English 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.

English script preparation for voiceover and subtitle creation

Preparing and editing scripts for distributors such as Amazon and Discovery Channel, our teams of English 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 English

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 English 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 English 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 English 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 English language.

English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, it ultimately derives its name from the Anglia (Angeln) peninsula in the Baltic Sea. It is closely related to the Frisian languages, but its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse (a North Germanic language), as well as by Latin and Romance languages, particularly French. English is the third most widespread native language in the world, after Standard Chinese and Spanish. It is the most widely learned second language and is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. There are more people who have learned it as a second language than there are native speakers. English is the most commonly spoken language in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, and it is widely spoken in some areas of the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia.

Where is English most widely spoken?

Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Eswatini, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sounth Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.