With new technologies continually being developed, the localization industry seems to pass through a drastic change every five years. Each of these changes has helped it evolve to meet changing demands. And while localization services see the impact of these changes, I believe media localization might be most affected by technology changes. Media localization companies are increasingly technology-savvy, embrace challenges, and think out of the box to achieve new heights of content accessibility through SDH and closed captioning, subtitling, or dubbing. If you talk to any CTO or CIO in a technology-forward media localization company, they likely tackle the following thoughts every day.
Machine Translation – Time to apply or not?
One of the most notable developments that changed the localization industry is the adoption of machine translation. While machine translation has seen impressive progress in specific subject fields (ex. technology, IT), in other fields such as creative content and marketing, there’s much to be desired in terms of coherence and quality translation. Not surprisingly, subtitling and dubbing still see minimal and very rare cases of MT usage. A big part of content success in a foreign market is attributed to the successful localization of the content into the new language.
Keeping the word games, cultural nuances, and differentiating between slangs are still unknown to machine translation. The question to apply machine translation is not about its general usage but whether it should be applied to commercial production or to keep it in the development phase.
We should not shy away from research and development, as we can only move forward through establishing correct use cases and customizing and integrating processes and technologies.
Speech to Text – Where should I apply it?
Meanwhile, Speech to Text has been finding more usages in the localization industry. Many companies started using Speech to Text to create transcripts for factual content. Then, many added rules for timecoding, enabling draft creation of subtitling templates.
While it is possible to currently achieve 60 to 70% accuracy with factual content through long term customization and integration, it is not as successful with content that has background noise and M&E. For example, on feature films, it is highly probable that even with the best Speech to Text software the edits will be so extensive that the editing process will cost the same as creating the transcript and template from scratch.
Text to Speech – Do I need it?
Text to Speech has been hiding in plain sight in the localization scene. Its first usage was more related to accessibility and its necessity. However, there is increasing interest in Text to Speech from the localization industry as synthesized voice usage is gaining ground. The quality seems to improve every year. There are now cases when the actor’s voice can be replicated on a different text or text in a different language, and even instances where Text to Speech can show basic emotions. Needless to say, this creates several ethical and legal concerns as with everything new that needs to be regulated. Combine the above components with CAT tools, cloud technologies, AI, and Machine Learning, and you have seen the tip of the iceberg. Never before have LSP executives been so technology-minded in their constant effort to stay on top of innovation.
An Unforeseen Catalyst
While COVID-19 has been an obstacle for many industries, for localization, perhaps it was an accelerator. Companies that were already using cloud platforms were happy to let the employees work from home as it would not cause any disruption to operations. Those who did plan for this change and transfer had to catch up fast. And the ones who did not manage to do the change saw service disruption and delays.
The industry was also made painfully aware that new dubbing methods and technology were now a necessity, not a luxury.
Dubbing content will continue to be an expensive and time-consuming process as long as production is limited to studios. Therefore, it is no surprise that the most technology-forward companies in the media localization sector are thinking of new ways to dub content combining all the above methods. The advancement in AI and ML will make remote dubbing a reality. The result is that the localization industry, and especially media localization, is again changing.
The Impact of the Latest Changes in Media Localization
Even before the pandemic, the industry was beginning to adopt remote working. Dictated by the search for efficiency and increased content security, many companies had transferred their subtitling workflows to cloud platforms. The advantages of this shift are evident. With the ability to build global teams made easier, subtitlers can work from anywhere with basic internet, and your video asset is not traveling from computer to computer. Remote dubbing became a thought or a vision few years ago, with companies starting to experiment with its different aspects. Many skeptics asked why we need remote dubbing, while others (me included) questioned whether it could meet quality requirements. While I now have many answers to both questions when discussing the subject with someone, I answer half- joking and half-serious, “No one is ensured against business disruption.”
One reason remote dubbing was growing in popularity is that it widened the talent pool for voice actors. Previously, companies were limited to those voice actors local to the dubbing studio, making complicated scheduling and availability common issues. Once remote dubbing becomes a full-scale reality, dubbing companies will be able to access talent easily.
The limited remote dubbing possibilities have been a lifeline as dubbing companies throughout the world were forced to close during the pandemic. Even as studios begin reopening, there is debate over whether remote dubbing is a type of market disruption that will fundamentally change the localization industry. The use of remote dubbing is helping the industry evolve, resulting in final products that are produced fast, accurate, and offer a variety in actor voices.
The Way Forward
Still, we must overcome the existing challenges of this latest change in the industry. The good news is that remote dubbing solutions will evolve over the next 5 years to address these challenges better. The bottom line is that the localization industry is evolving once again as we work towards finding new and better ways of producing localized content that connects with local audiences.
Here at Haymillian, we are eager to evolve with the industry and provide clients with high-quality localized content.
