Make content accessible to your target audiences in their language with audio and video localization services from ITC Global. We offer every production and translation service you need, all in one place.
We offer a full suite of services to localize your video and audio content. You can choose from individual options or let us handle the entire process for a seamless experience. Not sure which services will give you the best results? Explore the frequently asked questions below and contact our audio and video localization expert for tailored support.
Transcription is the process of converting spoken words from digital files into text. It can be done from a video or audio file.
You need to have your content transcribed if you want to translate a video into multiple languages so more viewers can understand the content. Transcription transfers audio content to text that can then be translated and used to create subtitles.
In addition, transcriptions for subtitling usually contain timecodes that allow us to locate each phrase in a video and simplify the process of synchronizing and embedding subtitles.
Timecodes are a series of numbers used to synchronize audio, video, and subtitle content. The format is Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames.
Voice casting involves choosing the right voice actor for your audio and video messages. This is essential because the voice is a key avenue for conveying emotions. We’ve probably all watched a film where the dubbed voice wasn’t quite right. At best, we were amused. At worst, we didn’t understand the message we were supposed to be getting.
The task of localizing a video is often derailed by the challenge of selecting the most appropriate voices to convey the original message. There are two selection criteria when casting voiceover or dubbing talent:
ITC Global streamlines the audio and video localization process by handling every aspect, including voice casting. We have a talent pool of more than 1,000 voices in 50 different languages, with 10 to 40 actors per language, even the rarest. Our artistic directors preselect the best professional voices that fit your project and allow you to make the final choice if you prefer.
Our partnerships with recording studios on five continents will also ensure you get optimal quality even on the other side of the planet.
Dubbing is a technique that replaces the voices of the original actors with the voices of actors speaking another language.
There are two main types of dubbing:
Dubbing videos is an important step in any international communications strategy because this makes it easier for your target audience to understand your content. Viewers will be more likely to connect with your message when it’s in their native language.
Unlike with subtitles, the viewer doesn’t have to read the text while watching and can pay more attention to what’s happening in the film or video.
Dubbing works great for animated and motion design videos because of the wider margin of synchronization between the sound and image.
Our dubbing studio has a talent pool of more than 1,000 voices in 50 different languages, with 10 to 40 actors per language, even the rarest.
Our locations in France, the United States and Canada, as well as our partnerships with a dozen studios around the world, put us close to voice actors so we can provide good artistic direction and record excellent quality sound, no matter where the actors live.
Voiceover is a production technique used in the audiovisual industry that adds an external voice, meaning a voice that doesn’t belong to one of the individuals appearing in the video sequence. This narrative device is often used in films, documentaries, video games, and ads. Voiceovers are used to comment on and describe what’s happening in a scene.
It’s important to note that voiceover isn’t just for videos. It’s also regularly used for prerecorded information like messages in airports or waiting rooms.
Recording a voiceover in several languages involves transcribing and translating the source video so that a new audio file can be recorded in the target language. Then the old voiceover is replaced with the new one.
It may seem easier to add subtitles to your video, but for certain formats, voiceover has significant benefits. Unlike subtitles, a voiceover allows the viewer to concentrate on the video so they can be more immersed in the content. This is especially important when things are moving quickly or there are many people speaking, making it difficult to understand all the information.
Subtitling provides a translation of dialogue in a film or video for people who don’t understand the language being spoken. This on-screen text is synchronized with the dialogue or narration and is typically displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Since 85 percent of videos on social media are watched without sound, subtitles are an essential component of your digital communication. They help people understand your content better and allow you to reach a wider audience, especially when the language of subtitles is different from the original language.
Subtitling requires several steps. First, we transcribe the video and create timecodes. Timecodes make it possible to locate an element (phrase) in a video. They make it easier to synchronize subtitles. Next comes the subtitle translation and adaptation step where we make final adjustments before the subtitles are embedded in the video.
While the process of creating and embedding subtitles requires meticulous work, subtitling is the easiest technique for reaching a wider audience with your videos.
At ITC Global, your video subtitling agency, we offer fast, precise, and reliable subtitling and captioning services in many languages and multiple formats. We can deliver your subtitle or caption files in various languages with or without timecodes or we can embed them in your videos.
Our team integrates and adjusts timecodes and audio descriptions in all existing alphabets, including Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hindi, etc., as well as languages that use special characters like Chinese and Japanese.
SRT (SubRip Text): This widely used format includes subtitle text along with start and end timecodes. It’s a plain text file and does not contain video or audio, making it small and accessible.
VTT (Web Video Text Tracks): This format is similar to SRT but it’s used on web pages and platforms like YouTube. It allows customization of font style, size, color, and position, and can include multiple languages.
EBU-STL: Common among broadcast channels and VOD services, this format allows for encoding subtitles with customizable rules for characters, colors, and positions.
SSA (SubStation Alpha): This file format offers control over text parameters like font formatting, color, height, transparency, and placement.
TTML (Timed Text Markup Language): A technical format used by the television, broadcast, and VOD industry for its customizability in encoding text data into live video and audio streams.
SUB: This format links subtitles by frame number rather than time. However, this can lead to synchronization issues if the frame rate differs from the one for which the subtitles were made.
Audiovisual translators must adapt their translations to specific character and formatting requirements so they are easier for viewers to read and understand. For example, subtitles for horizontal videos must be 42 characters or less per line, including spaces and punctuation. Vertical videos can have a max of 36 characters per line. No more than two lines of subtitles can be on screen at the same time. Our expert translators use special software to streamline the work of translating and formatting subtitles.
Captioning makes audio and video content accessible for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing by transcribing all audio information in a film or video in text format, including dialogue or narration, and sound effects. In addition to improving accessibility, captions enable all viewers to understand what’s going on in videos that are automatically silenced, like those on social media.
Closed captions can be turned on and off, while open captions (also known as burned-in captions) are embedded into the video and can’t be removed.
Working with one provider for all your audio and video localization projects simplifies the process and removes the hassle of overseeing multiple vendors in different locations with varying timelines. This provider also makes sure you get the results you expect for every component of the project.
At ITC Global, we assign you a single project manager who oversees our specialized translators and our audio and video production team at every stage. We combine linguistic and technical expertise to give you an optimal final product and economy of scale on multidisciplinary projects like producing audiobooks in a foreign language or localizing a corporate brand video.
Speak the language of your customers, prospects, partners, and employees around the world with ITC Global’s full suite of solutions powered by our unique blend of talent and technology. Every language solution you need, from translation to AI technology.
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Curious about how the audio and video translation and localization process works? We have lots of details for you in our resource center. Here are some articles to get you started.
