Translation

Translation built for audio

Most translation is produced to be read on a page. We translate material that will be spoken, performed, timed to picture or fitted into a subtitle box, and those constraints change the work substantially.

A translation that is perfectly accurate but thirty percent longer than the original is a failure if it has to fit a 30-second slot. A phrase that reads well but is awkward to say aloud is a failure in the booth. We translate for the destination.

Text expansion, the constraint nobody plans for

English is unusually compact. Translated into Spanish, French, German, Portuguese or Russian, the same content typically runs 15 to 30 percent longer. That breaks video timings, slide synchronisation, subtitle limits and UI layouts.

We flag expansion at the quoting stage and, where the target length is fixed, adapt rather than translate: same meaning, same effect, fewer words. That decision has to happen before recording, not after.

Native linguists, in market

Every translation is produced by a native speaker of the target language who lives with the language currently. Idiom and register shift, and a translator who left the country fifteen years ago produces text that reads as very slightly dated to a local audience. We also handle the variants that matter commercially, including European versus Latin American Spanish and European versus Brazilian Portuguese.

Review as standard

Every translation gets a second native linguist reviewing it before delivery. For technical, medical, legal or financial content we work from a client glossary, and we build one with you if you do not already have one.

Send the source material and the target languages for a fixed quote.