Which is The Best Approach – Voice-Over Or Subtitling?

In the globalized world, businesses have an opportunity to communicate with an international audience. Be it marketing videos, documentaries, or movies, adding the translation to the video helps you reach a wider audience. If done right, it helps you penetrate new markets and grow your business significantly. When the videos are translated, more people will understand the content, share it, engage with it, and your customers will feel more valued.

Once you have decided to translate your videos, the next step is to choose between voice-over and subtitling. In this blog, we have discussed the pros and cons of both voice-over and subtitling. Read here to decide which works best for your video content.

Pros And Cons of Subtitling

In subtitling, the audience hears the original language in the video but it will have translated scripts. The audience can hear the original inflections and tone of the actors exactly as in the video. But the script will allow the audience to read and understand in sync with the video.

One major advantage of subtitling is that it is less expensive when compared to voice-overs. It does not require recording engineers, voice, talents, or dubbing studios. Since it is less complex, the work can be done quickly compared to voice-over.

However, the subtitles would be maximum of two lines which will be shown at the bottom of the screen. Sometimes the source language and the scripted language won’t fit in well and the translator might have to drop filler words or shorter sentences. Some of the audience might need more time to read it and understand what is being spoken. Therefore, it is less effective in establishing a conveying the message appropriately sometimes.

Pros And Cons of Voice-Over

In voice-over, the audience hears the audio recording of the target language which will replace the original audio. Thus, your audience will hear the audio in their language.

There are multiple advantages of using voice-overs over subtitled videos. The audience doesn’t have to read the subtitles which distracts them from the visuals. Instead, they can understand the plot better by listening to the audio.

There are different types of voice-overs such as lip-sync voice-overs, phrase-sync voice-overs, etc. Depending on your requirement and budget, you can choose the right voice-over style for your videos.

Which One is Better?

Both subtitling and audio translations have their pros and cons. You can decide the right option by analyzing the type of content that you want to translate, the medium of publishing, the target audience, the complexity of the video, etc. For example, if your requirement is the translation of training videos, you might not need lip-sync voice-overs. If you are trying to provide technical information on a product or service, subtitling may be good.

SPG For Audio Translation Services

SPG Studios is your perfect partner when you need subtitling or audio translation service for video content. From Turkish audio translations to Chinese subtitling, we are well-equipped to provide translation services in various languages.