Instruction: What Does Voice-Over Entail

Response:
It is important to have basic information on the topic at hand so you can understand why it is important for voice over artists to have certain qualities and how they come in handy in their line of work.If you don't know already Voice-over,  also known as off-camera or off-stage commentaries is a production process and technique were we incorporate a voice that is not part of the narrative in radio, television production, filmmaking, theater, or other presentations in form of a narration.What usually happens is, a voice-over artist or a specialist voice talent voices out a script on a recording instrument, sound engineers then synchronize this recording with either an already exiting voiceless video or a grid of motion pictures.The most common technique of voice-overs though is the synchronous dialogue one, where the voice-over is narrating the action that is taking place at the same time. Asynchronous dialogue, used in cinema, is usually pre-recorded and placed over the top of a film or video and commonly used in documentaries or news reports to explain information. There are different instances where one can use voice-overs, and this is from old messages, for motion pictures, and for announcements and information at events and tourist destinations. One can also use them during award ceremonies or during real-life events. It is very important to note that voice-overs are additions to pre-existing scripts, and one should not confuse it with replacing dialogue with a translated version, which is a process known as dubbing or re-voicing.In recent times we have seen how the demand for voice-over artists has grown in leaps and bounds. Every day, amateur and professional videographers, publishers, marketing agencies, and businesses publish thousands of hours of videos online. This results from how easy and inexpensive it is to create and distribute video content. Content that would have been on blogs for people to read is now being created as audio and video content and reaching a wider audience compared to the former. This means that more and more voice over artists are in demand because there is more work for them to engage in.It's easier to have a lucrative career as a voice-over artist now than it was years back. Their demand is so high and they get handsomely compensated when in high demand.
Below we will look at different qualities that a voice-over artist should have and why it is important for them to have these qualities and why the availability of these qualities might determine their success or not.


Instruction: What Are The Qualities of a Successful Voice-Over Artist

Context: Learning resources on media production, voice acting and audio-visual translation, dubbing, subtitling and transcriprion

Response:
You might wonder what does it take to be a sort after voice-over artist, it's very easy if you have these following qualities.
1. Flexibility
You might easily be the best voice artist with an amazing vocal range, one who can experiment with his or her vocal cords and deliver on different characters and also be superb with your technical skills but without the ability to listen to a voice of reason and accept correction finding more projects to work on might prove difficult. The production team always wants to work with someone easy to work with and who listens to instructions. You might be perfect at what you do, but you find a client who wants to take a different route to bring their thoughts to life. If you are someone who is very stirring, it might be hard for production teams to work with you and since word goes around other production teams might not want to work with you because of your character. The most successful voice-over artists can accept direction and adapt on-the-fly, delivering exactly what a video’s director wants, whether that’s a neutral reading or an emotion-filled narration.
2. Vocal And Technical Skill
This has to be the first most important quality a voice-over artist must possess. Just like the name suggests, it shows that the essence of the job is all about voice, voice and more voice. A good voice-over artist must have a great voice and technical skill, which in this case, referred to as talent. Having a good voice is not enough, one has to practice and get more lessons on how to use their voice to bring out a scrip in the best way possible. We all know having an all-rounded person is a plus in businesses and cutting out losses so it's advisable to not only have a good voice and know how to use it but also have a great understanding of your recording gear.  Master your gear so that instead of worrying about room-hum, clicks, and echo, you can focus instead on the creative side of everything and should express even dull subjects in a way that catches the interest of listeners. It is very important for a voice artist to understand how to control his/her vocal cords and also technical skills to suit a particular character.
3. Friendliness
This is an important quality, not only for voice-over artists but also for everybody out there. It might not seem important at first, but eventually, it plays out when you realize you are a loner in your workplace. They say people help each other go places and move ahead in life, and thus why it is important to be a friendly individual. Whoever you are or whatever talent you have to whichever extent, if it's hard getting along with people then going further in your career is something that you should not think about.  Voice over jobs are usually on a referral basis and this ensures the success of different voice over artists. Building a close relationship with clients means that the same clients will look to work with you every time they have work done.
A good simple example would be, if I work with client A today and ensure I do my level best and perform well then I am guaranteed that client A will look for me the next time he has that same work and also recommend me to his or her friends for more work opportunities. Friendliness is a very important quality.
4. Reliability
You are good at what you do and have a lot of voice over jobs to do, but are you a reliable individual? Can someone count on you to deliver a perfect and well thought out job on time and with no delays? If you are not a reliable voice artist, then it's time to change that because this might be what gives you a hard time establishing a reputation as someone directors want to work with. Everyone needs someone they can rely on as a friend now, what of one who expects to payments for their services still not putting 100% to their craft.
5. Productivity And Efficiency
Productivity and Efficiency isn't an important quality only for voice artists, it is actually very important if not the most important quality in any job description. It is more important though for voice actors because most voice-over jobs require a short turnaround for what may be a substantial quantity of audio. To maximize productivity, voice-over artists are skilled at managing their time and maximizing productivity to meet set goals. The opposite would make the production house experience losses if they happen to be dealing with a voice artist who has no clue on how to manage their time and are always lagging in delivering their work. No one wants to get losses, so it's advisable for one to have time management skills if they are planning to be voice over artists. Don’t give a client the opportunity to doubt your commitment to their voice over the project. Get it done and move on to the next! Get busy!
All these qualities are super easy to develop over time if you really want to be a sort after voice-over artist who every director wants to work with. They might seem over the top to some people, but to people who understand what professionalism means then these qualities might just come as a normal thing. Be sure to remember that all the qualities go hand in hand, you can't perfect your craft and not know how to relate to with people or how to make sure you meet deadlines and work diligently. If you can be an all-rounded voice-over artist, time-after-time, you’re golden.
In this article, we will look at some challenges that translators go through or have to overcome when translating from one language to another. Just like in any other line of work, translators have their fair share of challenges that most people do not understand about. I hear many people say that translation must be one of the easiest jobs to do because as long as you understand the languages you have to work with then it's as easy as ABC when working on them, not knowing that translation entails so much more than just an understanding of languages. If you are not a translator nor ever worked on a translation job, then you need to understand that translation is so much more than just being bilingual, it is all about interpretation and being able to transcribe a message suitably, according to its purpose and be able to make it make sense to an audience without compromising on the original meaning and context. It entails being able to include and take into consideration the language, social and cultural aspects. With that being said it needs a very talented, skill full, professional with years experience to tackle a translation project and deliver it successfully and accurately. Also, it's good to note that even being a professional is not enough because chances are you will meet hurdles along the way as you work along with a project and that's what we will look at.


Instruction: What Are The Most Common Challenges Faced By Translators

Response:
language structure.If you count how many languages there are in the world, then you will eventually get tired and stop along the way. There are over 5000 languages existing in the world as I write this, and not to mention the different dialects that exist within all these languages. Ever listened to someone else speaking their language and realized how unique, original and different it is? That's exactly how translators see them too. Each language is a prism and has its own complex way of functioning Idioms, expressions, compound words, false friends, even onomatopoeic expressions. These different aspects represent the uniqueness and difference of different languages and more times than not usually cause a communication barrier.A good example would be an interesting poem that follows or the set rules and guidelines of a poem from the rhymes and number of lines in a stanza in Portuguese would mean a different thing when translated to another language like French. The poem eventually loses meaning and context and ends up being something different from a different meaning and context. This, especially within the business and marketing environments, can be potentially dangerous. This is a challenge that translators have to face every now and again, which proves to be very hectic to work around. With literal translation, it can prove very challenging if you come across languages like Arabic, read from right to left unlike most languages in the world. It shows just how complex the way of functioning of each language is, and how difficult it can be for someone whose native language is different to learn and even translate Arabic.With such languages, you might end up with a case of ambiguity where certain words, expressions or sentences may have different meanings that might alter the original context of a content which may later cause wrong interpretations and misunderstandings. Translators mostly have a hard time translating idiomatic expressions from one language to another because certain expressions rarely make sense when in their original language, so now try to imagine having to translate those to another language. It becomes hard when one has to deal with such expressions and still have it make perfect sense. There are also many words in each language with no literal equivalent in another language, which can make them hard to translate without altering their exact meaning. On the same structural issues, it's good to note that a lot of languages have different dialects, which usually differ from one place to another. Dialects are specific forms of language spoken in particular regions or social groups. What makes this interesting is how people speaking the same language might speak differently, depending on their dialect. This makes it hard for a translator to translate because the different dialects might bring out different meanings and sounds and thus complicating the translation process even further if the translator only knows one dialect from a specific language. These languages are very hard to deal with because it's also hard to lean and keep up with such a language without getting confused along the way. This is where having a great understanding of the language is not enough, one has to be an advanced linguist to get expressions, metaphors, jargon, slang and different dialects which is very challenging.Translating specific contentSpecific content is the hardest to translate because a translator has to translate specific content like films and novels, which includes translating a whole story, context, world, and environment into a whole new language. It involves creativity to transfer cultural values and traditions and to make them understandable and adapted without altering them. The translator has to remain true to the original piece.Cultural factors.Cultural factors are a real thing, if not real value for most translators. There is a lot that can go wrong when translating from one language, deeply rooted in its culture to another one that is exactly the same way. Every culture has a way in which it expresses its own messages in a way that is not offensive. Translating that exact message and being able to make sure to another language without losing context is usually a big challenge to many translators. Certain factors come into play when dealing with culture and translation, which a lot of translators wish they could ignore but can't afford to pay. These factors generate a big potential for misunderstanding; cultural factors are therefore problems challenging, translators in a daily.One might end up making a whole new interpretation on a particular message, depending on how his or her culture would relate to it when it's wrong when compared with the original language. A good example is where certain words considered rude to one culture and overlooked in other cultures. Also, some cultures are rather neutral, some are much more emotional and expressive, which can make communication more difficult to understand. It's very important to understand the culture of a certain language in order to not make such mistakes.This is not the case for all languages, though it is important to look out for languages that have a deep-rooted cult background. This will literally save a translator a tone of work and time.Sector expertise.Just like any other professional, being a translator includes being very specific to the translation works you are good at. Expertise in a particular field usually comes in handy because it shows that you concentrate on a specific niche and have perfected your skills in that niche. This doesn't mean that you cannot try out your hand in another niche but it is usually hard to perfect translations in a niche you are not good at because things like jargon come in place and make everything complicated if you don't understand the particular language jargon for a specific niche. Whether you are dealing with legal documents, marketing documents or websites, it is good to note that they all are different and use different jargon.For example, when it comes to market documents one needs to provide a quality translation that cuts across the culture, society of the target consumer of that content. For legal documents, it is even more fastidious to translate from one language to another. You would require specific knowledge in this area, as each country has its own legal system and its own laws: the translator must be able to cope with that and be aware of these differences. As for website translations, one should adopt the literal meaning and not translate word for word.As we have seen above, it is very important to note that depending on what kind of translation you are doing and the languages in question; it is always good to make sure you consider all these factors and that you have a clear view and understanding of what you need to do to ensure that the project you are working on is accurate for your audience. You should make sure you take all these factors into consideration so you can provide an efficient and successful translation, without misrepresenting the initial core message.
Translation is the process in which we develop new language scripts from existing scripts in a different language. The scripts usually have to follow a specific structure in line with translation rules and regulations to ensure that they are accurate and meaningful.
A lot of translation service providers have been cropping up in recent years which proves that translation services are a very important part of our economy and these are services that people are looking for, big cooperate companies are outsourcing and so on and so forth. With the internet making the world a global village and there being food and political crisis around the world countries are now communicating with each other more and documents of all kinds from, legal to religious, to health are being translated to serve different purposes all over the world.What this high demand for translation services has done is that it has pushed translators to work among themselves to create easier ways and processes in which one can get their documents translated without necessarily them being translated by human beings. This has led to the development of software, translation machines, and automated translation memories.In a world where accurate communication is important regardless of the language barriers, these translations tools have been able to carve a niche for themselves to help companies and individuals in fast-paced environments with their translation needs. Researchers have predicted that this will continue to be the case and that the need for translation services will continue to grow in leaps and bounds as years go by. With that said, mechanized translations can never exist on their own now or in the days to come. Localization services will always be in high demand from humans besides translations as it gives a chance to cater the translated content to the current cultural norms in which it’s being presented. It is the only way to convey the message accurately across cultures.
15 Interesting Facts You Need to Know About Translation
Translation majorly involves working with languages and that being an integral part of the whole process we will look at different facts that you ought to know about translation. There are well over 6000 languages in the world today, and translation services help to break the language barriers.
"Happy birthday" is the most common translated song followed by  "It's a small world"".We derive the word translation from a Latin word "translations" which means "transporting" or transferring something. Which is why translation is transferring the meaning of a certain word in a certain language to another language to mean the same thing in the other language? In Braille translation services, it implies transferring from one language to another.The Bible was the very first book translated; it is one book translated vastly in the entire world. It makes sense why it must be the only book that has over 1000 translations. We all know that if not translated into a whole new language, there are wordings and statements in the Bible interpreted and translated differently in different Bible versions. Also, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights translated into over 400 languages. And interestingly, Modern favorite Harry Potter translated into over 70 languages.Did you know that there is a "Translators day" set aside every year to celebrate translators? This is a very important profession that has lots of people getting into it every single day because of its influence in the world today and how its impact has made it easy for communication to happen while breaking down language barriers. It's a profession highly appreciated and for that mere fact, each year on the 30th day of the month of September translators all over the world celebrate their profession while remembering their Patron saint, Saint Jerome.There are specific languages chosen for translation across the world, and there are those always targeted for translation. French, German, Spanish, and Japanese are the languages that have chosen for translation because of their impact in the world and how wide the population of the people who speak these languages is all over the world. The languages which have been the target for translation are English, French, German, Italian and Russian because more people speak these languages more than any other languages out there. This does n't mean that they do not translate other languages to or from.It is important to note that there are translation services for the blind. This might not be as common in a lot of couture, but it is there, and it happens. We usually term it as the Braille form of translation for the blind and any visually impaired people. There is usually a Braille code for any foreign language one can imagine. This has made it possible for the visually impaired to learn their languages using Brailles and not have any difficulties. This applies to math, computers, science, and music. These all have their own unique Braille systems. Ever wondered where the name Braille usually comes from? Well, Braille was an intelligent handicap child who attended the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. Braille introduced a method of communication without light or sound and was keen to learn it. He spent his spare time trying to improve the new way of reading & writing and designed six dots in which combinations of dots and spaces represented letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. The Braille system allows blind people to read with their fingers using a system of raised dots. We base Braille on a basic unit of code known as a cell.Did you know that you can get an all-inclusive database on all the translation works ever done before?. Well UNESCO provides an online database that has all the translations you can think of from all over the world. We know it as  ‘Index Translationum’ and it has a translation from Agatha Christie (7233 translations), Jules Verne (4751 translations) and William Shakespeare (4293 translations) who are the top 3 most translated authors according to recent translation statistics. According to recent studies, there are over 330,000 professional translators worldwide. You might wonder so many translators, Are they get work to do? The answer is yes, translation services are in very high demand and the number of translators all over the world is not enough.The English language is vast, and it has a lot of words over 250,000 words. It is usually very important for a translator to at least have a maximum number of words that he or she understands and works with the others as they come. We expect an English translator to understand the language perfectly, to avoid making mistakes. An average person understands  250 to 20,000 words. This is something anyone that plans on starting out with translation work should highly note.A professional translator can translate around 250 words within an hour. This is very important because this creates a particular level of speed which can tell how long one takes for a specific number of words in a full project. On average, a professional translator can translate 520,000 words per year when working full time.We consider language to be about 200,000 years old with the advancement in technology, translation has become more modern.There are languages easily translated from and into, and there are languages that are super hard to translate from and into. According to most professional translators, Spanish is the easiest language to translate, and Russian and Arabic are the hardest.In the 21st Century during the first decade between the years of 2000 and 2010, over 75% of translated books were in the French and German languages while only 5% of translated books were in the Chinese language.Arabic and English languages have the same punctuation but are different languages. We read the Arabic language from the right to left side while for English its vice verse. Approximately 1% of consumers usually prefer being on websites with their native language more than the English language. Therefore, having content with their native language would come in handy for them.
Those are but some few translation facts that you should note if you would love to get into that profession. When starting out just like any other profession is hard, but as you get the feel, it is a little easier and lucrative. It's good to note that not all translation services take into consideration some rules and regulations of the translation work and this why one must be very thorough when looking for one.
Are you a person who doesn't appreciate Subtitles as much as you would like because they are just not realistic and their time limit on the screen is super short or wonder if you enjoy a movie or just keep up with the subtitles and enjoy the movie later. If you are that person then you are in the right place, because I will give you a better substitute that will have you enjoy your foreign language movies without having to keep up with subtitles and also go further ahead and explain the production process for this substitute.
Many people nowadays don't use subtitles and if they do, it's about 10% to 15% that enjoy and this begs the question. Are subtitles necessary in a day and age where we have voice recording and dubbing?
So what is voice recording or dubbing, you may ask? If you plan to get your videos or audio recording dubbed, then read further on to understand the art of dubbing and voice recording and why people prefer them over subtitling.
Dubbing has a very long history, beginning with the emergence of dubbed Hollywood movies in the early 1930s. People realized that to help their films reach a bigger audience, they needed something far more effective than subtitles, and they soon found the answer in voice dubbing. Dubbing was a major boost to the film industry back then because production houses could localize their films into different foreign languages like French, German, Portuguese, Spanish which made the distribution of their films easily accessible to countries where English wasn't the main language being spoken. What localizing does, is that it allows a lot of content creators to diversify their content to reach different audiences and be able to spread their message worldwide. This is something a lot of artists have tapped into and honestly, it's made a lot of difference in how people interact with different content on the internet which has made the world a global village where anyone can access anything.
Voice dubbing helps you to reach international audiences with your content by translating your video into several languages. If perfectly and expertly done, it is very easy for an audience to completely forget the original version of the content because dubbing adds an element of authenticity by incorporating the nuances of the translated language. It is always advisable to use voice-over artists familiar with the foreign language you would like to dub your content to. They should be able to get the tonal range, diction and voice balance correctly so as not to remove the original meaning of the content.
Below we will learn the process used when adding a newly recorded voice to a video and dubbing it into another language and learning more about how dubbing is now becoming a mainstream media trend in 2020.
Dubbing Films.
Dubbing removes the video’s original spoken audio track and replaces it with a new one in another language while keeping the same overall feel of the original. We also know this process as ‘revoicing.’
A badly dubbed video can end up looking like a parodic version of the original, and if that's not what you are looking for, it's important to have a keen eye and be hands-on during the whole process and not leave anything to chance. It is very important to note that dubbing is a rather very expensive and time-consuming process, so any mistakes will definitely increase your overhead costs. Invest in a good translator who has a good grasp of both the original language and the language you need the material dubbed into, you also need a good sound engineer to do a perfect audio layering job and also a great Voice-over actor who will be the one to deliver the same rhythm and timing of the original audio, to ensure that it seamlessly syncs with the video footage.
Before you start the dubbing process there are few things that one has to note and accurately to avoid hurdles when the process begins.
Original character sketch: This is to give you a general overview of how the characters are, to help you in getting a good voice actor who will perfectly fit the original characters’ personalities.Original cast information: With this, it's easier to analyze the original voices to understand how they will resonate with the initial audience.The original script and dialogue list: To translate the script into the specified language.Audio and video files from the original work.Technical equipment: Recording booth and editing software for audio dialogue replacement (ADR). It also ensured that the technical equipment is in perfect condition.
The Art of Dubbing
Dubbing in its entirety has really improved within the last few decades, and its demand by content creators continues to increase around the world. Language barrier has always been a major restriction for content creatives and for the longest time they would only make content appreciated only by their country people. However, since the emergence of voice dubbing the circulation of media is no longer restricted by the barriers of language, as we see hundreds of films and television shows being translated into multiple languages and dialects around the world. You can easily watch and enjoy a Portuguese or Spanish film in your very own native language by just looking for the dubbed version of it.
Several years ago no one would never think this would be possible and here we are in 2020 and localization is getting bigger and better and a lot of companies are understanding what using this process would mean for their businesses. If you are keen enough, you notice that many companies are using localized strategies to make sure their services reach specific targeted markets across the globe. This means it's easier to have their business features adapt to the local culture and demands of the market by mostly focusing on market tactics. This strategy requires a hefty amount of funds and dubbing helps reduce that cost, because it allows you to strike a connection with foreign audiences through digital content like videos. Also by localizing companies are taking advantage of the 'buy local' movement, as their business appears to be familiar to the local customers.
The popularity of Dubbed films.
In the late ‘90s, anime swept audiences in America with shows like Sailor Moon, enchanting viewers and introducing them to Japan’s amazing anime culture. This was new and fascinating for many people, seeing that it was a new thing that had taken people by surprise. It's important to note though that as much as it was a fascinating aspect for the American people, the Japanese people were not happy with how the dubbing removed cultural references from the scripts which were the core part of the scripts. Looking keenly into it you notice that this might have resulted from using translators who did not understand the Japanese language well or the American English this omitting most of the important parts of the films. This was a norm when dubbing came into the picture but now dubbing processes have become more faithful to the source materials, showing how translators are taking the art of dubbing more seriously.
Dubbing is no longer a thing carried out by big film production houses, right now we have a new crop of fans who are taking matters into their own hands and dubbing animes. This has ensured that the history of anime localization continues to move forward. The love for anime dubs is reaching new heights, with the rise of ‘fandubs,’ which are anime shows dubbed by fans who strive to improve the already translated versions or alter the show’s plot. A good example of this fandub would be Team Four Star’s abridged version of Dragon Ball Z, which is a very popular version of the famous anime show.
Studio Ghibli’s GKids YouTube channel features trailers of dubbed Japanese anime films, catering to thousands of devoted fans who wait eagerly for such releases. Studio Ghibli’s films are successful outside Japan because the dubbing projects involve directors and talented voice actors who understand the challenges of translating well-loved films. The English language trailer for Okko’s Inn shows how a properly dubbed film can create the same magic of the original and excite viewers around the world. Madigan Kacmar, a young voice actor, beautifully brings the translation to life by capturing the personality of the young Japanese protagonist, Okko.
Making sure to dubbed content is perfect, is something that content creators should make a priority because when an audience positively receives your dubbed version, you realize that all your hard work eventually pays off. The world is transforming into a global village if the village hasn't already transformed, then dubbing and localizing of content will be in high demand, and thus, content creators will have more opportunities to localize the content and make it more global.
I have met many people in life who always think being a translator must be one of the easiest jobs there is in the world when in reality it's really not. I have connections with a lot of translators, and I can't tell you how they complain about the different challenges they go through. Just like in any line of work, there is always one main factor that makes working there a little harder than usual.
The thing about translation is that accuracy is key and there is nothing like word-to-word translation because that only messes up with the context of a document. With companies growing and expanding their services to different parts of the world they need for translation services has grown immensely and companies need their documents translated into different languages to cater to the different countries.
As much as most of us cannot understand what goes into the process of translation, we at least know that translation is the changing of content from one language into another. If though it doesn't sound as complex as the description is, it is a very complex process that needs one to be professional and keen when doing translation works. The main thing that we cannot notice though is that in most languages, if not all, is that direct word-to-correlation is not present in languages. Rather, the manner by which people express themselves and the rules of grammar are different among cultures. A translator has to understand the subtleties of meaning and the nuances in a language. Words in one language may have several meanings and connotations in another language; therefore, a translator has to choose carefully the words to use so as not to slant the message of the translation. So many people seeking translation services always prefer to work with human translators as compared to machine/software translators.
There are about 7000 languages in the world today and this might not an absolute number because of how human beings interact we keep on coming up with different languages and thus adding it up to the existing ones. Different communities have different languages and dialects, which adds to the diverse dynamics that make up a language.
It is good to note that despite the large number of languages; more than half of the population of the world speaks only about 23 of them.
Below we will look at the different ways we can segregate languages based on their different origins:
Asia has 2,300 language groups which are 32.4% of languages being spoken in the world and a whopping 4,015,367,857 number of speakers at 59.2%Africa has 2,143 language groups which make up 30.2% of languages being spoken and 980,437,811number of speakers at 14.5%.Pacific has 1,306 language groups which make up 18.4% of languages being spoken and 6,884,098 number of speakers at 0.1%.America has 1,060 language groups which make 14.9% of languages being spoken and 49,208,280 number of speakers at 0.7%.Europe has 2884 languages being spoken with 1,725,890,007 number of speakers at 25.5%.
Source:  https://www.ethnologue.com/
From the information above, it's good to note that the most spoken languages are from Asia, Europe, and Africa. These three continents comprise languages spoken more in the world than in any other place. Interestingly, the Pacific languages, and some languages of South and North American, only have an average of 1,000 speakers for each language. Shockingly there are countries that are rather small but have a lot of different languages being spoken. Some of these countries are Nigeria in Africa which has 526 languages, Indonesia which has 710 countries and Papua New Guinea which has 841 languages. This only shows that size does not really determine anything. Not forgetting India, which follows closely with 455 languages. Are you surprised that they speak 334 languages in the United States? China speaks 302 languages and residents of Mexico speak 292. Another African country, Cameroon, speaks 275, and the continent of Australia has 250. They speak about 228 languages in Brazil.


Instruction: What Is Language

Response:
Language is a system of conventional written or spoken symbols that human beings use to express themselves according to their culture. We use language for emotional release and imaginative expression, and to express identity and to communicate.
Normally a language comprises words that create sentences that help in communication and that is regardless of whether it's oral or verbal communication. For many people, their native and tongue languages are what they normally gain as their very first language of comprehension. This is usually the case depending on what language is being spoken to them a lot when they are young. They learn second languages in different levels of fluency as they grow up. They could grow up to be bilingual if both parents speak different languages.In translation, language really plays a major role, since the whole reason for this article was to talk about how languages and translation work line in line I will mention some languages hard for translators to deal with. A good translator is always one that has a fantastic relationship with languages and has a passion for the languages they work with. I say this because translation is working with a paired set of languages we expect a translator to translate from and into. It might be English and French, or French and Spanish. They are used to handling various kinds of translation work, from general translation to specific translations that make use of their skills and professional expertise. What makes up the higher level of difficulty or toughness of the languages is the lack of commonality with the languages most translators are familiar with.
Some of the hardest la bushes to translate are:


Instruction: What Are The Most Difficult Languages To Translate In The World

Response:
1. Mandarin Chinese
The language itself is hard to learn now, imagine having to translate it to another language or into another language. It is a language that has over 80,000 characters that have unique pronunciation and connotations, and this is because it is a tonal language. It's a language that has one-word meaning different things depending on the tone used when pronouncing it. Being a language that needs a high level of understanding really gives translators a hard time if it's paired with any other language out there. This only means that the translator has to be a native mandarine speaker or have a high level of comprehension for this language.
2. Arabic
I mentioned languages have different dialects that might make it hard for someone new to understand and keep up with them. Arabic is one of those languages which have a lot of dialects to work with. This makes it hard for transistors to work with it when paired with other languages. If it's not enough that it's a language where one reads from right to left, it is also a language that has one-word having multiple meanings, thus making it complicated. The dialectical influences on the language based on the location make translating Arabic difficult because it affects the pronunciation of the words. Translators must choose the right words because we can describe a single concept in different words, which can affect the context when the end-user is using a different Arabic dialect.
3. Thai
This a language that has no foreign influence, it is one in its original and purest forms. The only country where people speak Thai, and that has people fluent in English, is Bangkok and so understand why it is such a hard language to translate. It is very few schools out there that teach people the Thai language, if none. We write Thai in Khmer script, which is unrelated to any other language outside of its sphere. Like Chinese, Thai is a tonal language, and each tone conveys a different meaning. The Thai alphabet has 44 consonants and 18 vowels, which further makes it complicated to do translators to work with it. To further show how complicated this language is, all the letters are the same, there is no lower case or upper case and sentences do not end in full stops. There are no spaces between words either. We add space to identify the end of a sentence.
4. Korean
This is a language that has different grammar rules compared to any other language out there. This makes it hard for translators to work with it because it doesn't even have a point of reference or something of the sort with any other languages in the world.
5. Japanese
Just like Chinese, Japanese also has thousands of characters. Its sentence structure and grammar differ from Western languages. The language translation mostly depends on the context and thus why it's always advisable for any translator working with this language to have a perfect grasp and understanding of it.
Languages may make their translation a walk in the park or pain in the neck, depending on which languages are being paired. With that being said we have translated these languages before and even if not accurately then perfectly and thus why I say that it just takes a little effort from the translator to understand his or her paired languages before they work on them.


Instruction: What Is Localization

Response:
The Oxford English Dictionary defines localization as is making something local or restricting it to a particular place, which might be a country or a particular culture or belonging to a particular religious denomination.
In this article, we will look at language localization and the strategic stages or steps taken to achieve perfect localized content.
With the world becoming a global village through the help of the internet, businesses, and companies out there expand and grow exceptionally. Regardless of whether you are a multinational company or just a small start-up, you have a global effect and push your business to a much bigger and higher level. With the help of a perfect set up website that includes all the nitty-gritty of your business in a well-organized manner, there is no reason your business wouldn't have a wider reach globally. A website is the center of attention in your online presence and can be the instrument of manifesting your marketing strategies and make a worthwhile impact on them.If you are a business owner who has been living under a rock and does not understand what a website is, my advice to you is to get on that train and get yourself a website and wait to see how much it will boost your business locally and globally. To achieve this, your site should be visually attractive, contain great content, be user-friendly, functional, have a neat navigational design with qualitative graphics and images and apply the SEO principles.The first step is creating a general website and then localizing your website to fit the cultural aspects of any global country that you are targeting depending on what your business is about. What this does is that it speaks directly to the people in the country you are trying to reach and makes it easy for them to relate, which brings more sales to your business.Creating brand recognition and tapping into the global market used to be a real struggle for businesses, especially when you needed to reach different demographics with a respective knowledge of languages and cultural expectations. Today, this factor still determines the perception and judgment of customers–you want to receive it well. However, the digital world is always evolving and introducing new trends and ways that make a lot of work easier.
In this article, we will look at what localization is and the process in which we localize websites while outlining and explaining the different steps important in achieving a perfectly localized website. Localization is very paramount when dealing with an audience from a different country from yours, with a different cultural setup. Therefore, professionals should be the ones to localize content because they know exactly what they are doing because one thing you would not want is to offend your audience by either using expressions crude in their culture. Efficient communication with an international audience is key to keeping a global business competitive.


Instruction: What is Website Localization

Response:
Website Localization is the process in which we transfer a website's content from one language to another local language belonging to a certain set of people.
It’s a method used to translate language, requirements, and culture of a locale. You can localize any form of content you can think of, be it images, texts, expressions, advertisements, documents, interface and so and so forth. Its impact makes it easier for people to relate to your content because it is something they can relate with because it is not foreign. The World has become a global village and with the number of people using the internet growing each day, it's very easy and possible for one to come across foreign content without trying too much. To communicate well with every member of the globe, to ensure that you pass across your message, it requires localization. Let's look at the different steps important in achieving a well-localized website.
Steps on Website Localization.
ResearchJust like any process, In-depth research is very paramount to achieving a perfect outcome that is not flawed. Depending on what exactly your target country is, you must be able to outline vividly what people your audience is, what is their culture like, does their language have words that are not polite, are there things considered as a crude or rude, etc? You also need to research on the impact the audience will bring to your business because more times than not it's not about the audience but the impact they will have in your company and that is why you have to research about their purchasing power, products, services, and factors related to that. It's important to have as much information that would come in handy to your target market when they are looking to engage with your services. Try researching aspects of the market condition, in-demand products, purchasing power, barriers to entry, laws, and regulations.  To have a smoothly running business, it's best to understand the needs of your target market by heart and localize your website to fit exactly that.Outlining a projectAfter deciding on your target market and outlining some important factors that will help in putting your services out there, make sure you outline the whole project and know which countries you want to deal with and what languages they speak in those countries. What this does, is that it gives you an open view of your projections and it avoids confusion when the process officially begins. After deciding on what languages you want, it's best to find a good localization service provider who will help you in realizing your vision. A good service provider will know how to programme languages and the exact number of pages that need localization, marketing strategies, SEO, and website design. This will make work easier for you because the service provider, who in this case must be a professional, will do most of the translation and language programming.Globalizing Time When the process of Localization starts, it's always good for the service provider and website developers to know ways in which they can customize the websites to fit the specifics of different countries considering the fact that they have different time zones. One thing that happens is that time globalization is it which helps in internationalization. Developers know about internationalization and need to put the higher effort in a coding website that best suits every country. The programmer needs to have knowledge of coding source to the translation string so that each time you add a new language that code does not break the translation string. This step is the hardest, but the ultimate results are fruitful.Website Design According To LanguageThe thing with websites is that there are a lot of factors to consider in making a perfect website. Therefore, even when localizing a website, all these factors need consideration. Things like the layout and the design of the website must be in line with the language that it's being localized to. Some languages, written in a vertical form like Chinese and Korean, means your website design must incorporate these languages to give it a good look. What such languages do is that they force one to change the design of a website and if the plan is to have such languages, then a menu drop-down is the best way to go, that way someone can choose which language they want from the menu with no difficulties.Perfect Translation As I mentioned before, localization majorly deals with the translation of languages into local languages spoken in another country or even location. Doing these translations perfectly means we should use a professional service provider to avoid any mistakes.Use of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)If you are a writer, you know very well how important search engine optimization is. This is such an important tool that ranks websites in the internet world. Being able to know keywords used in the language you want to localize your content to, will make it easier for your target market to get online and search whatever they want, and direct them to your website.Selection of Right ImagesThis is where the research you did on the first step comes in. The research will help you determine which images are acceptable in a certain country and which ones are not. It is good to use images that go hand in hand with the cultural values of your target market, to not offend them.Fast Website Speed is VitalHave you ever been on a website and the speeds are so low you end up clicking on another website? Yes, that is the most annoying thing that a lot of developers don't look into. Therefore, when localizing your website it is important to make sure that the website speed is perfect and doesn't take long to load. To make your website load fast, use images that are not big or make a mess with the websites’ content.Try Testing as Much as You WantBefore putting the website out there for the world to see, be sure to give it a test run and ensure that all you took the steps into consideration. With this, you will know whether the website is ready to run.
In conclusion, it's good to note that being able to adapt your content to fit different cultural values is the best way to go if the plan you have for your business is to be global. It might be a long and expensive process, but it is one process that will prove to be the best decision for your business.
Actors who're just starting out in their careers often give attention to getting an agent. Whilst having a good agent or manager is very valuable, and, at some stages in your career, necessary, you will find so many things that you can certainly do by yourself to manage yourself and advance your career.  You may be your own manager! It's very empowering. Here are 17 ways to manage your own acting career.


Instruction: What Are Some Guidelines To Managing Your Own Acting Career

Response:
1. Submit yourself on acting roles.
Straight away, you are able to sign up for websites such as Actors Access and LA Casting and have use of a number of breakdowns for film, TV, commercial and theatre projects.  My advice is to check these daily and to submit yourself in a timely fashion. Casting directors often get 1000s of submissions, and you need yours at the top of the pile. Be specific and selective about what you submit yourself on. Always check the dates and the pay rates.  Also, make sure that the “type” is a close match to yours –  you want to be as consistent as possible in how you submit yourself to casting.
2. Create your own content.
The beauty of today's market is that you can create your own personal work, and share it with ease.   There isn't a need to own fancy equipment or perhaps a large budget to generate content to generally share online and on social media. Get creative.  What are you currently passionate about?  Do you wish to be on a TV sitcom? Then create your own personal web series. Do you wish to star in dramatic features?  Create and act in your dramatic short film. Find writers and creators to collaborate with and have fun making a passion project!  You'll build relationships with fellow creative's, you will learn a lot, and you will have content to generally share which showcases your abilities. A complete win-win-win!
3. Build relationships.
It really is about “who you know.”  But to take it one step further, your success and happiness in this industry will depend upon the quality, depth, and strength of the relationships that you have.  Building authentic relationships together with your peers in the market is everything. And this comes from your being of service and adding value to other people's lives.  Rather than from a place of “exactly what do I get from this person?” think “exactly what can I give to the person?” Pitch in on other people's film and theatre projects. Share resources on social media.  Volunteer for an arts-related organization.  Offer to greatly help your writer friends read through their scripts.  Attend networking events, and really connect with people, and get to understand who they are.
4. Be a joiner.
Joining groups, classes, theatre companies, and collectives are typical great ways to generally meet like-minded artists, to build relationships, and to take part in your passions.  Community is everything.  The more you're creating with others, the more you will create with others!  Consider taking acting classes at an acting studio or joining an improve troupe.  Or find an area theatre company and volunteer in the box office.  Or you can even subscribe to some kind of group that is skill-based, like a community choir or a martial arts class.  While these aren't acting classes, they are great skills to possess, and sometimes you can have the largest breakthroughs in your career when you're following your passions.
5. Leverage social media.
It's no secret that individuals are now actually launching and advancing successful careers using social media. There are many successful actors, artists and musicians who gained vast exposure through YouTube, Vine, and other outlets.  Do your research. Watch how some of the very successful social media marketing users are engaging with their followers.  Determine what qualities and traits set you apart from others and decide which social media marketing platforms are the best fit for you. Whatever you choose, be consistent.  Engage your followers and work out how you can add value to their lives. The exact same rules apply to social media marketing as to in-person networking.  When creating your tweets, posts, etc., you want to think “Exactly what do I give today?”
6. Market yourself.
Obviously, alongside your active social networking accounts, you should leverage both online and offline marketing tools to market yourself to casting directors and industry professionals.  In today's world, you're just a couple clicks from educating yourself on how to build an internet site or online newsletter, and how to utilize programs such as Photoshop and iMovie. In just a matter of days, you are able to build a really efficient and visually appealing website using platforms such as WordPress and Wix.  MailChimp is really a super user-friendly platform for building mailing lists and sending newsletters.  There are also very basic and free online graphic design programs such as Canva.com, where you are able to design social networking banners in addition to postcards to print. And if you wish to inform yourself on how to use nearly any type of software or digital tool, you are able to go to websites such as Udemy.com to take classes…as well as just search for tutorial videos on YouTube.
7. Enjoy the process
As always, enjoy the journey of building your career. Being your own manager can be a very empowering thing.  The more you are creating your own opportunities and booking work on your own, the more opportunities you will have to connect with the right agent or manager who will really add value to your career and life.   We wish you all the best as you embark on your next steps to creating the career of your dreams!
8. Set small goals regularly
When it comes to annual reviews, there is so much focus on goals for the year. A year is a long time; too long in fact to set tangible, achievable goals. Therefore, it is far wiser to set smaller goals throughout the year. Think about your day-to-day work. What could you be doing to elevate that work? Are there skills you could learn to help you advance? Think about this for a bit, and then make a list of goals that relate to these items. And then, once you’ve set the goals, give yourself a deadline to have learned these things. When you’ve hit the deadline… give yourself a grade. Seriously, it works. Did you do it? Did you do it well? Then ask someone else how they would score or grade you on these new skills. Then rinse and repeat.
9. Stretch yourself
The smartest of us say that success is just outside our comfort zone. So, it goes without saying that you must stretch beyond your area of expertise. Do something that scares you. Don't like public speaking, start signing up for presentations at work or networking events. Does it terrify you to put your industry thoughts out there? Ask someone for the opportunity to guest post. Whatever gives you the collywobbles; sign up for it, today.
10. Get feedback
While self-assessment is important, it is also important to get feedback. And it is important to get feedback all the time. I happen to ask at the end of each and every meeting I lead with the following questions: “What really worked for you?” and “What would make it even better if?” You can learn a lot from these two questions. So much about your work product and performance can be gleaned with these two questions. Give it a try and see what you learn.
11. Curate your work
Do you have any idea how many amazing things you’ve done this year? Probably not, because you aren’t curating that great work anywhere to revisit it. There are countless places for you to store this work in a cloud. Check out dropbox, CredHive, or OneDrive and start curating your work. When you’ve got a great file of work you’ve produced and are proud of, it’s like writing your resume as you go. It is also easy to share with your manager at review time. You’re better prepared to wow them when you’ve got yourself visual proof of your awesomeness.
12. Be curious about your industry
Spend time each and every week as a student of your industry or company. Study your industry and company as if there is a constantly approaching final exam. Ask questions of people in your space. Ask questions to your manager and colleagues. Ask your company customers how they feel. Develop thoughtful insights about the industry and your company. And don’t be shy about sharing those insights.
13. Read
Spend time reading blogs big and small. Spend time reading books about your profession. Read business books that stretch your thinking. But at the end of the day… read. Reading new things can start conversations when you’re networking and can also build your own career with new ways to do things and different work and life hacks to make life flow a little more smoothly.
14. Network brilliantly
Never, ever, ever send a standard LinkedIn invite. Ever. I cannot stress this enough. Personalize the message and tell the recipient what you need from them and how you can help them as well. If you do not know someone, ask someone in your network for an introduction. Networking brilliantly is about leaving a positive impression. And it isn’t just LinkedIn. Attend industry events, local events and meet as many people as you can. This will also help in being curious about your industry.
15. Get a mentor
Mentors are great resources for all of these elements. Need feedback? Ask your mentor. Need to bounce off industry or company insights? Looking for ways to stretch… Mentor!
16. Get a protégé
Conversely, a good protégé, can also be a tremendous resource to learn from as well. A protégé can bust some of your paradigms. They can also expose you to new thinking and present you with new ways to solve problems and look at things.
17. ABL (Always be listening)
Even if you are really happy in your current role, it never hurts to listen to other opportunities and build relationships with new people in the industry. These relationships may build in the future because you never know how you will cross paths in the future. Always be open to new opportunities and people, plus it feels really good when you get noticed!


Instruction: Why Use Human Transcription Services

Response: Just try popping a few names of country leaders, bands or albums into a Word document and running a spell checker and imagine what an automated dictation program would do with these terms! That is precisely why in this article, we will explore why you should use a human transcriber as opposed to speech recognition software, and how exactly you can get the best out of these human transcription services.


Instruction: What Are The Benefits Of A Human Transcriber Over Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) software

Response:
I think you have an answer by now
1. Humans Can Handle Background Noise
The greatest advantage human transcriptionists have over automated transcription software is their natural capability to filter through background noise. Obviously, presenting the clearest quality audio file is definitely the very best practice. However, humans can filter through background noise and still deliver an exact transcript. Automated transcription services have an arduous time handling background noise. This results in inaccurate transcripts or perhaps a complete rejection of the audio file. Any speech recognition and transcription software will need a clear piece of audio. For example, these scenarios may impair the ability of speech recognition software to work accurately: People talking while they're eating and eating while they're talkingInterruptions from waiters/room service / other members of the band or groupOverlapping speechVery technical content – jargon and acronyms galoreCreative content – album names, track names, novel titles, band names, author names
2. Humans Can Easily Differentiate Between Homophones (To, Too, Two)
One of many quickest ways to tell whether your transcript was done by a device is to look for errors in homophones. Homophones are two or more words that have exactly the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling. Speech recognition software must count on sentence structure to predict probably the most probable word to use. This can often cause mistakes. As an example, let's say that the doctor was frustrated and lost his patience with someone. A human transcriptionist would transcribe, "The physician lost his patience,"" on the basis of the context. An automated transcriber would probably transcribe, "The physician lost his patients.""
3. Humans Can Understand Different Accents And Dialects
Another obstacle for automated transcription software is accents and dialects. When you can find varying accents, or possibly a dialect the software cannot recognize speech recognition software struggles. Humans, however, are continually exposed to varying accents and dialects. This exposure paired with human transcriptionists' natural capability to adapt give humans the bonus – irrespective of the speaker's accent. Within an increasingly global marketplace.
4.  Humans Are Capable Of Identifying Any Number Of Individual Speakers
Automated transcription software typically cannot identify individual speakers and deliver accurate transcripts when there are many speakers present. This could prove very troublesome for anybody who needs to transcribe audio with 3+ speakers, like a business meeting. Humans, however, can understand and identify multiple speakers, even once the speakers sound alike. Not only will automated transcription software battle to identify multiple speakers in the first place, but in addition, they cannot accurately track those speakers through the audio.


Instruction: How Can You Increase The Likelihood Of Getting A Good Transcript Prior To The Actual Transcription Process

Response:
Even people who purchase and use transcripts on a regular basis sometimes have only a limited idea of how exactly transcripts are produced. You talk into a recorder, and someone hands you a script of it later, right? The mystery is understandable; how many of you really know the finer points of how your car works or your smartphone? We just need to know how to use them. But, just like those electronic devices, you can get a lot more out of your transcripts by understanding exactly what goes into them and what you can do to affect them. No, there isn’t a magic fix you can purchase for your transcripts, but actually in a way maybe there is. When ordering a transcript, it’s important to bear in mind the following:
1. Consider Your Audio Recording Technique
What exactly are you giving your transcriptionist to work with? Is it a cassette from your personal recorder, or is it a professionally produced audio file? Where was the microphone? There are dozens of factors that can contribute to the quality of the audio recording, and the quality of the audio recording is absolutely essential when it comes to producing a readable transcript later. A lot of people rely on personal recorders or dictation devices to record their meetings or hearings. Some of these devices record onto cassette (either standard or micro) and some record digitally, but all of them come with some risk when relied upon for recording multiple speakers. These devices are primarily intended to record a single speaker holding the machine directly in front of their lips. Placing it on a table in the middle of a meeting is no guarantee that everyone will be picked up on the microphone. If this is the route you want to go, choose a device that boasts an omnidirectional microphone. For example, the Olympus LS-14 recorder has two 90-degree coverage microphones on it, which will easily cover a conference table, but is at least three times the cost of most consumer-level devices.(Oh, and be extra wary of microcassette recorders. The format is only made possible by using thinner audiotape and a slower recording speed than standard cassettes, making them much more susceptible to damage and degrading over time. If you do use a microcassette recorder, make a backup A.S.A.P.)If you have the budget, why not aim for a more professional recording? Multiple microphones (ideally one per speaker) with a mixer or a digital recorder with multiple inputs are now common. You have the option to adjust audio levels for each microphone separately, and you can even produce recordings where the transcriptionists can adjust these levels themselves during playback. If you are regularly producing recordings requiring transcription, a small investment in recording technology can pay you back handsomely with years of readable transcripts.
2. Be Mindful of Cross-talk and Talking Too Fast
Are your participants aware that they are being recorded for later transcription? If not, they’re probably not speaking in the direction of the microphone(s); they’re probably talking over one another, and they’re almost certainly speaking too quickly. It’s a good idea to caution the speakers, before the recording begins, that they need to speak loudly and clearly, to mind the microphone(s), and to avoid stepping on each other’s sentences. If someone acts as a moderator during the recording to periodically remind speakers of these ground rules, your transcript will benefit from it.
3. Be Prepared for Speakers with Accents
Special attention should be paid to any speakers with strong accents. Any reputable transcription company will do its best to pair your recording with a transcriptionist who has a good ear for that particular accent, but they need to be warned ahead of time. If halfway through a 2-hour meeting, there is a presentation given by a speaker from France, the unprepared transcriptionist may not have time to do anything more than giving it their best shot, which could result in the loss of a lot of that presentation. And remember that the more obscure and the accent is (relative to the audience), the more unlikely the transcriptionist will be able to parse it out. Urge all accented speakers to take a special effort to enunciate and make themselves understood.
4. Keep Background Noise to a Minimum
Where is your recording taking place? Is it a hot day, so you have a window open, or worse, an air conditioner running? Those sounds will compete with your speakers’ voices for prominence in the recording, so make sure that the microphones are aimed as much as possible at the people you want to hear. If the door is open to a noisy hallway, or the window to lots of street noise, close it. Ideally, do a sample recording beforehand so you can hear how the background noise competes with the speech. And don’t forget that all electronic devices emit an electromagnetic field to some degree, just by virtue of being on, and this field can show up in your recording as a hum or a buzz, often quite loud. If you have a large electronic device in the room (like an industrial copy machine), it may need to be shut off.
5. Prepare the Transcriptionist for Unique Terminology
When a transcriptionist comes across a word or phrase with which they’re unfamiliar, they’ll usually do their best to spell it phonetically. Unfortunately, this can leave the transcript looking amateurish at best (the name, “Andy Ziats” becomes “Andy Zayitts”), and misleading at worst (“SA program” becomes “essay program”), but a very easy fix is to prepare the transcriptionist beforehand with a list of keywords. This includes proper names (of both people and places), specialized terms (legal, pharmaceutical, etc.), and any acronyms to be used in the discussion. The list prepared beforehand is unlikely to be exhaustive, but it will go a long way towards reducing confusing or useless passages in your transcript.
6. Make Sure that All Speakers are Identifiable
This one comes as quite a shock to many transcription clients: when a meeting is being held with four or more participants, it is rare that the speakers’ voices are distinct enough for a complete stranger to reliably identify them throughout the transcript, especially for short “yes/no” or “uh-huh” statements. As a result, your document may eventually degenerate into a series of questions and answers attributed to “Male Voice 1” through “Male Voice 4,” and, in cases of very similar voices, even the numbering may not be possible.
Thankfully, this is another easy fix. If your schedule and budget allow, it’s a good idea to have someone sit in on the meeting solely to produce speaker ID notes. All that’s required is to number the participants, then keep a running list of the numbers in the order of which they speak, along with the first word or two of their statements. This is basic data entry and more advanced notes can be taken if time allows, but with just this bare minimum, you will see a dramatic increase in the accuracy of the IDs listed in your transcript.
7. Understand the Implications of Turnaround Time
Finally, how quickly do you need your transcript? The average professional transcriptionist takes between 2.5 and 4 hours to transcribe a single hour of audio, so if you need your 8-hour meeting which ended at 8:00 P.M. transcribed by first thing tomorrow morning, there are not enough working hours left for a single person to do the job. The task will need to be split among multiple transcriptionists, who will then lose the benefit of context when it comes to naming spellings, proper terms, and even matching names to voices. A responsible transcription company will task an editor with combining the parts of the transcript and ensuring the pieces are as consistent as possible, but an editor’s practiced scan is still no substitute for the 8 hours of real-time attention that is most profitably done by a single individual. If accuracy is a higher priority than a turnaround, consider giving an extra day or two for transcription time. You’ll definitely notice the difference in the final product.


Instruction: Are Human Transcription Services Too Expensive

Response:
Anyone looking to engage with transcription services for the first time will probably be struck by the vast differences in price. Some services look like free while others charge in excess of £2 per recorded minute of audio. Precisely what costs significantly more than £0.75 each and every minute of audio would have been a ‘human transcription service ''. The cheaper services are all delivered by Automatic Speech Recognition software. This leads many people to question if human transcription services are worth the cost.
The answer to this question depends on your own audio quality and the last transcript that you need. While human services are going to cost more, this doesn't necessarily cause them to become very costly or unaffordable.  The extra costs of human transcription services pay for something. You are spending money on quality control and options around outcomes. If that is what you need, they aren't very costly because automated transcription services do not deliver these outcomes.
1. Paying For Quality: The Power of Human Transcription Services
While automated transcription services offer cheap pricing and quick turnarounds, they don't offer quality control. You obtain everything you get, and if your audio is low quality or has many speakers, you could end up with a transcript that's simply gibberish.You can find issues revolving around audio quality accents, speaking patterns, and colloquial language. If the software struggles to detect the audio or results in slang words that it can't register, then your answers are incredibly inaccurate. Even under ideal circumstances, automated services struggle to hit accuracy rates above 80%.   Human transcription services deliver results that you could rely on, that's everything you are paying for. They have quality control mechanisms. If the audio is poor, transcribers can spend more time reviewing the content. A human can detect slang with relative ease, understand different accents, and handle poor audio quality with less difficulty.Fundamentally, there's no place where machines can match the language processing power of the human brain. If you'd like your transcript done right, you will have to pay a person to do it. If you are using an automated service, expect to invest your own time reviewing and editing the transcript to have something that accurately reflects your recording. If your audio quality is poor, anticipate starting again from scratch if what's delivered is unintelligible.
2. Paying For Variety: Human Transcription Services Offer More Variety
A top-quality human transcription service will even give you variety around the service. With human services, you can tailor what you to match your needs. Most human transcription services will allow you to completely customize formatting and transcription priorities.
Word for Word transcripts provides the full details of what had been said. But, the standard word for word human transcriptions will tidy up the audio for you personally, removing ‘ums ', ‘errs' and false starts. This is really more straightforward to transcribe, so you'll often get an amount to break for this sort of transcript while receiving something that is more straightforward to read.Summary/Notes transcripts enable you to get an overview of a recording and digest the meaning without having to read each word. In addition, they tend to be much cheaper each minute. Nevertheless, you obviously don't get each detail.Verbatim transcripts deliver detail. You get a phrase for word transcript that also incorporates any ‘ums' and ‘ahs ', pauses, and so on. They can even include notes on tone and laughter.
Human transcription services can offer a lot more than automated versions. What this means is they feature far less expensive in as you are able to pay for exactly that which you need. Instead of paying the most effective price for a detailed verbatim transcript, you can pick a summary instead — if it satisfies your requirements. Below are some other illustrations.
The majority of the journalists like with an indication of when their subject slowed down or had to mull over something and ask to add notes of those pauses.Business people producing podcasts and telecasts often want a reasonably accurate transcription, but smoothed out to eradicate ums, ahs, pauses, and repetitions, so they have an excellent product to market or include in packages because of their clients.Some international conferences want to avoid embarrassment because of their delegates by having their English rewritten as I transcribe to seem as clo0se as possible to native British (or American) EnglishAuthors who start off with tape and are interested to become something they are able to publish as a book (this, unlike every one of the other available choices, involves two processes: transcription and then heavy editing and rewriting).
3. Paying For Security:  Data Protection & Security
When you're paying for a transcript, you must be certain that the data you pass across is completely safe and secure. Otherwise, there's no telling who could obtain practical some important business information via your audio recordings or the completed transcripts.With both human and automated services, you need to consider the hallmarks of data security. Research where your computer data is stored, how it's stored and how it's shared. You would like SSL encryption. Always look for ‘https' in the website URL as this ensures that the personal information is secure. Also, check for ISO 27001 & 9001 certifications as these indicate a secure data environment.Fundamentally, you need your computer data to stay within jurisdictions with high ethical business standards and judicial systems that pursue violations. Without that, it will be harder to follow along with up breaches, increasing the likelihood in which they occur.With automated transcription services, it could be difficult to ever get your computer data removed from servers. This advances the likelihood, so it eventually ends up in the incorrect hands. With human transcription services, data security is usually the difference between the lower and high-end fees. Human transcription services that cost less than £0.75 each and every minute of recorded audio in many cases are with a lack of a fundamental area — data security may be one of the first areas to go. If you want security guarantees, you may want to go through the higher end of the market.
Conclusion: Human Transcription Services Are Not Too Expensive if You Need Quality and Options
You Can Still Get A Good Deal On A Human Transcription Service
Plenty of businesses are unaware of how many deals you can find in the human transcript world. While you'll never get the same price as an automated option, you can still take measures to lower the expense to match your budget.For instance, you can choose longer turnaround times to acquire a cheaper rate. There is often a sizable price break if you're willing to wait significantly for more than seven days. If the transcript isn't a sudden priority, this can be a smart solution to squeeze out more value from the service. Likewise, the different transcript options mean you just pay for what you need.The bottom line is that you will find brilliant transcription services that also offer excellent affordability when you explore the different deals available. As a consequence, this will lower the expense without diminishing the service quality.By taking a look at the price tag on these services alone — particularly when comparing to an automated transcription service — it's easy to believe they're too expensive. But, the deeper you dig, the more you realize that human transcription services are incredibly affordable.Essentially, everything boils right down to the service quality. You receive more from your money whenever you spend extra on an individual service since it will always provide a higher degree of accuracy. Not just that human services can handle poor audio much easier. Humans can pause and decelerate audio tracks to understand fast talkers and listen through any additional background noise that could be disrupting the audio. What's more, an individual transcription service handles accents and slang words way much better than automated ones.Human transcription services also enable you to tailor your transcript to your specific needs. When combined with additional data security measures, then the expense of human transcription services seems extremely reasonable indeed.When all's said and done, human transcriptions are far more expensive — but they're certainly not too expensive. Remember, you get what you pay for. So, if you like the very best service possible, then be prepared to spend money on it.
Women like
Hendren and Keyes spend many years mastering their craft as per the research.
When she’s not teaching at Sound Camp, Hendren is a full-time sound engineer
who works for venues in St. Louis and tours with bands. Hendren got her start
by spending five years as a monitor engineer, which means she was in charge of
what artists hear on stage. Her venue saw 150 to 175 shows a year, but she says
she can count on one hand the number of female sound engineers she met during
that time.
“The guys who worked at the venue were great,” Hendren says of The Pageant in St. Louis. “But she always felt like she had to be a bit better at her job than they were. And then when she started talking to other women and had that feeling confirmed, it was like, ‘Okay, she was not imagining this. This was really taking her a lot more effort than it’s taking that guy over there.’” Hendren says she has lost work for being a woman; in one case, she was rejected for a job because the band’s wives were uncomfortable with a woman being on the bus.
Teaching at Sound Camp has been life changing for Hendren. When she describes the first time she saw the girls run a show without her help, she tears up. “It was so great,” Hendren says. “It was really amazing to feel like she did something for someone that no one was able to do for her.”
Despite the challenges, women have been producing music for decades. In the 1950s, when Cordell Jackson (nicknamed “the rock-and-roll granny”) couldn’t break into Sun Records, she started her own Memphis-based label, Moon Records, likely making her the first female record producer and engineer in the U.S. Other early women producers include Bonnie Guitar, whose label made hits like The Fleetwoods’s “Come Softly to Me,” and Sylvia Moy, who produced Motown acts and worked with Stevie Wonder. Ellie Greenwich co-wrote and co-produced hits like “Chapel of Love” and “Leader of the Pack.” Sylvia Robinson, known as the ‘’godmother of hip-hop,” started Sugar Hill Records, which put out the seminal track “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979.
Today, prominent female producers include Sylvia Massy, Sally Browder, Leslie Ann Jones, and Kara DioGuardi. There’s the rapper Missy Elliott, who has built a well-regarded career as a producer; Linda Perry from 4 Non Blondes, who has worked with artists like Pink and Christina Aguilera; and Tokimonsta, a classically trained pianist who has worked with Kelly Rowland. Still, younger rising stars include WondaGurl, a Canadian beatmaker who has been producing since she was 9 years old and who famously worked with Jay-Z when she was 16.
The
impressive individual accomplishments of these women, however, don’t change the
overall systemic picture, the fact that list after list from music
publications ranking top producers often don’t include a single woman.
Billboard’s 2016 Power 100 list only has 14 women on it, with none in the
top 10. No woman has won the Grammy for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical).
In the award’s 43-year history, there have been only six women nominees
for that category: Janet Jackson,
As the
last set of examples suggests, when a woman is lauded for her producing skills,
she’s usually also a well-known performer. Men, on the other hand, are more
likely to be touted for their musical technical prowess alone, according to
several female engineers I spoke with. “It’s always a sexy woman performing ...
a sexy woman singing who’s produced by an amazing man behind the glass,” says
Leslie Gaston-Bird, the AES vice president for western USA/Canada. “Even
Björk had to come out and say ‘I produce my own stuff. ... I just
happened to work with a man.’”
Women in
audio deal with unique challenges that come from working within a cross-section
of two traditionally male-dominated fields. Because of the technical nature of
their jobs, they experience issues similar to those many women in STEM—science,
technology, engineering, and math—face, such as struggling for respect and
being second-guessed by their peers. On top of that are the added pressures of
the competitive and fickle music industry.
Historically,
audio engineering has relied on apprenticeships: An established engineer will
find a younger person with potential and interest, take him under his wing, and
teach him the job. Such mentorships foster loyalty but can also end up shutting
women out of the field. “[The apprenticeship model] gives young women a
challenge because it’s less likely that an older [male] engineer is going to
see himself in a young woman,” says Susan Rogers, a professor at Berklee
College of Music who was also the sound engineer on Prince’s Purple
Rain. “So it’s another barrier of entry.”
Since training an engineer from scratch is a lot of work, the industry is increasingly turning to colleges to teach audio professionals. Which brings up another possible reason for the lack of female producers: Women don’t take as many music-engineering classes. At Berklee, for example, only 15 to 20 percent of students in engineering classes are women, Rogers says. According to an AES convention paper presented It’s possible, too, that women aren’t going into audio because they don’t know these careers exist. When Gaston-Bird interviewed women in the industry about their careers, she found that the majority learned about their jobs by accident, by going to shows and talking to people who work with bands. (This awareness problem, to be fair, can apply to men as well.) But this still doesn’t explain why, when women do know about audio engineering, they tend to choose other career paths in music instead.
While there are few studies on the issue, the little data there suggest this disparity starts young. In 2014, researchers at the University of Colorado, led by Gaston-Bird, asked 36 students (18 male, 18 female) at a Denver secondary school what music-related careers they were interested in. The results were divided along gender lines between technical and nontechnical careers. While both groups wanted to be artists, the girls were also interested in being sound designers, music therapists, songwriters, teachers, and composers. The boys wanted to work in sound design and mixing electronic-music programming, audio software design, producing, and recording engineering.
Terri
Winston, the executive director of WAM, says she believes women don’t go into
audio partly because of how young girls are first exposed to technology. When
women don’t play with tools or learn to build things as children, they can lack
interest or confidence in using those skills as adults.
Winston herself got to dodge this particular roadblock: Her father was a mechanical engineer who encouraged her to tinker with his equipment when she was growing up. At WAM, she tries to foster a similar sense of curiosity by exposing her students to different audio technologies in the “hope something sticks.” So far, it has: In 14 years, WAM has placed more than 400 women in sound-related jobs with companies like Dolby Laboratories, Pixar, Google, and Electronic Arts.
Nice
women secure jobs in audio, they can still grapple with sexist remarks,
condescension, and unfair performance standards—as a recent discussion on the
AES Facebook page illuminates.
Emily Lazar is a mastering engineer who has been nominated for three Grammys and has worked with thousands of musicians, including Sia, David Bowie, and Björk. In an email, she explains that when she was coming up in her field in the ’90s, she had few options for dealing with sexism at work. “If you did not just go along with a lot of the behavior, you would at least be excluded from sessions and your position threatened,” Lazar says. “I think the overt behavior has improved as of late. However, the underlying bias is still very much evident.”
Difficulties that women face in other jobs are only amplified in a heavily gender-skewed field like audio. Getting pregnant and having children can come with career-defining consequences. The hours are long and unpredictable, which can take a toll on family life, and there’s a constant pressure to stay relevant: In the competitive music world, even a brief hiatus can open the door for someone else to take your job. “There’s no taking time off and saying, ‘Here’s my replacement,’” says the sound engineer Shani Gandhi, who at 29 has already won a Grammy for Best Folk Album as an engineer on Sarah Jarosz’s album Undercurrent “If you don’t work, you’re not making money.” This lack of stability makes it even more financially risky to have a family. Most audio professionals are self-employed, which means health care comes out-of-pocket, and there are no benefits like paid maternity leave.
Technological changes have eased some pressure on this front. As with other fields, women working in audio in the 1970s and ’80s often felt they had to choose between careers and family. According to Rogers, during that period the recording tools were hardware-based, which, combined with expensive studio time, meant everyone involved in making the album had to keep working on-site until it was finished. Now the recording technology is usually on a laptop that can be paused when needed, and studios are often at home, which offers women more flexibility. However, issues like childcare still remain a challenge.
While the music industry has long ignored how few women work in audio, there are glimmers that things may be starting to change, from the newly formed Diversity and Inclusion Committee at AES to the continuing success of WAM to the rapidly growing SoundGirls.org. Trina Shoemaker, who has been a music producer and sound engineer for 23 years, says she’s optimistic about the industry’s future because, compared to when she was coming up, more women are seeking careers in audio. They just don’t have visibility yet, she adds because it can take so long to become successful—a decade to learn the skills and another decade to master them. “There’s usually a 20- to 25-year period of time when women enter a field before they become proficient, and then the equalization happens,” Shoemaker says. “With audio, women started entering the field in the ’70s and ’80s.
At the SoundGirl’s camp in Nevada City, it’s striking how inspired the girls to seem to be by learning audio technologies. Siena Bratt, 17, says working the analog soundboard “makes me feel like a badass.” As a burgeoning musician, she didn’t know before attending the camp how much control the engineer has over how the music sounds when it reaches the audience. “You really have all the power,” Bratt says.
Source
Joy Lanzendorfer. “Why Aren’t There More Women Working in Audio?” The Atlantic,  AUGUST 30, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/08/why-arent-there-more-women-working-in-audio/537663/
Accessed 4 February 2020.


Instruction: What Is A Stage Name

Response:
A stage name is a pseudonym utilized by performers and entertainers, such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such titles are adopted for a wide selection of reasons and may be similar or nearly identical to an individual's birth name. In some situations, a performer will ultimately adopt their title as a legal name, although this really is often not the case. Nicknames are occasionally used within a person's professional name.
There are numerous reasoned explanations why you might need to make a stage name. Perhaps your given name has way too many syllables or has an unfortunate connotation. Either way, you'll need a name that is memorable and can help establish your personal brand.


Instruction: What Are The Different Ways That You Could Find A Stage Name

Response: Simplify your name. Oftentimes, stage names are simply simplified versions of certain names. If your full name is particularly long or hard to pronounce, simplifying it may assist you to out. Anglicize your name. While controversial, some may choose to modify their name to focus on a Western audience. Similar to simplifying, this often involves editing an ethnic or difficult to pronounce name into something short and simple to remember. Use your mother's maiden name. Use your mother's maiden name as your first or last name. This applies as soon as your mother's maiden name is catchier or more straightforward to pronounce or remember than your given surname. Just like these types of methods, the best way to try a name's catchiness is to ask people you know what their reaction to it is. Use your middle name. Take your middle name and make it be your first or last name. Times, when this could be applicable, are whenever your last name is harder to pronounce, or much too common Use only a single name. If your first, middle or last name sounds unique you could decide to pass by this alone. Select the name that has the best middle ground between pronounceable, memorable, and catchy. Choose a provocative word to incorporate in your stage name. Create a name that relates to the genre or culture you desire to be identified with.


Instruction: Why Should You Have A Stage Name If You Are An Actor Or Entertainer

Response:
Stage names are the names of any actor, actress or any other famous person which is not the actual name that was given to him/her by born. These names are mainly derived later to catch the attention of a larger community and get noticed. There are many actors, actresses as well as famous persons from worldwide who are being observed as doing such kind of thing. Curiosity might question of reasons behind having such kind of names. The reasons for having a stage name vary from person to person. But there are some common facts that lurk behind having stage names.
Actors will be the leader of an artistic piece (Cinema) which in modern days is principally designed for the purpose of business. As long as the company goes well, the actor is always to survive with pride. The minute the company drops, something happens. Though real art never dies, nowadays it could easily get forgotten for a time being. And all the actors face such type of insecurity deep inside themselves. Some could have names that they find backdated or names that don't suit them according to their class, or the might need something catchy to flush themselves near the fans. In such cases out of pride or for a company reason or for some conduct of a certain actor, either they provide themselves a stage name or it will be written by friends or a group and later gets popular in that name.There might have been a wholesome of reasons behind a certain actor's having a stage name but the key point remains the exact same more or less. And they are the aforementioned terms.A lot of young acting students wonder why actors need stage names. The truth is: not all actors need or use stage names, but also for some, it's the proper way to go. Some actors choose to legally change their names in court, but many can use and register stage names without ever being forced to legally change it. In fact, some actors choose to simultaneously use their real names and stage names to help keep their work and personal lives separate.