Feeling tired of monotonous routines? Let’s spice things up by planning to watch a film! The film is the best source of entertainment and learning. Films are not only a source of entertainment. Films portray numerous social and global problems that demand attention. They depict the culture of the country in the region of production.

A movie produced in your country doesn’t need to be hit in another country. Here the translator plays a vital role. By providing accurate and precise film translations, they can make a film understandable. Moreover, they can make a film a huge hit or make it boring and flop. Professional film translation will result in evoking the same feelings in the foreign audience as it provoked in the local audience. 

Challenges of Film Translation

Professional film translation services are very difficult to render. There is a great responsibility for translators to convey the exact message that the film producer and director want to convey. People usually watch films for entertainment and to gain knowledge. If their purpose is not fulfilled then they will become annoyed. Moreover, the large investment made by film directors will be in vain.

 Let’s have a look at the challenges faced by Film translators. 

Subtitling and Dubbing

The film translation is a very daunting task. The translator needs to make a rational decision regarding the subtitling and dubbing of the film. This will help to reach the target audience. Subtitling is very critical and limiting. The translators should be aware of cultural nuances concerning political, medical, law, technical, and diplomatic words. Indeed they are very hard to translate into other languages. 

Emotions and feelings are very difficult to translate using subtitles because the text should be between 30 to 60 characters that can be shown on screen. Sometimes emotions and expressions are removed so that concise words can take place. 

Subtitles are displayed on the screen for a few seconds so the viewer should be attentive to understand what is said in those precious seconds. If there is a pause in the dialogue then the subtitle will be on screen for some time but this does not occur often. Another problem with using subtitles is, using timecodes that require ample time. The dubbing is the audio part and can be difficult because it is hard to match the pace of the actor who is delivering dialogue and the film viewers are not able to listen to the original dialogue.

Gestures

This is a very complex type of error even for the competent translator. Various countries use different gestures. This problem does not arise when you are working with subtitling. When this problem occurs, it is very difficult to find specific words for different gestures. For example, a gesture used in India chinwag is interpreted very confusingly in the West. In India it means okay and I agree. 

NickNames

This is a complex area for filmmakers because of cultural and behavioral nuance. For example, the translation of the character, sticky fingers means they are kleptomaniac, and translating them plakkerige vingers in the Dutch language is not appropriate. Many translators use original text in such cases. This becomes a great challenge for film translators when they need to translate films related to crime and gangs. The safe strategy is to use the original name so that the integrity of the character is maintained and the translator does not have to worry about mistranslation.

Profanity

The next challenging area in film translation is profanity. The advisable strategy is to use the original name. It makes sure that the integrity of the character is maintained and relieves the translator from concerns about mistranslation. No doubt profanity and swearing are universal phenomena that are different in every culture and language. For instance, both English and Danish use the word “Dombo” with the same insulting meaning. The challenge arises when translating films related to time periods that contain less common dialogues. The great challenge is to maintain the same level of indecency as the original word and to be faithful with character while translating them.

Hiring a Professional Translation Agency 

You must hire a professional translation agency. They give your translation project to translators who have experience working in the entertainment industry. Therefore, they know how to handle the challenges of film translation and provide you with professional film translation services. Professional translation services depict that there is no error in the translation and the translator has tried its best to convey the message to the audience in the best possible way.

Advertisement of the Film

Let’s suppose, you have translated the film and now you want to market it so that more and more people can watch the film and you get more revenue. For this purpose, you need to use social media platforms for the advertisement of the film. Just like other types of translations, social media translation can help you reach the masses in the language that they understand.  For more profitable results, the film directors and producers also reach out to the media translation company.

Wrapping Up

Are you ready to take on the challenge of film translation? The biggest challenge for film translators is to convey the message of the film to the target audience in an entertaining way. A good translator ought to elicit the same feelings in the foreign audience as in the local audience.