of the country.

Related: What’s the Difference Between Mandarin and Cantonese?

Important considerations regarding the different dialect types

• Cantonese is the main dialect spoken in Hong Kong. Traditional Chinese characters are used for writing. While many Hong Kongers can speak Mandarin and use Simplified Chinese characters, if you are localizing for this region, you should consider using Cantonese and Traditional Chinese characters.
• In Taiwan, they speak Mandarin and write with Traditional Chinese characters. Both Taiwan and mainland China use Mandarin, but they have developed different terminology and writing styles.  

All of this variation within the Chinese language necessitates using the best Chinese translation services company to guarantee that sufficient research is done to develop a translation and localization plan that matches your strategy for entering this lucrative market.

Things to consider when creating a localization strategy for Chinese 

Know the culture, know your audience, and identify your primary dialect and region

Like any good localization strategy, you need to know your target audience, its culture, its language, and the things your target market values. You’ll need to consider how your brand voice and whether this will resonate with a Chinese audience. Can you directly translate your brand content, or will you need to consider a more creative translation, a transcreation, to convey your brand voice? As China is diverse, with differences across the regions, high-quality translation services can help you achieve your marketing strategy.  An experienced translation agency can help you avoid cultural mishaps and translation errors.

Learn from past successes and failures 

Learn from the companies who have attempted and accessed the market already. Localizing in China is challenging, and even some of the biggest names have failed after not performing thorough market research. Learning from what has worked with brands that are similar to yours can help narrow your research and expedite your localization strategy.

Related: The Top 10 Translation Blunders in Advertising 

Use local social media and eCommerce platforms

Mainland China uses various social media and eCommerce platforms that are not used or are less popular in other countries. Baidu is the search engine used by most people, with platforms such as WeChat for social media and eCommerce payments. Other social media platforms include Qzone, Renren and P1. In Hong Kong, western social media platforms are popular, and a variety of eCommerce platforms, from the Octopus card to PayMe, are used to pay for products online. 

Use expert multilingual translation services

It should be apparent by now the importance of localization and translation services when expanding your business globally, especially into Chinese markets. Navigating any new market is challenging, so take the guesswork out of your localization strategy and get the assistance of translation and localization experts. 

Into23 is a translation agency in Hong Kong offering localization and translation services. We are experts in Asian languages. Reach out to Into23 today to discuss your business localization strategy to set yourself up for success in the Chinese markets.

Content is no longer King; it has become the whole kingdom. A wide range of content is available for consumption in the digital era, especially video-based content. Video-based content is the most used form in marketing; it is also the most consumed. More than 85% of social media users demand videos from brands, and around 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. All this shows the dominance of video on the digital platform. 

Every successful business must strive to achieve global excellence; however, they must appear to be native to their target audience. Their brand voice should resonate with the common person. For that, they must utilize the power of localization. Localizing the content, especially videos, you promote on all platforms can significantly increase brand growth. That is how translation plays a critical role in alluring the audience worldwide. One of the most used forms of translation is voice-over translation within video content. 

Voice-over translation includes transforming the audio of the content you are promoting according to the culture of the native audience. For voice-over translation, one needs a linguistic expert who knows how to translate the foreign language into the local language and a voice-over artist who is well-versed with different languages. 

With the help of a voice-over artist, you can add a dialect and overtone to your content to which the local audience can connect. An expert voice-over artist can help you understand the different approaches used in the local language and then incorporate the same into your 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 the world of voice-over translation and understand it better. 

What are the benefits of voice-over translation?

Access to a broader network

If your target audience is not confined within a single language boundary, 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 much wider audience base. By promoting the video in the native language, you will no more be confined to language barriers.

More affordable than in-person interpreting

In-person interpreting is not a practical option, especially for small and medium-sized businesses and large companies targeting large masses through video-based content. In most cases, in-person interpreting can become a highly expensive option for an organization. 

While on the other side, you have to pay a nominal fee in the case of voice-over translation. Then, your video will be ready to be promoted on every social media platform and every other digital medium. There will be no hidden fee or extra charges in the case of voice-over translation. 

Help boost 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. 

Types of voice-over translation

Voice replacement

One of the most common voice-over translation services within video content is voice replacement. The original audio is muted, 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 certain 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. This is helpful if you wish your audience to relate to the original voice. 

The instructional style

In this type of voice-over translation, the performer is given more freedom to express the words as there are no scripts used in this case. This style includes only a voice-over artist interpreting the video in the native language. 

The voice-over artist is just asked to explain whatever is happening on the screen. Therefore, the voice-over artist can use his expertise in expressing the on-screen ongoing in the most native form possible. It is also an effective technique if you want your video to be in the best form of the native language. 

Full actor translation

Full actor translation is not as common as the UN-style voice replacement. Several self-proclaimed “best translation services companies ” do not provide this service. In this technique, the company decides to re-shoot the entire video with a new native linguistic expert, and he replaces the English-speaking speaker on screen. 

This type of replacement occurs in the green screen environment as it becomes easy to replace the original speaker. The main reason why this technique is not so alluring for companies is that it can be a bit costly. But if you have the budget, this can also be the most effective translation technique. 

Off-screen voice over

This type of translation is ubiquitous in the eLearning realm. All the voices used over 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 the video is not played. It is also the most simple type of translation since it requires only a single actor as the new language just needs to be synced. 

Dubbing

This might be the most recognizable type of translation. It is widely used in movies. If you want the video to look like it has been originally 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 difficult to implement. 

The voice-over translation process

The voice-over translation process is not as simple as it sounds. A proper voice-over translation requires both details and skills to get the job done professionally. At the same time, it is necessary to be 100% accurate with the translation, as even a single mistake in translation 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. This process is done with utmost precision! 

Actual translation 

After completing the transcribing process, the translation of the original audio into the native language is done. But this is where things can become a little bit tricky. For example, if you want to translate your video for a Chinese audience, it’s fine, but do you need Mandarin or Cantonese? It is something you need to decide first before approaching a voice-over expert. 

Choose the voice-over talent

After the proofreading and script editing of the translated document, the client is usually given an option to choose from the talent pool of voice-over experts. The multilingual translation services company can give you samples based on the gender, language, and style you need. 

Recording, formatting, and syncing 

Finally, the voice-over artist records his voice, then the editor formats it and syncs it. The client is usually given a chance to review the final output so that the solution provider can implement those changes and meet the client’s demand. 

If you want to reach a wide audience base and don’t want to be limited to language barriers, you must choose the best translation management company, such as Into23. We cover all the languages, are equipped with the right tools and experts, and are a customer-centric company that prioritizes the clients’ needs.