STAR Audio Translation Guidelines

Choosing the script tone (and Actor)

One of the first decisions in Audio translation is decide
how the voice translation tone should be. Should it upbeat and youthful,
professional and accurate, even paced, or high energy?

Our recommended mode for most translations is to use a
Professional Newscaster style, which conveys solid and accurate information on
your products.

The 2nd decision is whether to use male or female
voices. This can be very mush a customer decision. Where possible we choose
female voices for product marketing material. You should also choose your actor
carefully as if you need to update scripts in the future you need to ensure
their availability when required. Voice talent is always booked in advanced.

Technical Pronunciation

For technical marketing there are a number of ways to
pronounce your products terminology.

Actors will by default for IT products use a US style
pronunciation for IT terminology such as IPOD, Internet, NAS, DHCP etc, as this
is the way words are commonly pronounced around the world.

Occasionally some clients will have specific pronunciation
style requests for new technology or key product names. We will always strive
to determine if such requirements are require in advance.

Developing your script – timing

When you record your original English voice script you
should remember the following points for translation.

Translation
typically will be longer, sometimes up-to 30%. So you should leave
additional time spacing in your audio/video links to incorporate this.

Translation
language order can also change. For some languages the order of words in
sentences can change. So for example if you have the text “To see a
demo click here” you cannot rely on the timing of the term
“Click here” in your video.

So the default rule is to record
segments of your script and leave appropriate extra silences for the
translators.

Audio Video Timing Adjustments (Tracking)

When syncing a video clip to an audio clip we recommend you
record as above segments of text. So rather than have 1 single continuous
recording the English is actually broken into a string of key audio segments
marked with silence markers. These silences can then be expanded into by the
translation team to ensure the translation matches your Video.

So in your video if you have 4 sequence shots, it would be
best to have 4 audio segments joined as a single audio file. This ensures the
translation process is smoother and delivers higher quality results.

Working with source files.. (Timing)

For all audio translations we only work with source files
from you. This ensures that our timing sequences match yours exactly. Playing
files from CD’s or streaming video can impact the timing based on CD
speed or web-link speed.

The Audio Translation Process….

The process we utilise for translation of Audio is as
follows.

We
first obtain a written copy of your script.

The
script is then translated into the target language.

Any
terminology issues or questions are identified at this stage. We also
review the text with respect to general timing and length of text. If the
text is too long we will adjust the translation accordingly with advice
from the client.

We
select the voice artist for your Audio translation

We
review the video/audio for key timing points and translation suitability.

We
translate/record each of your files in segments matching timing and
tracking information as appropriate.

When
completed we check the Audio track against your original for timing and
translation quality before finally delivering the completed translation
back to you.