Successful voiceovers make you think you are watching the video in its original language. But such inconspicuous dubbing is not easy; just look at Pippi Longstockings. A generation of Americans will never forget her out-of-synch mouth movements and how they made her misadventures seem even more comical.
Luckily, technology and practices have evolved since then. With a few straightforward guidelines and the right language partner, you can achieve a flawless voiceover that has local appeal in your target language markets. Follow these five tips to make the multilingual voiceover process much smoother - reducing headaches and cost, while increasing quality and efficiency.
1. Determine your voice. In each language market, do you want to convey happiness, expertise, excitement or professionalism? Decide if the tone of your voice should vary according to each language market. In the U.S., for example, enthusiasm and hyperbole are fairly standard, but such pep could be seen as overdone in Germany, where a factual, instructional tone would establish more credibility.
2. Choose the right voice talents.
Partner with your language vendor in the casting by outlining character profiles with first names, gender, ethnic background, age and basic personality traits. Meticulous profiling will prevent embarrassing and expensive casting blunders.If budget allows, get voiceover artists to record a small sample of your translated script, acting as one of your characters. If this is not feasible, ask for samples that are similar in genre to your project: eLearning, infomercials, advertisements, etc.Consider if any of the voice talents are already "branded" in your target countries. For example: would the French voiceover artist for Sylvester Stallone help or harm your business objective in the French market? Branded voices will influence the public's opinion of your products and create associations that may or may not be desirable. Work with your localization partner to identify who those talents are and how they are perceived in their respective countries.
3. Allow for liberal script translation.Your multimedia translations will more than likely run longer than the original English version, yet they will still need to be squeezed into the same limited audio space. Allowing your script translators artistic license to adapt and shorten the script in your target languages will facilitate the synching process, saving you time and money. Before recording, have your agency flag any necessary changes in copy due to these constraints and if possible, rework your English script accordingly. Give yourself room in the original English recording for eventual language expansions to further streamline the process.
4. Provide a pronunciation guide for the recording.Some parts of the script may cause difficulties in translation, such as acronyms, proper nouns, company/product names and the like. Determine in advance if, for example, a company acronym should be pronounced in English or the target language. How should your voice talents pronounce "IBM" or "NBC"? Should "Apple" be pronounced in perfect English or with a local's accent?
Certain language markets are more open to English word "invasions" than others. When marketing technology products, for example, work with your agency to determine appropriate translations and/or pronunciations of "techy" words such as "DVD" and "plug-in". Make these linguistic decisions pre-recording in conjunction with your agency and then provide a detailed phonetic guide for each target language.
5. Be prepared the day of the recording.Familiarize yourself with the multilingual voiceover recording process in advance. If you can't dial in for the recording session, your agency will send someone to keep the recording in line with your goals and give guidance on tone. Lastly, allow extra time for re-takes or "pick-ups", which should be negotiated with your agency in advance.
By following these simple guidelines, you will maximize your studio time and spare yourself expensive re-recordings. For more recommendations on managing voiceovers and multimedia localization, see our complete Top 10 Tips for Voiceover Localization.
Work with Acclaro for your multimedia localization needs. We can manage your entire voiceover project or just a piece of the puzzle to ensure a comprehensive adaption of your media with maximum impact in each target language. Whether it's DVDs, corporate videos, computer games, website animation, flash, eLearningor infomercials, Acclaro has the solution for you.
Acclaro is a global translation and localization firm that helps the world's leading brands succeed across cultures. Acclaro offers a full range of services for creating and maintaining multilingual marketing campaigns, websites, documents, software and much more. From Asia to Europe and the Americas, Acclaro gives clients a local voice in global markets.
No comments:
Post a Comment