At Comms Multilingual, we fully understand what is involved in providing high-quality written translation, as well as multilingual voiceovers. We have access to the necessary studio facilities and the native speaker voice-over artists to record any sound tracks that you may need.
Ideally, we would like to be involved when the original language version is in the planning stage: we can then help you to avoid the problems that may arise later when the scripts are translated into other languages. Additionally, we can advise on culturally inappropriate material that could cause offence in other countries.
Why use foreign voice-overs for video translation?
Dubbing and voice-over services aren’t perhaps as commonly chosen by our clients as our multilingual subtitling services, but may provide additional benefits:
Foreign language dubbing means that videos are more immediately accessible and acceptable to foreign viewers – in many languages, they will likely feel more natural than having to read the subtitles.
A multilingual voice-over will help where subtitles or captions could block other key parts of the content of a video translation (for example in e-learning, there may be text or diagrams on screen that could become obscured).
Pre- and post-production for video translation projects
We will provide a complete pre- and post-production service for any media translation project. For multilingual dubbing or voice-overs, we can provide samples of a variety of voices so that you can choose the ones that are most suitable for your project. Your satisfaction at every stage of the process is our priority.
Over the past few years we have honed our voice-over skills and have built a sizeable team of native speaker linguists that we use on a regular basis. As a result, we are able to offer you a choice of different voices, both male and female, from a range of age groups. If you would like to have voice samples in any language, please contact us.
What are the disadvantages of multilingual dubbing or voice-overs?
Compared to subtitling, multilingual voice-overs or dubbing will be more expensive, as they require translation of the script, recording of the audio tracks in the studio and then editing the audio and video to ensure the audio track properly matches the video.
Creating multiple versions of the same video with a multilingual voice-over may involve publishing the same underlying video multiple times – once per language, which may be undesirable, or harder to manage. Whereas most multilingual video hosting platforms (such as YouTube) allow for the uploading of multiple subtitle tracks for the same video, this is very rare for audio tracks (unlike physical discs).
There is more skill involved in producing multilingual voice-overs, as the actors need to be able to voice the script convincingly. A poor choice of multilingual voice actor can distract from the message you are trying to convey.
Multilingual Voiceover Tips
If timing is critical for each segment, please bear in mind that it may well take longer to speak the same text in other languages, so you will need to make an allowance for that when putting together the original English files, scripts and timings. We can work with you to provide advice on this aspect.