The translations came back, and most of them didn’t fit.
We were working on a timed voice over project for Expedia. They had a fast-paced, high-energy corporate video that needed narration in 13 languages. The English script was short, and once it was translated, most versions ran too long for the video.
If you’ve ever localized video content, you’ve probably run into some version of this problem. It’s one of the most common challenges in voice over translation. Here’s why it happens, and the options our sound engineers used to fix it.
This is the first post in a series about the technical side of voice over post-production. We’ll get a little in-depth, so bear with us!
What the project involved
Expedia’s video needed voice over in 13 languages, including German, Spanish, Dutch and Arabic. Our work covered:
- Translation and localization for 13 regions
- Casting a native voice actor for each language
- Voice over recording
- Mixing and post-production
- Quality control
The casting process needs a blog of its own, so we’ll cover it in our next post. This blog is about what happened in post-production.
Timed Versus Untimed Voice Over
The project was a timed voice over, and that’s what made it tricky.
In a timed voice over, each translated line has to start and end at the same points as the original. Those sync points keep the narration lined up with what’s on screen. To make that possible, we work with a two-column bilingual script. The original version is on the left, the translation is on the right, and there are timestamps for every line.
Timed voice over is often confused with lip sync, but they’re different jobs. Lip sync matches the actor’s mouth movements syllable by syllable, which takes much longer. If the terminology is new to you, our post on voice over terminology breaks down voice over, dubbing and lip sync.
Why Translations Change Length
Our translators always try to match the translation to what’s happening on screen. But English is a language with many shorter words. Most languages need more room to say the same thing, often somewhere around 15% to 35% more for German and Spanish.
They get longer in different ways.
German has longer words. Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung is one word with 36 letters, and it means “motor vehicle liability insurance.” Here it is in a sentence:
Seine Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherungsbescheinigung war seit Wochen überfällig. “His motor vehicle liability insurance certificate was weeks overdue.”
Spanish uses more words. It tends to rely on prepositional phrases where English uses a single word or a shorter construction.
U.S. English: I can’t attend the meeting because I have other commitments.
Spanish spoken in Spain: No voy a ir a la reunión porque ya tengo otros líos.
Spanish spoken in Latin America: No voy a poder estar en la reunión porque ya tengo otro compromiso.
Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese often come out shorter, creating the opposite problem: gaps of silence where the English narrator is still speaking.
The catch is that written length isn’t the same as spoken length. What matters in a timed voice over is how long a line takes to say. Spanish, for example, is often spoken quickly, so a longer script doesn’t always mean a longer recording. That’s why we test timing with actual recordings rather than relying on word counts.
How We Fixed Expedia’s Voice Over Translation
Once we knew most of the translations ran long, our sound engineers and project managers looked at a few options:
1. Adapt the script
The cleanest fix is often to tighten the translation. Two sentences can sometimes become one, or a long phrase can be swapped for a shorter one that means the same thing.
This only works when the meaning allows it. In medical, legal or compliance videos, every word can matter, and deleting content isn’t an option.
2. Have the voice actor read faster
Some voice actors can pick up the pace and still sound natural. That’s one reason casting matters so much on timed projects. But there’s a limit. You don’t want the narration to sound rushed, or listeners to have trouble following it.
3. Time-stretch the audio
Our engineers can slightly compress a recording so it takes less time without changing the pitch of the voice. A small adjustment is hard to hear, but a large one can sound unnatural.
4. Adjust the video
Sometimes it’s best to give the narration more room by extending the video. This means holding a shot a little longer or adding frames. This can work well, but anything tied to timing has to move with it. On-screen text, graphics, music and sound effects all need to be re-synced.
5. Handle translations that run short
When a translation comes in shorter, the fix is about pacing: a slightly slower read, natural pauses, or letting any music in the video run a bit longer.
How to avoid timing problems on your next project
Most timing issues can be caught early in the project. Here’s how:
- Before the project begins, tell your voice over agency if the project is timed. It changes how the script is translated and how voice talents are cast.
- Give translators the timecodes. When translators know how much time each line has, they can translate to fit from the start.
- Check timing before recording. A quick read-through of the translated script can flag lines that won’t fit.
- Plan for review time. If script changes need client approval, build that step into the schedule.
Need a timed voice over in multiple languages?
Timing is one of the details that separates a professional localization from one that feels off. Our team handles translation, localization, casting, voice over recording and post-production in 150+ languages, so the whole project stays in sync.
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Written By Maya Tsirulnik
Maya Tsirulnik is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Metro Audio and Video. Her background dealing with digital marketing and multimedia localization brings unparalleled knowledge and expertise to the company. Prior to Metro, Maya held finance positions for leading multimedia production companies dealing with multilingual voice overs, localization and translation. She graduated from Baruch College with degrees in business administration and finance.
Maya's insights have been featured in MultiLingual, a leading international localization publication:
Maya is also a Team Lead for the Health and Mental Wellness Program at Women in Localization, a global community that collaborates with educational institutions and industry groups to promote the localization profession and provide valuable resources and opportunities for its members.
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