With short-form content growing in popularity, video marketing has become quite important. Companies that scale across borders and attract global and multi-lingual audiences must learn how to create and adapt their content for different markets.

Language was and will continue to be a barrier for accessing new countries, and companies that do marketing in tech know that it’s even more complicated if we consider complex and niche words.

However, artificial intelligence is quite helpful for adapting and translating content. When promoting platforms, developer tools, or enterprise solutions, creating video content that’s understandable for the native audience is quite important.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how AI video translation helps tech marketers translate and adapt their content for a global audience.

AI video translation explained

AI video translation is changing how content is traditionally created and translated. It allows brands to repurpose existing video into multiple languages at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods. Tools like Synthesia make this especially easy, since they can translate scripts, audio, on-screen text, and even lip movements to match new audiences.

In the past, you would have to find a team that’s able to create videos in a different language, or you would implement subtitles or a voice-over. AI video translation bridges this gap, as you can translate scripts, audio, on-screen text, and even lip movements to match new audiences.

This makes content localization much faster while maintaining the context of the original video. When it comes to translating speech, AI video translation uses machine learning to convert it into another language.

You can also use this technology to generate synthetic voiceovers, lip-sync visuals, and translated captions. For example, it often takes just minutes to transform an English product demo into Spanish or whatever other language you want.

Of course, to match the video completely, translating isn’t enough. You might want to change the appearance of the person in the video or add a new section. Fortunately, AI can also assist in these processes.

Importance of translation for marketers

In the past few decades, people have embraced the English language more than ever before. This is mainly because the English language dominates online content. Companies often think that creating content in English is enough for all markets.

While it’s true that the majority of people will understand some of it, it’s not a perfect solution to create all of your content in English and expect the audience to understand it. This is especially challenging for tech companies that need to release important videos like product demos.

Translations shouldn’t be done in a way that it’s a word-for-word copy, but in another language. Instead, it opens the doors to personalization and localization. You can use local slang, idioms, and adapt videos so that they align with the culture of the region.

Furthermore, creating videos in languages native to the market that you’re trying to penetrate is much more professional than using English. It can help build trust and loyalty.

Translation vs subtitles

While there are numerous platforms that allow you to use AI to transcribe videos, which you can later translate and use as subtitles, translating the audio is more valuable. This is because it takes professionalism and understanding to another level.

While subtitles are an easy way to make the content understandable, translating the video and aligning lip-sync makes the whole experience much better and professional. Of course, it’s better to use subtitles than not to bother translating the content at all.

But, it’s best to provide your audience with the whole experience.

AI vs manual video translation

You can find various cheap services and experts that will translate your videos for you. However, at the most basic level, AI can often be cheaper and quicker. You’ll also remove the need for going back and forth with the other party until you get what you want.

On the other hand, AI video translations will require additional human input in many cases. It’s best that you use a combination of AI and human experts. For example, you’ll use AI to bulk-translate your video library, and humans to add the finishing touches.

Having proofreaders who can speak the specific language in which you’re making the video can also prevent inconveniences and funny situations. While AI is great for automating tedious parts of the process and providing you with faster turnaround, top-notch teams will still perform better.

This is because they can understand your requirements and deliver exactly what you want. But the problem is that this will often be quite costly and time-consuming. Again, the solution would be to use AI for mass translating less important content, while hiring experts when serious work is needed.

AI video translation is becoming more efficient and helpful

The technology behind AI video translation isn’t yet perfect, but it’s advancing at a high speed. Voices sound more and more realistic, while lip-sync can often be perfectly aligned. For many companies, this means that they can reach global audiences without a lot of investment.

Results that AI software can create are good enough for many tech marketers, but you’ll still need to collaborate with experts if you need high-end videos. That’s why many teams pair an AI video maker for rapid drafts with human review for final polish. Regardless, AI gives tech marketers an easy way to experiment, localize rapidly, and translate dozens of videos in short time periods.

As AI becomes better at creating and translating video content, the barrier to global markets will continue to fall. Companies and individual marketers who embrace these tools early have the potential to get ahead of the competition.