Translating online video

Zia Daniell Wigder | June 06, 2007, 01:00 PM

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, online language translation is a topic I’ve been paying a lot of attention to recently. There’s a great deal going on in terms of text translation, from rules-based machine translations to statistical machine translations (read about the difference here). All translation software requires extensive human input, however – it’s impossible to pick up the nuances of languages without this human element.

If text translation requires a high level of human input, video translation – whether online or offline – requires even more. The translation of archived video generally involves human participation both in the transcription and subsequent translation of the content (like language translation, computerized speech-to-text applications are far from perfect). Real-time video translation is done almost exclusively through human interpreters.

Given the extensive human element required in video translation, companies hoping to take advantage of this nascent market have looked beyond computer-based translations to leverage technology in other ways. One company that’s using technology to capitalize on the high level of human input is New York-based dotSUB. The company provides human transcription services for online video; using wiki technology, dotSUB then enables anyone to translate the video into other languages. It’s up to the video’s creators to encourage the translation of the video, or for the content to attract translators itself.

One example of a video clip awaiting additional translation is a UNDP video available here. The final product is a subtitled video clip such as this one (to switch to another language, click on the arrow to the bottom right of the video – the percentages next to the language indicate the percent of the video text that’s been translated). In this case, the clip has been translated into 75 languages including Bambara, Ga and Madi. For companies that wish to rely on professional translators as opposed to user-generated content, dotSUB offers a network of freelance translators around the world. In a conversation with dotSUB’s CEO yesterday, he indicated translation fees will run about $10 per video minute, with 10-minute videos costing under $100.

It’s an interesting technology solution to a problem that’s still being solved largely through human participation. At some point in the future, advances in technology will enable an automated solution to video translation, but enough hurdles remain that the solution is not near term. For now, dotSUB provides a simple way for consumers to make content more accessible to a global audience.