Movie translation sounds like such a glamorous job. It's creative, fun, and dynamic since you're always translating something new and learning about new motion pictures. But it takes more than speaking two languages and being a movie lover to translate movies successfully. In fact, the process of movie translation is complex and quite tricky.

If you’re thinking about embracing movie translation as a profession or you’re already doing it but want to improve - we’ve got your back. This educational guide will teach you the basics and key steps in the movie translation process. Just keep reading!

Types of Movie Translation
The first thing we need to understand is what are the two major types of movie translation. Those are subtitling and dubbing.

Subtitling means translating the dialogue or other text in the movie that will be shown at the bottom of the screen. Dubbing is also known as voice-over and implies lip-syncing the original dialogues and other text to make it seem like the actors are speaking the target language.

Typically, some countries prefer one method over the other. Statistics show that in the USA, 76% of people prefer subtitling over dubbing, while in Germany, it’s vice versa, and 61% of people would rather watch a foreign movie if it’s lip-synced.

In both cases, the translator needs to make sure the translation is fully understandable to the new target audience. They also have to be careful to respect the intent of the creators of the movie. Finally, they have to stay consistent with the style of the original.

The Process of Translating a Movie
When you take on a movie translation project, there are certain steps you should follow to be confident it’ll be done professionally and successfully. We’ll break down those crucial steps for you and explain what each one implies.

 1. Gather the Necessary Materials
Before you actually start working on the translation, you should gather the necessary materials that will help you produce a high-quality translation. That means doing some research and going through the materials you receive from the person that employed you.

Those requirements are typical:
 - movie transcription in the original language
 - information about the movie
 - nature of the project
 - deadline and technical details

You need this information to fully understand what the moviemaking crew’s intention was and prepare thoroughly to respect the original. Once you gather the information and get to know your assignment, you’ll be ready to move on to the next step.

 2. Translation
After reading the transcript and preferably watching the entire movie, you’ll be fully prepared to start translating the dialogue. This translation needs to be done with great respect to the artistic style and tone of the movie and the personality of each character.

This means that mere word-for-word translation is out of the picture.

Instead, the translator must find the right phrases and words that will evoke the same emotions as the original, be equally funny, and have the new target audience react as intended by the movie makers.

 3. Timing
Since the translation you're creating will be used as a subtitle or lip-synced in the movie, you need to be careful about respecting the timing. Your translation needs to be approximately the same length as the original so that it can be used in either of the two movie translation types.

To be sure you’re respecting the timing, you’ll have to:
 - analyze the transcript for the timing of the original
 - try to make each sentence equally long
 - choose the words that will fit the timeframe you have
 - try out different combinations until you land on the best one

If the timing of the translation is off, the spectators won’t be able to enjoy the picture fully. It will either be too hard for them to keep up, or it will sound unnatural and out of sync.

 4. Adaptation
Another important aspect of movie translation is the possibility of adaptation. You have the option to adapt certain parts of the translation so that it’s understandable to the target audience. It’s similar to what game localization services do with video games. They not only translate but also change certain parts of the translation to make it a better fit for the new target audience.

This is something you’ll typically agree on with your employer. Your options are:
 - keep everything as it is in the original and hope the audience has the general knowledge to understand it
 - adapt it to make it more local and make sure they get the message

Here’s an example.

You're doing a Croatian-to-Portuguese translation of a movie. In the scene, children are playing football, and as one of them scores, he shouts: ''Modric!" which is the last name of the captain of Croatia’s national football team. You can either translate it as it is or change this reference to ‘’Ronaldo!’’ referencing the best Portuguese football player to make sure the Portuguese audience understands it.

The same goes for idioms, metaphors, fixed local phrases, dialects, and other specific parts of a translation. The important thing is that you must be consistent in your entire translation and adapt everything or nothing.

 5. Quality Control
Finally, you'll need someone to check your translation and make sure it is ready to be released. It would be best for a native speaker of the target language to do so, but you don't always have these people available.

So, either find a colleague who's willing to help or use online tools to check:
 - grammar
 - punctuality
 - spelling

You can also find the best essay writers online. They can help with proofreading, editing, and even rewriting in case you need a professional’s opinion. Either way, check your translation thoroughly before you send it out to movie translation engineers, who’ll handle it from there on.

Final Thoughts
Yes, movie translation is fun and creative, but it’s also complex and demanding as well. You need to approach it carefully and prepare in great detail to make sure you do it professionally.

Our educational guide helped you break down the process of movie translation and understand how to do it better each time.

Author’s Bio
Diane Sherron is a language expert and a blogger. She writes about translation, localization, language learning, and language acquisition.