Media Translation Services

- Media Translation Services

Translation for Media is unique, especially in Dubai.

And I will tell why.

Until quite recently, translators were obsessed with the difficulties associated with the written word and the spoken word. Today, cultures around the world place more emphasis on oral and visual communication. And This tendency gives rise to media translation.

The uniqueness of media translation comes from the cultural, technical, social and linguistic implications involved in the transfer of your script or your scenario.

Under the umbrella of the term ‘media translation,’ you will find many terms like screen translation, multimedia translation, audiovisual translation, and may be more.
Or you may know other terms.

Media translation is taken to mean subtitling and dubbing.

Subtitling provides written screen captions of the scenes. Dubbing refers to replacing the source-language voice with the target-language voice.

Subtitling and dubbing are two different activities with different requirements and constraints. But media translation is not limited to these two.

Of course, there are many forms of communication under the same umbrella. Media translation can also include voice over, narration, commentary and others.

To Dub or To Subtitle

You have a corporate video or a TV program about your business and you want to expand your viewers. You used in your video your visuals, and your words, written and spoken, and it is time to decide how this video be best rendered in another language.

We are here to help.

Generally, you will go for exclusive dubbing or subtitling. And your choice will depend on many variants like: time, cost, local sensibilities, etc… Dubbing of course is more expensive, but it also excludes such elements that intervene with the viewing experience. With subtitling, you address the needs of those who want to enjoy the soundtrack in the original language.

Media Translation in Dubai: More Constraints

Generally, any translation is governed by such tension between two languages and two cultures. In media translation, there are more constraints to consider. In dubbing for example, we take into account we have to meet two conditions. The first is to give you the most faithful translation possible. The second is to reproduce the exact phrasing, timing, intervals of speech, and other factors related to the visual text.

If dubbed, your translation has to make your audience buy the illusion that the characters speak in their language, the target language. It is anything but easy.

What about subtitling? You ask.

It is a universally accepted fact that we read slower than we speak. So from our experience in subtitling, we work towards reducing the subtitled text, so its reading time could match saying time. This is why much of the text subtitled will be lost in media translation. Subtitled text is governed by time and space. You are limited to use 2 to 3 lines on the screen, otherwise, you will be giving your audience bad watching experience. And for time, an average person will need about 6 seconds to read two lines subtitled. Let us preserve the wow of your audiovisual masterpieces, while they are rendered in another language.