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French is the official language of 29 countries, including France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, and many African countries. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Like everywhere around the world, French-speaking people are creating and consuming a lot of video content. You might imagine that such a trend of video production in French will correspondingly increase the demand from viewers internationally, given the high quality of French production.
However, French video content has limited demand globally except in Francophone countries. It is mainly because much of the content is not being translated to other languages. This should be an indicator of the underserved market in French to English translation of video content.
Different types of French video content
Movies and TV series: A wide variety of films, series, documentaries, kids TV programs, and more are produced in French that reflects the diversity and creativity of the Francophone culture from around the globe.
International sales of French TV programs were up by 18% in 2019, thanks mainly to animation, films, and documentaries. China alone bought $10 million worth of French entertainment content that year, as animation is much in demand among Chinese viewers.
With the arrival of streaming platforms, French content is dominating that channel, too. More original content is being published in French on digital video platforms such as Netflix and Amazon, according to eMarketer.
Social media/digital content: Along with traditional video formats such as movies and teleseries, the French are also creating and viewing a lot of digital video content. About a quarter of video viewing time is now spent online, according to the eMarketer article. Digital is the main driver of video consumption in France, with YouTube and Netflix amassing most viewers.
Marketing: France leads among the Western European countries that are driving digital advertising spend. Chief among the reasons for this growth are consumers accessing more content on mobile devices, increased video inventory – particularly from social platforms, and a growing budget for brand advertising by companies.
Best practices for video translation from French to English
Videos that need to be translated must first be transcribed. Transcription refers to converting the on-screen dialogue into text in the same language. They then have to be translated to create subtitles or be passed on to voice artists for dubbing or voice over.
Culturally appropriate. As with any translation, it does not begin and end with words. Videos made in a Francophone market need to be checked for cultural and social appropriateness in other markets worldwide. Jokes, figures of speech, or mannerisms might not convey the same meaning in the target languages.
Technological hurdles. Video files tend to be big, and uploading and downloading them each time a subtitler works on them can be time-consuming. Remember that translators and voice artists often perform video transcription, subtitling, and dubbing from their own homes. They may not enjoy the same quality of data connectivity available to enterprises.
Sending files around for translation can also compromise their confidentiality. Version control can get messy with different people working on the files.
Audio quality. If there are too many speakers, subtitling can be challenging because the screen space will become crowded with text. If the audio has background noise or is otherwise of poor quality, transcribers may make mistakes. This will, in turn, produce erroneous subtitles.
Time-consuming. Transcription, when done by humans, can take much time. Given the number of videos being produced and the demand for their translation, it becomes unfeasible to translate them in the given deadlines and budget, if not using technology.
Braahmam has partnered with Mediawen, a Paris-based company that offers complete solutions for automated video transcription, subtitling, and dubbing. All you need to do is upload your video files to Mediawen’s online portal, Mediawen Hub, and specify your translation requirements.
For instance, the video at the end, which is in French has been subtitled in English.
It talks about an individual’s comfort zone when it comes to interacting with others in a pandemic. The subtitles have been created using Mediawen’s automated transcription and subtitling tools.
Working with Braahmam and Mediawen for media localization brings you several advantages:
Everything in one place. All video translation services are available under one roof. Mediawen provides tech tools such as voice-to-text conversion and machine translation. You can bring in your own MT provider, too. If you wish to translate manually, even that is possible. Braahmam’s experienced linguists can translate the video into 100+ languages.
Transparent and easy management. At any time in the translation process, you can see who’s working on the file and its current status. You can easily assign translators, reviewers, and project managers and give them appropriate rights. This puts you firmly in control of the entire process.
Always online, always accessible. As your files stay in the cloud, they are accessible to whoever’s working on them, wherever they might be in the world. The online portal does away with sending and receiving files, which would have necessitated tedious version management.
As we previously stated, there is a lot of potential in translation of video content from French to English. However, it would help if you had the right tools and resources to translate efficiently and at scale. Braahmam and Mediawen offer a powerful combination of localization expertise and strong tech infrastructure to carry out video translation from French to English. Get in touch with us today.
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