How are films, TV series and anime translated? Subtitles, voice-overs, dubbing
The success of a film on the global screen depends not only on the talented performances of actors but also on its high-quality dubbing. Film production is a vast industry, and for maximum audience reach and to engage viewers, movies and series should be presented in a language they understand.
There are three types of video translation: subtitles, voiceover, and dubbing. Each method has its peculiarities and advantages.
Subtitles are plain text displayed over the video image. All sounds, including the foreign actors' speech, remain unchanged, as intended by the film's creators. The translated text is evenly distributed throughout the plot and fully corresponds to the on-screen events.
Main advantages of subtitles:
- Accurate representation of dialogues, as there is no need to synchronize lip movements of the on-screen characters with new text.
- Preserving the authentic sound of the film, the voices, and intonations of the real actors.
Main disadvantages:
- The viewer must both watch the screen and read the text, which can be challenging.
- Brief distraction from the screen can cause the viewer to lose track of the plot since they can't perceive it audibly.
- Subtitles have limited space, allowing only 64 characters per line to fit the new text.
Voiceover is a method where the original audio is slightly muted, and a new soundtrack in a different language is added on top. The viewer can hear both the original sound of the film and its translation. The voiceover can be performed by one person, two people (for male and female voices), or multiple actors for each role. The timing of the original and new sound should closely match, with an acceptable deviation of no more than five percent.
Main advantages of voiceover:
- Easier auditory perception of the film, eliminating the need to read subtitles.
- Allowing the audience to hear the original lines and their intonations.
- Relatively low cost.
Main disadvantages:
- Neutral tone of the voiceover actors, lacking full emotional expression.
- Involuntary "switching" between the original and translated voices.
Dubbing is the most creative type of film voiceover, where the original speech of the characters is entirely replaced by the voice of professional dubbing actors. Each character's sound recording is done separately and then combined into a multichannel soundtrack. Dubbing involves meticulous work by many people, including sound directors, actors, and editors. The translator's role in dubbing is to create text that fully conveys the meaning and articulation of the on-screen character. It is a challenging task to find words for dialogues that might not be present in the original script but accurately match the character's speech and expression.
Main advantages of dubbing:
- Complete immersion of the audience into the film's atmosphere, creating a sense of authenticity.
- Facilitating the understanding of jokes, as they are adapted to the culture of the target audience.
Main disadvantages:
- The need to find dubbing actors who match the original in terms of voice tone, strength, pitch, and expressiveness.
- Synchronizing the voice with the on-screen image.
Which method is better?
For any video content, the best translation is the one done with high quality. Be it a full-length movie, TV series, anime, or TV show, a good translation goes beyond mere replacement of words from one language to another. It is a unique form of modern art that requires a highly skilled translator with a deep knowledge of languages and culture. All types of film translation are part of localization, adapting the storyline to the culture, mentality, and emotions of viewers from another country.
