Why Every Company Should Think Like a Media Company
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I never expected Zorro to be a catalyst for revisiting thoughts around why every company should think like a media company, and why media companies need to think like product companies.
Earlier in the week I was watching the new Spanish produced Zorro TV show on Amazon and noticed that the English dialog dubbing and the Closed Captioning seemed to be produced from two separate translations of the script. I’m used to captioning not being a 100% reflection of the spoken dialog, it’s normal for the occasional word to be wrong, or missed, but on this show it was like there were two completely different stories as the captioning, while getting the general sense of a scene, often used completely different words, or missed out essential character moments, and even on occasion essential plot points.
I posted about the observation online and a friend in the localization industry pointed out that
‘the dub translation and the subtitle translation are done by different teams, and they never match up.’
He also pointed out that they are done to meet different needs in that
‘Dub translations are done thinking about the shapes actors’ mouths make, so you may come up with a different way of saying the same thing so it looks more natural.’
While subtitles …
‘ tend to be more literal, but are also done to accommodate fewer words on screen so as not to overwhelm the viewer with excessive reading.’
My initial reaction was that just because they are done by separate teams there is no reason that they shouldn’t match, but as he pointed out the differences tend to be driven by the different requirements, and that as a translator he finds it
‘hugely frustrating that they’re so different from each other.’
I’ll say up front, I don’t know the details of the process here, but it did make me wonder if there is a better way to coordinate the efforts through the use of structured content where reuse and derivatives between the two use cases can be monitored and managed better.
At first this seems to be just a media issue, so how does it impact business in general?
For an increasing number of companies translation is becoming a strategic essential. Even companies that operate purely in a domestic market need to think in terms of the languages their employees and customers use. For instance, a recent report declared that the US construction industry has the largest foreign language skills gap among industry sectors, and will see a 50% rise in the demand for foreign language skills in the next five years.
Add to this the rise of video in the delivery of all sorts of content and the skills and strategy needed in the media space become more important.
One of my consulting clients is looking at a program to transition the delivery of product and operational safety information from email bulletins to video. Closed captioning and subtitling in multiple languages is now something they have to address that they haven’t had to consider previously. Maybe we can learn a few lessons from the Zorro show.
Talking of which, going back to my friend's note, I was surprised to see the following about the differences between the dubbed soundtrack and the subtitles ,
‘But they’re also not meant to be watched in conjunction with each other (though of course that happens).’
This made me wonder if there is a belief in the TV and movie industries that subtitles are only used by viewers with complete hearing loss? I have mild hearing loss in one ear and find I sometimes miss out details (especially in quiet, or fast, dialog exchanges) so have the subtitles on to make sure I catch everything - and from what I read its an increasing, and recommended practice, to have subtitles on, as it also helps with reading comprehension.
If so I think this is an area where the media companies can learn from industry. Never make absolute assumptions about how and where your customers will consume your content. If it's one thing I’ve learned over my time in industry it is that your customers will do things with your product that you never expected. It is essential that you get to know your customers, and how they actually use your products, and consume your content so you can adjust and deliver the best, most consistent, experience possible.
So maybe it’s time that industry needs to start thinking like media companies when considering the details and skills needed to implement different channels with which to distribute their content; while the media industry needs to stop thinking about dubbing and subtitles as two separate processes with two separate audiences, and start considering them as related aspects of the holistic customer experience.
Alan
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Weekly #CX Thought
Because of the way most company budgets are organized, the technology is dedicated to solving vertical business problems, while conversely, customers experience a horizontal journey across every aspect of the enterprise.
Content Discovery Workshops - Now Booking for Q2/24
THE CONTENT POOL is offering a special discount on our two-day Content Discovery Workshops for newsletter subscribers and readers.
We are now booked for through to the end of February. That leaves two slots for March available, plus we have just opened up workshop scheduling for Q2/2024, and we wanted to make sure that as a newsletter reader you got an early opportunity to lock-in a date.
As a reminder during these on-site in-person workshops workshop we will:
Develop your content vision
Identify opportunities to leverage your content in new ways
Map out the path to transform your enterprise content.
It will be followed by two deliverables:
Key observations document
High-level content transformation plan
A quick overview of the standard workshop format can be found at https://the-content-pool.com/workshops/
If you would like more details, or you like to discuss reserving a date for yourself and your team to benefit from a Content Discovery workshop, just email us at info@4jsgroup.com
Sitting on the Desk
Found in Translation - Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche
Penguin (2012)
As this week’s lead off centered around translations I decided to pull the most thumbed book on translation I have off the shelf by my desk and give it a quick revisit.
This is not a guide on how to approach translation projects, there are several good volumes on that that I may share in a future newsletter, it is more a look at the way that language and translation impacts our culture.
As such it uses storytelling in a very effective way to give the reader a practical understanding of the role that translation plays in many different aspects of our everyday lives, as well as in business, entertainment, science, politics, religion and more.
I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this excellent book by Nataly Kelly just after it was published, and it's one I’ve dipped into constantly over the years, as the collection of different business cards nestled in its pages as bookmarks will attest to. It’s a go to source when starting up new translation projects as a reminder of why the way we approach those efforts and the results we strived for were so important.
In The Bookstore
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Till next time - have fun paddling in The Content Pool.
Alan Porter
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