Almost anyone with a good command of the language of the foreign footage can transcribe and set timecodes using the @IS online foreign footage transcription/translation software. Alternatively, a quick email or phone call will initiate your order with @International Services for foreign footage transcription, timecoding, and/or translation.

If you or your client have linguists, no training is necessary to use the @IS footage transcription and timecoding software. Therefore, translators, colleagues, and friends can transcribe. And setting timecodes for foreign footage can be ordered from @IS per sentence or per paragraph, just site back and relax.

Usually foreign language footage timecodes are set in the language of the video. Then, those sentences are translated as you prefer: professional translator, a colleague, or using the built-in automated translation in the @IS software. The translation will retain the timecodes, so that the editor can make editing decisions based upon content that he/she can read.

 

Professional Footage Translation

The @IS team will be pleased to transcribe, timecode and translate your foreign language footage. Not matter what the language, our team has the capabilities you need. Also, we understand budget constraints, and will offer you several alternatives so that you can consider all possibilities when setting your budget. Whatever approach you choose, the footage transcription, timecoding and translation can be followed by subtitling when you are ready. @IS provides exactly what you need to subtitle on the web, on YouTube or on DVD.

Automated Translation

The @IS automated translation software generally provides better results than the freeware peppering the internet, because it can be prepared for your project and subject matter, and because the auto-translation drops directly where you want it into timecoded blocks. For pennies you can auto-translate hours of footage to narrow the areas of interest and help set edit points. Then upgrade the translation for the areas of interest with a professional translator, your staff or your client’s translator.

The automated translation built into this software has an advantage over other freebies on the internet – the ability to be trained for your own preferred expressions and to improve translation results over time. There is a Glossary feature in the Translation Center that enables you and your translators to pre-translate and control translation of selected words and expressions. To clarify this Glossary control, consider the phrase:

“Click Log In, then enter your password”

For the expression “log in”, freebie automated software on the internet often returns “in chopped wood”, and “enter” may be auto-translated as “come in”. With the Glossary Feature, you can pre-designate exactly how “log in” and “enter” should be translated in each language. The software will remember this preference for other projects.

Pros to Automated Translation: The overriding advantage to automated translation is that it is so inexpensive. Automated translation enables companies that could not otherwise translate anything to begin to provide basic support for people who speak other languages.

Cons to Automated Translation: The whole world truly wishes that automated translation would be perfect, but it is not. Automated translation produces translated text that is longer, chunkier, heavier and more stilted than text by a professional translator. Any automated translation should be “cleaned” by a native speaker. And it is important to note that good, professional translators will not clean up automated translations. Not because translators are snobs, but because they are artists, and automated translation is simply too discombobulated, even though it may be somewhat intelligible.

Whatever approach you choose to translation, enjoy this experience in the wide world of languages and global communication.

 

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