Imagine landing in a bustling city halfway across the world, where the street signs and chatter are in a language you don’t understand.

Now, imagine pulling out your phone, speaking into it, and instantly understanding—or being understood. This isn’t a scene from a sci-fi movie. It’s real life, thanks to the marvels of real-time voice translation technology.

How Does Real-Time Voice Translation Work?

Real-time voice translation might seem like magic, but it’s all science. Here’s a deeper look into the technical process:

1. Speech Recognition:

The journey begins with capturing spoken language and converting it into text. This process is managed by Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems, which have been trained on vast datasets to recognize various phonemes—the distinct units of sound in a specified language—across different accents and intonations. Advances in ASR technology include the use of acoustic models that are adept at understanding speech nuances and employing techniques like beamforming to focus on the speaker’s voice in noisy environments.

2. Machine Translation:

Once the speech is transcribed into text, the challenge shifts to translating this text into the target language. This stage is powered by Neural Machine Translation (NMT), which utilizes deep neural networks to predict the likelihood of sequences of words, often within a single integrated model. These networks are trained on bilingual or multilingual corpuses and can perform direct translations with increasing syntactic and semantic accuracy.

3. Text-to-Speech Synthesis:

The final step involves converting the translated text back into speech. Text-to-speech (TTS) technology, significantly enhanced by AI and deep learning, synthesizes this text into spoken output that mimics natural human speech. Recent improvements in TTS include the use of prosody models that better emulate the emotional tone and rhythm of human speech, making the output feel less robotic and more fluid.

Recent Breakthroughs in Real-Time Voice Translation

The rapid evolution of technology has significantly enhanced real-time voice translation capabilities:

• Context-Aware Neural Networks:

  Modern NMT systems now leverage context more effectively than ever before. Models like Transformers provide greater attention to the context in which words are spoken, significantly enhancing the accuracy of translations. These models are adept at handling long-range dependencies in text, allowing for more coherent and contextually appropriate translations.

• Real-Time Processing:

  Advances in hardware and computational efficiency now allow for near real-time translation, which is crucial for conversations and professional interpretations. Edge computing has also begun to play a role, reducing latency by processing data closer to the device rather than in a distant cloud server.

• Noise Reduction Techniques:

  Sophisticated algorithms help in isolating voices from background noise, making the technology reliable even in crowded or noisy environments like markets, streets, or conferences. Techniques like echo cancellation and voice activity detection are employed to improve the clarity and accuracy of the captured speech.

Where Is This Technology Making Waves?

The impact of voice translation technology is profound across various sectors:

• Emergency Services: Quick translation can be crucial in emergency responses where every second counts and clear communication can save lives.
• Multinational Operations: Businesses with multinational operations utilize voice translation to streamline communication and operations across diverse linguistic landscapes.

Opportunities and Challenges

While real-time voice translation has made remarkable progress, challenges persist:

Handling Sarcasm and Humor

Sarcasm and humor represent some of the most sophisticated levels of human language use, primarily because they often rely on contextual, cultural, and social cues that are not explicitly stated in the text or speech. Here’s a look at why this is challenging for AI:

Context Dependency

Sarcasm often involves saying the opposite of what is meant, and humor frequently relies on puns, wordplay, or cultural references. AI systems, particularly those based on neural networks, struggle with this because they primarily learn from direct correlations between data points. Without a deep understanding of cultural backgrounds and situational contexts, these models may misinterpret the intent or emotion behind the words.

Lack of Training Data

There is a scarcity of labeled datasets specifically for sarcasm and humor, particularly those that cross linguistic and cultural barriers. Training AI systems to recognize these nuances requires not only large amounts of data but also accurately annotated instances of sarcasm and humor, which are inherently subjective.

Subtleties of Language

Sarcasm and humor often involve subtle cues such as tone, timing, facial expressions, and body language, which are difficult to capture in text-based systems. Even in speech-based systems, these subtleties can be challenging to interpret without sophisticated sentiment analysis and emotional recognition capabilities.

Data Privacy

As voice translation technologies become more integrated into personal and professional lives, they collect vast amounts of voice data, which can include sensitive and personal information. The technical challenges in ensuring data privacy include:

• Data Encryption

Voice data must be encrypted both in transit and at rest. However, the encryption must be strong enough to prevent breaches but efficient enough not to delay real-time translation services. Managing this balance is technically challenging, especially with varying standards and regulations across countries.

• Anonymization Techniques

While anonymizing data can help protect user privacy, completely anonymizing voice data without losing important linguistic and emotional cues is complex. Voice data often contains biometric markers, which are inherently personal and can be challenging to anonymize effectively.

• Compliance with Global Standards

With the global nature of voice translation services, compliance with a wide range of international data protection laws (like GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, or LGPD in Brazil) adds another layer of complexity. Each set of regulations may require different handling and protection protocols for voice data, necessitating a flexible and robust compliance framework.

• Secure Data Storage and Access

Ensuring that stored data is not only secure but also accessible in a controlled manner is a major challenge. This involves not just secure databases but also rigorous access controls and audit trails to prevent unauthorized access and track data usage within the organization.

Looking to the Future

The evolution of voice translation technology is likely to focus on further improving real-time processing speeds and the accuracy of translations across even more languages and dialects. Innovations might include more adaptive AI that can learn from interactions in real-time and better understand the user’s intent and context.

Final Thoughts

Real-time voice translation technology is more than a utility—it’s a bridge to global understanding, offering a glimpse into a future where language barriers cease to create boundaries. It redefines how we connect across cultures, making personal and professional interactions seamless, irrespective of language differences.

The post Real-Time Voice Translation: Breaking Language Barriers appeared first on Globalization Partners International.

Did you know in 2020, approximately 96% of consumers have increased their online video consumptions? Experts say in 2022 an average person will be spending a minimum of 100 minutes per day viewing online videos. Hence, it is no surprise that companies are now choosing Audio/Video communication as their vital tool for marketing, advertising, and other purposes. Offering visual content in their native languages will attract more audience/customers to your business. So how much does audio/video translation cost?

In the second blog of this five-part series, we provided some useful tips and a tool to help budget for website translations. See: “How much does website translation cost? Budgeting for website translation”.

• Document Translation
• Website Localization
• Software Localization
• Audio/Video Localization
• Global Digital Marketing

In this blog, we will focus on how we can budget for successful audio/video translation projects which may include a range of services such as voice-overs/dubbings for TV advertisements, eLearning videos, movie subtitling, promotional videos, etc. We can achieve this by simply running different scenarios based upon your requirements using our GPI’s Quick Quote Calculator.

Estimating Costs for Audio/Video Translations

To estimate your upcoming audio/video project, we will use GPI’s Budget Calculator which is also known as GPI’s Translation Quick Quote Calculator. GPI’s Translation Quick Quote Calculator (QQC) allows budget builders to provide basic metrics and receive a budgetary quote which includes tasks, timelines, and costs per language selected. There are even handy popups to guide you through the steps to get your translation quotes.

Audio/Video translation projects involve more than just translating documents such as selecting the voice of the talent, tone of voice, file formats (WAV, AIFF, MP3 or AC3, DVD, etc.), gender of the talent, studio engineers, and more. 

However, if you know the number of words in your script and the number of voice talent required, our QQC will be able to provide you with a rough estimate. For a more accurate quote, you can always contact us and our Account Manager can help you accordingly.

Using the Translation Budget Calculator

1. To begin, just click on the link: https://www.globalizationpartners.com/translation-quote-calculator and select your project type. 

   

2. Answer a few important questions needed to estimate an audio/video translation project.

Questions include:

1. 1. Name, email, start date, and script word count
   2. Selecting your languages
   3. Do you need “voice talents”? This is the number of talents (voices/actors), gender, tone of voice (i.e., formal vs. advertisement) 

HINT: The Translation Budget Calculator has a pop-up navigator to help you fill in all the fields.

3. After answering all the questions, hit “Calculate”.

Then your audio/video translation quote will be generated. The audio/video translation quote will include other useful information such as the exact tasks completed in an audio/video localization project, estimated timelines, and a breakdown of costs per language requested.

4. So now you have your audio/video translation budget! Just print or email yourself a copy of the quote with the push of a button.

HINT: It is easy to calculate various audio/video localization project scenarios by creating as many quotes as you need and adjusting the word counts and/or languages to suit your audio/video translation projects. 

I hope you found this blog “How much does Audio/Video translation cost?” helpful. 

The post How much does translation cost? Budgeting for Audio/Video translation appeared first on Globalization Partners International.

There is no doubt, due to the growing supply and quality of video games in the global market, as well as the age diversity of players, companies developing video games are looking for ways to maximize their sales. Statistics showed that the video game market in 2021 generated total revenues of $180.3 billion, up 1.4% from 2020.

Reports indicate that electronic game applications have attracted millions of virtual players globally. In order to reach this larger group of users, video game developers should consider the ROI for providing their games in multiple languages. Let me show you the steps to consider before translating a video game.

Steps to Consider in Video Game Translation

The initial step is what we call the Preparatory Stage. It is about studying the target market(s), translation history of the project, and the mistakes to avoid from operational and linguistic perspectives. Here we will try to cover all questions and queries:

1. The first question, which is very common in the translation industry is: what language(s) will the game be translated into, and what is the preferred dialect in the target region or country? For example, if the client decides to translate the game into Arabic, does the target country prefer Classic Arabic or a local dialect like Saudi or Egyptian? The same applies to French. Does the client prefer French for France or Canada?
2. How will the target language impact the UI and message windows, are they set up to accommodate expanding or contracting text? For example, some languages, such as Russian, need longer sentences to express the same content in English. Some languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian are right to left reading languages. These languages are bidirectional and are different from European languages.
3. Are any parts of the game language dependent? If any functionality is dependent upon how the user inputs data (i.e. date formatting or input language), this dependency should be removed to avoid issues in functionality.
4. How will captions, HUD (heads-up display), and speech be handled? Will you need voice-over services, or will you provide subtitles for spoken word? Key points to discuss with the translation team about voice-overs include:

• Do they provide this service, or will you need to work with a studio?
• Will the actor scripts need to adhere to timestamps?
• Regarding voice-over talent, identify the gender, age, and tone for the characters.
• Can they provide samples of the actors (voice performance tests), and sound quality?

Gamers’ Culture & Locale Factors

When determining the language, the translation team may advise the developer about the cultural differences to consider without affecting the basics of the game.

1. Are there any aspects of the game that may be culturally inappropriate in the target region which would negatively impact the success of the game in that market?
2. As a game developer, you must provide the translation team with key details such as the target age group of the game, as well as the type of game. These are important to decide what type and level of language (in terms of style and tone of voice) to use. The language used by footballers might differ from the language used in strategic games.
3. Does the translation team you are considering have experience in video game translation and internationalization?

SME According to the Game Category?

1. In order to successfully translate, the translator needs to have context for the words. If they are just provided strings of content, the translation may not be as good as it would be if the translator knew how that content will be used in the game. Be sure to provide training and reference materials to the translation team to provide them sufficient context of all game scenarios.
2. This training may be in the form of recorded videos to be shared with the translation team. A context reference must be available if the translator has any doubts about any word/phrase in the game content.
3. The translator should be a good player to provide you with the best creative translation suitable for the game situations.
4. To ensure content quality and consistency, the translation team will review the latest terminologies (glossary development) and rules of the game genre before starting translation.

Project History & Expertise Factors

1. If the game has been translated into this language previously, talk to your translation team about how to handle the update process. The developer should provide the translation team with access to the existing translations. If a translation memory (CAT) tool was used by the previous translation team, ask them to send you the translation memory files. These can be used by the new translation team to maintain consistency.
2. If the game has been translated into other languages, the developer should provide the translation team with all the references and/or previous language-related questions to save time and facilitate the process.
3. As an experienced games translator, you must choose the appropriate tool for translation according to the type of the game and the format of the translation files. For example, Passolo can provide a real-time display of what has been translated so that the translator sees if the length of the sentence used corresponds to the displayed space or needs to be redrafted in another way to fit in.

These questions are a guideline that can be used and further developed to reach the best result in translating video games. There are additional issues that must be considered:

• How will future updates be handled?
• How will the language files be handled?
• Who will perform the final tests of the translated version?

These issues might be determining factors in the success or failure of your video game translation project.

Conclusion

The current technological revolution and pandemic restrictions have contributed to a growing video game market that can further profit from reaching international clients in their native language.

The post Video Game Translation appeared first on Globalization Partners International.

People are turning to videos to share and access content like never before. For example, YouTube’s users upload more than 500 hours of new videos per minute, which equates to 720,000 hours of new content per day. And it’s becoming essential to add subtitles and closed captions to videos for several reasons:

• Videos are more accessible to a wide audience, as subtitles are ADA-friendly and match most of the 508 compliance standards
• Viewers who can’t watch videos with the sound on can still understand the videos
• Captions improve engagement by non-native speaking viewers
• Subtitles increase the types of audience who can follow up and benefit from the content in the videos
• Boosts SEO of your content to make it more findable

Subtitling doesn’t involve simply adding the transcription of the spoken text. Creating good subtitles involves the art of delivering a message of the video content in an artistic way. When you work on subtitles, you need to deliver the speaker’s message, and every caption should deliver a message, so if you don’t hear the sound and just watching, you can understand the whole message.

There are many guidelines for creating subtitle standards. Below is a list of some of the more important things to consider.

Length of Time to Read Subtitles

Naturally, readers vary in the amount of time it takes them to read subtitles. However, in general, you can use this information as a guideline. Remember to keep these guidelines in mind when you’re creating subtitles.

Number of Lines

Two subtitle lines are the maximum number of lines allowed, as you don’t want the screen to be covered by the subtitles. Here are some screenshots of what two lines look like versus three lines. You can see how much of the screen that three lines occupy.

Number of Characters Per Line

The number of characters per line shouldn’t exceed 42 characters including spaces. If you’re planning to translate your subtitles, it’s important to know that some languages, like German and Russian, take up more space than English, so you’ll need to take this into account when you’re developing subtitles, and ultimately, translation subtitles. For translated subtitles, 35 characters including spaces is the limit in order to be able to fit the subtitle within the space and make it look acceptable.

Text Alignment

The subtitle text should be center-aligned in the screen and in the lines, as a reader’s eye travels a shorter distance in order to reach the start of the subtitle. The only exception is the dialogue text, which could be left-aligned in the screen and the lines preceded by “N-dash” before the start of the speaker line. For example:

– How are you, Sam?

– Going well, John

Position on Screen

A subtitle should be always positioned in the lower part of the screen while leaving enough space on either side and the bottom.

Font Choices: Bold, Underlined, and Italic

Bold and underline typing conventions are not allowed in subtitling. Italics can only be used in a subtitle to indicate that the spoken text or noise is off-screen. For example, if someone is talking on the other side of a conversation or a dog is barking in the background, you can use italics to note that. Otherwise, you can’t use italics, and you can’t use bold or underline at all.

Font Color and Background

It’s best practice to use white font for the text and gray for the background. However, the majority of the time, the background isn’t used, especially in movies. In this case, make sure to add some stroke to the text in case the screen image has become white for any reason.

For More Best Practices

Working on subtitles is a form of art that can take your content to unprecedented dimensions. If you’re planning to add subtitles to your videos, our GPI Professional multimedia team can provide you with professional and artistic subtitles for your content.

References:

https://www.tubefilter.com/2019/05/07/number-hours-video-uploaded-to-youtube-per-minute/

https://translationjournal.net/journal/04stndrd.htm

https://bbc.github.io/subtitle-guidelines/

The post Why Video Subtitle Standards Are Important and Tips on Creating Them appeared first on Globalization Partners International.

Lately, many companies are choosing to include multilingual animation videos not only in their marketing campaigns but also in tutorials and trainings for their employees. This is for several reasons:

• They’re easy to understand.
• Animation boosts conversion rates.
• The brand makes a lasting and memorable impression.
• Content can be easily updated.
• And last but not least, it’s entertaining and fun.

The increased use of animated content is evident. You can check the new statics on video marketing for 2020 published by Smart Insights.

So, let’s say you’ve already decided to create your own animated campaign. Where do you start?

The Approach

In previous decades, Adobe Flash was the most popular tool for creating and viewing animated content. Nevertheless, new technologies, such as HTML5, reduced the use of Flash more and more over time.

Currently, we have multiple animation creation tools, but today we’ll look at two of the most popular tools, both of which happen to belong to Adobe. We’ll focus on these tools for two reasons:

1. Since they both belong to the same company, you can acquire them easily, as both Animate CC and Character Animator are available through Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription service. Animate CC can also be purchased by itself.
2. Lately, we’ve received several inquiries from our clients about which of the two tools is more versatile and convenient for working with multilingual animations.

Each program has a different purpose. We’ll take a look at their objectives as they provide very different features and constitute different approaches to making animation. At the end of this post, you’ll better understand what each one is for and what its function is, among other things.

Animate CC: Traditional “Cartoons”

Adobe Animate is the evolution of Adobe Flash. It can be used for web development as well as animation. Back when it was still called Macromedia Flash, it became famous on the internet in the era of flash animations. A boom emerged on video platforms such as YouTube or Newgrounds.

The program was previously designed for animation and Adobe Flash Player content. However, since Adobe replaced its name with “Animate”, the program focuses on working on HTML5 and especially animation.

Adobe Animate works primarily with traditional animation, that is, frame-by-frame. It allows you to divide each frame into layers and draw on a primary vector basis. Despite this, the program has some methods to facilitate the creation of animations, such as motion interpolations. This method consists of producing a sequence of independent frames taken from one point to another, and that when reproduced, gives the feeling of movement without the need for drawing each frame.

The company has been improving the program since 2015 to transform it into a professional animation tool, competing with programs such as Toon Boom Animation.

Adobe Animate has been used to create both TV animation and animations for YouTube.

Character Animator: the Waldo Moment

Have you seen that episode of Black Mirror named “The Waldo Moment”? The episode tells the story of an unhappy comedian who plays a blue animated bear called Waldo in a satirical television show.

The funny thing is that Black Mirror is categorized as a science fiction anthology television series. Yet the technology that makes a puppet’s character speaks and moves with your behind-scenes movements and words is something you can achieve using Character Animator. You can use input from a camera and microphone to do a performance capture and automatically animate characters, right there, in real-time. 

This feature is suitable for dialog scenes and not for action or physicals. So, it’s great for trainings and courses where the speech is the main actor.

A secondary and fantastic use-case for Character Animator is the ability to do live interaction with a 2D-animated character or even with real people.

Since the character’s performance is driven by an actor in real-time, the output from Character Animator can be incorporated into a live broadcast. Just imagine the impression you can make during a live chat led by an animated presenter that can reply to questions in real-time. The possibilities are endless.

Make a Choice Based on Your Objectives

Both Animate CC and Character Animator are truly versatile, complex in their development and features, and can achieve goals in a very effective way, provided, of course, those goals are outlined in advance. Your program choice should be based on your objectives and not which program is best.

• If you’re looking for a video or a series of animated videos, either explanatory or dedicated to marketing, you should choose Adobe Animate CC.
• If you want to venture into real-time animation, whether in an animated setting or in a live broadcast with real people, you should choose Character Animator.

Whatever your choice, enjoy animating!

The post Multilingual Animations: Adobe Animate CC and Character Animator appeared first on Globalization Partners International.

Part of your global marketing strategy may include audio and video translation services. Whether it is an advertisement for your YouTube channel or a training video for your product, it is essential that the messages resonate with each of your target audiences, which means delivering the content in their language.

Approximately 25% of worldwide internet users speak English, therefore approximately 75% of internet users speak a language other than English. Audio and video translation is complex, time-consuming and can be costly, but it is necessary for successful global campaigns.

Preparing for Audio and Video Translation

Source Files

It is essential to share your content in its native format, e.g. WAV for videos or timed scripts in MS Word for audio files, with your translation teams. This allows the localization engineering teams to analyze the time stamps for voice-over and subtitles. Something important to keep in mind when creating the script is to avoid colloquialisms, slang and other regional references that will likely be lost in translation.

Narration Instructions and Engineering Specifications

Voice narrations can be complex so you will want to be prepared to brief your language services provider on several items, such as: tone of voice (formal vs. informal address and any specific accent), required speed range, pronunciation guidelines, etc. For engineering specifications, you will need to convey to the localization engineering teams the file format, hard limit, wave range, etc., before they start the productions.

Auditioning Voice Talent

When planning your audio and video translation project, you need to decide on the following details with regards to voice talents: how many voices you will need, their gender, age range, dynamic of voices, languages, and whether you want union or non-union talent. You can request voice samples or have the talent audition with your actual script.

Summary

In summary, it is important to complete detailed project preparation for audio and video translations prior to engaging with your LSP. Be sure to keep the communication open and clearly communicate your localization project goals.

The post Preparing for Audio and Video Translation Projects appeared first on Globalization Partners International.

Videos are much more effective for global audiences when they are localized. However, localizing videos can be complicated as it requires you to extract the video’s content in a written transcript. In this blog, we will discuss the easiest way to subtitle a video file with the correct timings using YouTube’s artificial intelligence.

Automatic transcription is a function of YouTube’s Video Manager. It captures the voice and converts it to text. The transcript YouTube generates will likely need some editing, but it does the majority of the work for you.

How it Works

To begin, upload a video to your YouTube channel and click Subtitle/CC from the options above the video. Select the video’s language and you will be taken to a screen like this:

Click the Add new subtitles or CC button and you will have three options:

• Upload a file: this allows you to upload a transcript in plain format without any timings or a subtitle file that you already have.
• Transcribe and auto-sync: this option will transcribe your video with timings.
• Create new subtitles or CC: use this if you want to create the subtitle file from scratch and put the timings in manually.

For this blog, we will focus on the Transcribe and auto-sync option. Selecting it will result in the following screen. In this example, English is the video language.

Click English (Automatic) to view the subtitles YouTube created.

In the top right you have the option to Publish the subtitle once it is reviewed and ready or the option to Edit to make any changes to the text or the timings. In the screen below, you can see I changed the starting and ending time of the subtitle line by copying and pasting from one box to another and in the second image, you will see I changed the timings by just clicking and editing.

After you have finished editing the subtitles, you can download the file by clicking Actions and choosing your preferred format.

Now you have your video content transcribed into a subtitle file with timings and downloaded to your computer. This file can now be localized into any language and returned to you in the same format to be added to your video on YouTube as a subtitle or burned out to produce a localized version of the video.

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