Translating video into different languages is key to using it for international marketing.

The 2021 LOC-30 report produced by Aston University revealed, “SMEs making use of language capabilities are 30% more successful in exporting than those who do not.”

But doing so is fraught with danger, especially for complex engineering or technical messaging.

This is doubly so for videos which use data storytelling to communicate key messages.

YouTube’s translations are notorious for errors and struggles with technical terminology, and can not translate embedded text.

More importantly, you may not be using your video on YouTube!

With most videos using both narration and motion graphics, poor translations, can leave overseas viewers more confused than convinced.

Embedded translations produced by native language speakers on your team, are the best way to ensure your videos have as much value overseas as in the UK.

Picking which languages to translate into can be tricky, especially if your budget is constrained.

Whilst English is the go-to language, with 1.4 billions users, adding French, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi and Arabic, adds 3 billion people to your audience.

If you’re budget constrained, choose the most popular second language, instead of doing a translation for a local language.

For instance, German is thought of as a core language, but it’s not in the top five most popular, versus 70% of Germans have English or French as a second language.

So producing a German version may be poor value if you’re limited in the number of translations you can do.

At Page One we make translations easy, regularly providing translations into multiple languages.

Sometimes this is a simple translation of the subtitles, sometimes a more complex motion graphics treatment.

We use a methodology that starts with English, then provide instructions to allow a native language speaker to produce grammatically accurate translations.

And this process works independently of the nature of the language, be it a Roman or Logographic script.

With overseas markets crucial to businesses, treaching out to markets in their own language is central to success.

Check out more of our insights into corporate video production, or if you need some video translated, get in touch!