subtitles & voice-over: translations, editing & proofreading

services:

• subtitles (inter- and intralingual, ie. including translation or for the same language)
• accessible subtitles (SDH: for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) (intra- and interlingual)
• voice-over translations (incl. script adaptation)
• editing/proofreading of subtitles and (other) translations

source languages: English, Italian, German
target languages: German, English

Translations enable those who do not understand a text in its original language to read or hear this text in their own language.

Of course, it is not possible to transfer everything one-to-one from one language to another. E.g. every language has its own images and metaphors, which should not only be recognised as such, but also be expressed adequately in the other language. Therefore, comprehensive language skills and an affinity to both source language and target language go hand in hand with a keen sense for nuances and the culture of the source language, as well as the interpretation within the given context. So every translation requires a certain amount of sensitivity and linguistic intuition.

Audiovisual translations comprise, for instance, subtitles, voice-overs and dubbing scripts.

Subtitles provide assistance with understanding - not only for the deaf or hard-of-hearing, but also for people who prefer to hear the original language, even though they don't understand it sufficiently or at all. The challenge here lies in a concise rendering of the dialogue's content and meaning, as both space (the number of characters) and the time before the next subtitle are limited. And the spectators should not only be able to easily read the subtitles; they also shouldn't have to read constantly, but be allowed sufficient time to take in the picture.

A voice-over is a translation that is spoken over the original sound. It is most commonly used in documentaries, but but dialogue translations are also occasionally narrated live at film festivals.
Here, too, the focus is on brevity and precision.

Thorough editing is important and not to be underestimated. A second set of eyes sees not only spelling or typing errors, and a second set of ears can detect possible hearing errors.
Moreover, two people's different knowledge can be helpfully complementary. When collaborating on a TV series, editing also ensures continuity regarding terminology, e.g. when two subtitlers take turns editing each other's episodes, or when the work of several subtitlers is edited by the same person.