Ukrainian Script Preparation Service

Working together with our experienced and qualified translators, voiceover artists, interpreters, audiovisual translators, transcribers and subtitlers, we offer a wide range of language services.

Available in over 200 languages within the UK and beyond, our linguists can get you heard in any language of your choice. While we do not offer a walk-in service, we are only one phone call away from discussing your language requirements.

Ukrainian script preparation for voiceover and subtitle creation

Preparing and editing scripts for distributors such as Amazon and Discovery Channel, our teams of Ukrainian audiovisual translators are adept at choosing just the right tone and register to match the original material.

Depending on the circumstances, we sometimes use a native speaker of the source video in the first instance to ensure that all the speech is captured.  The localisation process is then continued with native speakers of the target language to ensure that the translated output is idiomatically appropriate.

Preparing a script for voiceover or dubbing in Ukrainian

Dubbing is where one voice completely replaces another.  You will most likely see this in films where a character’s voice is dubbed using a different voice in a different language.

Voiceover is often an unseen, offscreen narrator and is not bound to the same extreme time restrictions as dubbing.

Whether a segment of speech is destined for dubbing or voiceover allows our Ukrainian audiovisual script translators to localise accordingly, depending on how many seconds the voiceover artist will have to deliver the speech.

The scripts are timecoded, and the speakers clearly labelled for each language version.

If you would be interested in receiving demos of some of our voiceover artists – we have male and female talents in over 200 languages – do get in touch and we’ll send some samples over to you.

Preparing a script for Ukrainian subtitles

As you will be aware, different languages take up different amounts of room to essentially say the same things and there is a limited amount of space to display this onscreen in the format of subtitles.

Nothing is ever simple in translation – some languages use fewer words, but each word has on average more letters.  As an example, Finnish and Hungarian tend to use fewer words but have longer than average word lengths, while Italian, French and Spanish tend to use more words to get content across, but the average number of letters in a word tends to be less…

You’d think this would all come out on the wash but with time restrictions (and character restrictions per line) for subtitles, the linguists preparing the scripts in other languages need to try and take account of reading speeds.  It is ultimately the job of the subtitler to edit the text and timecode the lines to perfection, but their job is made so much easier if a localised script has been prepared by an experienced audiovisual translator understanding the restrictions and rules.

What information can be included as part of a script preparation?

We are very happy to include any information, tags or timecoding required as well as any formatting conventions you may need.  Typically we might include the following:

Time codes: 00:00:00 frequency to be determined.

Speaker labels: characters/voiceover.

Speech: in original language and/or translated languages.

Forced Narrative: a text overlay that clarifies communications or alternate languages meant to be understood by the viewer. They can also be used to clarify dialogue, texted graphics or location/person IDs that are not otherwise covered in the dubbed/localised audio.

How is the cost for Ukrainian script preparation calculated?

• By the number of minutes
• By the complexity of the formatting
• By time code frequency
• Dependent on the volume
• Schedule for delivery

Get in touch with one of our lovely project managers and they would be very happy to discuss all the available options with you. Do also take a look at the security procedures and infrastructure we already have in place to protect your data.

While you’re here… some quite interesting facts about the Ukrainian language.

Ukrainian is an Eastern Slavonic language closely related to Russian and Belarusian. It is spoken by about 51 million people in Ukraine (Україна) and in many other countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia. The recorded history of the Ukrainian language began in 988, when the principality of Kiev (Київ) was converted to Christianity. In the 13th century, Ukraine became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian and Ruthenian, an ancestor of Belarusian and Ukrainian became the main language. The remaining parts of Ukraine were taken over by Poland during the 16th century and Latin and Polish were used for official purposes. Ruthenian began to split into Ukrainian and Belarusian during this period. The Cossacks later moved into eastern Ukraine and during the 17th century, their leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, invited Russia to help against Polish domination in 1648. During the reign of Catherine the Great, the Cossacks moved to the eastern frontiers of Russia, but Ukraine remained under Russian domination, and the Russians considered the Ukrainian language as little more than a dialect of Russian. Ukraine enjoyed a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1919, then was taken over by the USSR and declared a Soviet Republic. During the Soviet era, Russian was the main language of education and employment and Ukrainian was sidelined. Ukraine declared independence in 1991. Since then many Ukrainian émigrés have returned to Ukraine, particularly from central Asia and Siberia. Courtesy of Omniglot

Where is Ukrainian most widely spoken?

Ukraine, the Republic of Crimea and Transnistria. Ukrainian is also a recognised minority language in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.