How to Translate Text Contained in Your Videos? – OST Translation

How to translate text contained in videos?

“I have a video containing text, is it possible to get a translated version?”
“How can I translate text contained in a video?”

These are the questions we’re going to address in today’s post.

But first, let me briefly introduce myself:

I am Antonino, I am an Italian video translator and I help companies to reach their Italian-speaking customers by translating English videos.

So, some of my clients reach me and tell me they have videos containing text, and that they need a complete translation: of both audio and text content.

Most of the time it concerns corporate and marketing video content, but also documentaries and movies. But literally any video can contain text and virtually be fully translated into another language.

So, let’s start with looking at what this type of translation is, and then we will address its features and take a look at how to translate on-screen text.

Now, in order to define what on-screen text translation is, also known as OST, I need to first specify which type of text is meant.

So, it’s the range of texts that are embedded in a video, excluding subtitles.

But, how you can tell the difference between this text and subtitles?

Subtitles concern the audio content of the video, whereas on-screen text adds information that complements the audio.

It usually includes details like the speaker’s name and occupation, location names, summaries, product features, or key selling points.

Again, the list can be very long, and it can virtually include any text other than subtitles or captions, but the translation of this kind of text, is what is known as on-screen text translation.

Now there are four ways to translate it depending on the type of files and the access you have to them.
So, the first is easy, the second is a bit tricky, the third rather problematic and the fourth is even more complex.

1. If either you or your client can get in touch with the video editor, then the task is quite straightforward.
   
   All it takes is transcribing the text that appears on-screen and writing the translation on a text file – a Word file is okay – or on an SRT file, and the video editor will get the hands back on the video and do the rest.
   
2. If you can’t get in touch with the video editor, but have access to the files created by the video editing program, and you own the same software, you can translate directly to the source files and replace the source text with the target language text. Although, it may require some visual adjustments to the video elements and some basic video editing skills.
   
   I really never got that lucky because every time I owned a different video editing program than the one owned by the editor in my case, but, this way is still much easier than the next two.
   
3. If you can’t get in touch with the video editor, but have access to the original files, –I’m talking about the video file without any embedded text, just the video with different video clips or images – in this case, once you get the on-screen text elements transcribed, you can add its translated version with subtitles.
   
   So as I said, this way is a bit more complicated because, in addition to translation and subtitling skills, you also need to have video editing skills or typesetting skills, and the know-how to adapt the text to the style of the video.
   
   In this regard, one way around could be hiring a video editor who can take care of this part for you, although this sometimes can lengthen the delivery time.
   
   In fact, one additional thing I didn’t mention before is the limit on the word length. The translation has to be adapted, so it fits in the same space as the original.
   And that should be the default choice, but, especially with languages characterized by text expansion like Italian or German, if, for example, you’re translating from English, sometimes that is just not possible as you would also need to modify and enlarge some visual elements to make the translation fit in them.
   
   If you rely on an external video editor, this can lead to having to send the file back and forth for adjustments and tweaks, whereas if you could take care of the visual aspect as well, you would have instant feedback on what fits and what not, and you’d be able to tweak the translation much quickly.
   
   So, it’s a trade-off, and it basically depends on whether you’re able to do that or not.
   But sometimes just having an extra couple of hands can be handy.
   
   And this is one of the possibilities, and it’s slightly easier than the fourth way.
   
4. If you don’t have a clean version of the video and the video editor is not available, and in my experience, that’s what happens most of the time, that is, you only have the final video that needs to be translated in the target language, then it’s even trickier.
   
   That’s because in order to translate the video, once you get the on-screen text elements transcribed, you either simply add the translated text, in such a way that both source and target language coexist in the video, or, and that’s the more elegant method, you try to cover the previous text and replace it with the translated text by also trying to get it to blend in the video.
   And then there are also those issues with the visual elements that we’ve seen in the third approach.

So, basically, there are many critical issues with on-screen text translations on the graphic side: identifying the same font used in the original video and using it or using a similar one, then animated text or graphic elements, graphic effects, semi-opaque backgrounds for the text, and so on.

So, in a nutshell, OST translation can really be a pain in the neck, but it can be done, even without external help, and as a matter of fact, you can find some videos in my portfolio that have been fully translated into Italian.

But some videos can be very complex and contain many of the elements I mentioned above, and so sometimes, even if you can do it by yourself, a helping hand can be much useful.

So, that’s it, that’s all I got, I hope this article was useful for you, and if it was, don’t forget to check out my other posts and subscribe to my channel for more content about translation and subtitling.

Also, if you are a manager or a business owner, and you are looking for a translator who specializes in translating videos from English to Italian, and who can also take care of on-screen text translations, you can reach out to me by clicking here.

See you at my next post, until then, bye!