A Kaleidoscope: What is multimedia localization and how it is managed?

Most professionals are aware that localization is an effective way of connecting with the broader market i.e. going global and propelling into new markets. Compared to other translation projects, localized multimedia can showcase one’s product in no time, to their target audience in their mother tongue.

What is meant by Multimedia Localization?

We humans consume multimedia entertainment every day and in large quantities. Be it watching the IPL live commentary on a website, or watching the videos of famous singers on YouTube; people from across the globe expect that they are going to consume these kinds of content in their native languages. Hence, it becomes imperative for humans themselves, to channel content in such a manner so that it becomes easy to communicate and understand at a global scale.

To sum it up, multimedia localization, in business, is the methodology of modifying content to fit the requirements, social norms, and cultural aspects of the new target market segment. Ultimately anything that involves the user experience in one language needs to be localized to the target language, including the conversion of date and time formats, measurement units, and currencies, to ensure that all content suits the unexplored market. So if one is planning to provide its media users with the best experience, they need to get in touch with the best translation multimedia services.

How to execute the best multimedia localization?

To understand this, let us go through a case study- A medium business setup is located at Laxmi Industrial Estate in Mumbai, India. Currently, this business is trying to grab the international market by providing its recently developed AI website to its clients in Kenya, and they have a deadline of March 2025. The difficult part is that the company is employing employees who don’t have any clue about translation and localization services; neither do they know Swahili which is the official language in Kenya. In this scenario, the ultimate step would be to address a few pressing queries-

· What is the goal of the company’s multimedia?

· What is the target market in Kenya?

· How will the clients use it?

· How will the localized multimedia content be distributed?

· Where will the content reside? Whether website or application?

All these answers can be best taken from professional multimedia localization services in Mumbai, India only. Once these are answered properly and the contours of the project make sense, only then the next steps can be taken up

· Initial translation- Multimedia localization agencies know that prior to starting the localization process, source materials have to be compiled. Subsequently, any text that will be spoken should be transcribed, and on-screen captions and text will be merged into a script.

· Video localization- It is considered to be the most demanding format of multimedia and also considered to be one of the arduous aspects of multimedia localization. So, in the case study above, the professional multimedia localization services in Mumbai, India include integrating content translation, audio, and all other features in their service packages into the visual components to create a successfully executed multimedia service to satisfy the respective business requirements.

· Audio localization- Media localization companies know very well that part of video localization is audio localization, in which all sound content is translated and adjusted to suit the target region. It involves careful dubbing and the professional who is doing it should be well-versed in the language that it needs to be transformed so that the proper tone, dialect, tone, and other linguistic features are conveyed properly.

· Some small businesses skip this step and ultimately come up with incorporating subtitles which help ensure accuracy since synchronization is easier to achieve than incorporating voiceovers. Additionally, it reduces the costs if they are looking at the best package of any professional translation multimedia services.

· Synchronized translation- After all audio and written content material is translated and recorded; the synchronization methodology will be initiated by the multimedia localization agencies to complete the final product for their clients. This is the foolproof checking process because professionals know that a chance of mismatch always remains between spoken and written words.

In the end, professional multimedia localization agencies are the ones who keep the MSMEs on track when they are going global because they know the intricacies that are faced in an international project when it comes to multimedia localization and subsequent outreach.