How to adapt a video into several languages: subtitles, voice-over, dubbing or AI

Why make a video in several languages

More and more companies need their videos to work outside their own country. A Barcelona tech company selling across Europe, a brand opening an online shop in France or Germany, a Spanish podcast aiming at Latin America, a company with teams in several countries that needs training to land the same way in every office.

In all these cases, video is the most expensive piece to produce and the one most wasted if it only works in one language. A good corporate or product video can serve several markets for years, as long as it was planned for that.

The good news is that adapting a video is far cheaper than shooting it again. The bad news is that if the video was not prepared for several languages, adapting it can be a puzzle: text burned into the picture, music mixed with the voice, shots that rely on a pun that cannot be translated.

So this article has two parts. First, the ways to adapt a finished video, with their strengths and limits, including artificial intelligence, which has changed things a lot in recent years. Then, how to prepare a shoot so the video is born ready for several languages, which is where the real time and money are saved.

The four ways to adapt a video into another language

There are four ways to take a video into another language, from simplest to most complete.

Subtitles. What is said gets translated and put on screen. It is the fastest option and keeps the original voice, which is very valuable in interviews, testimonials or podcasts, where the speaker is part of the message. Its limit is that it requires reading, and not everyone does. We explain how to do them well in why your videos need subtitles.

New voice-over. If the video has a voice-over, someone narrating off screen, that voice is re-recorded in the other language by a native voice artist. It is the ideal option for narrated product, explainer and corporate videos, because the result is as natural as the original.

Dubbing. When the person speaks to camera, their voice is replaced with another in the other language, trying to match lip movement. It can be done with dubbing actors or, increasingly, with artificial intelligence.

A recorded version in each language. If the speaker is fluent in several languages, or there is a presenter per market, each version is recorded separately on the same day. It is the most natural option of all, and with good planning it barely lengthens the shoot.

In practice, many projects mix options: new voice-over for the narrated part and subtitles for the interviews, for example.

Translating and dubbing video with AI: what works today

The most common question is whether you can translate a video with artificial intelligence. The short answer is yes, and it works better than many people think, with some conditions.

There are now tools that transcribe what is said, translate it, generate a voice similar to the original in the other language and, in some cases, adjust lip movement. For an internal training video, a tutorial or social content that will be seen for a week, the result can be more than enough, and the time saved is huge.

Where it still fails is nuance. Proper names, your sector's technical terms, wordplay, humour and brand tone tend to come out wrong if nobody checks them. A machine translation of an idiom can end up saying something literal and absurd.

So the rule we apply is simple: AI makes the first draft and a native speaker always reviews it. They check the translation before the voice is generated, and listen to the final version before it is published.

There is one more issue that is not technical: a person's voice belongs to them. If someone on your team or a spokesperson is going to have their voice cloned to speak another language, you need their express written consent, and it is worth agreeing what it can be used for.

And a practical tip: if the piece matters for your brand, such as the main website video or an ad, a voice-over or dub with professional voices is worth it.

It is not just translation: Spanish from Spain, Latin American Spanish and English

Adapting a video is not just swapping words. It is making sure it sounds natural to whoever watches it.

Spanish is a good example. A video written in Spain uses expressions, forms of address and vocabulary that sound odd in Asunción, Buenos Aires or Mexico City, and vice versa. You do not need a version for each country, but you do need to review the text with the main audience in mind. Sometimes a more neutral Spanish works everywhere; other times it pays to have one version for Spain and another for Latin America. The weight of each market decides.

English is similar: British and American English differ in vocabulary, the spelling on titles and voice-over accents. If the video is mainly for the United States, an American voice makes sense; if it is for Europe, many companies choose a British or neutral international voice.

And in Catalonia, many companies also need a Catalan version, especially for internal communication, public bodies or local audiences.

Some details get adapted too: date and time formats, units, cultural references, examples and sometimes even images. A shot that feels friendly in one country may not work in another.

The way to get it right is always the same: a native speaker from each market reviews the version before it goes out.

How to plan a shoot so the video is born multilingual

What saves the most when adapting a video is thinking about it before shooting. These are the decisions we make in pre-production when we know a video will have several versions.

Text separate from the picture. Titles, headings and graphics are built on separate layers, not burned into the image. That way they can be changed in minutes for each language.

Room for text to grow. A sentence in German or French is often longer than in English or Spanish. Title templates are designed with margin.

Voice and music on separate tracks. A mix without voice, with music and effects, is delivered; in the industry it is called an M&E or international track. Any voice-over can go on top without losing the soundtrack. If the music is licensed, check it covers every country where it will be used; we explain it in what music you can use in your video.

Interviews in the speaker's own language. People speak better in their own language. It is better to subtitle them than to force them into another.

Presenter versions on the same day. If the person on camera speaks several languages, each version is recorded back to back, with the same shot and light.

Shots that work without words. The more information the picture carries, the less the video depends on translation.

And a script that does not hinge on untranslatable puns. If the key line only works in one language, think from the start about how it will be said in the others.

How we work across languages at Bostak

At Bostak Films we work in Spanish and English every day, and we adapt pieces into other languages when a project calls for it.

A large part of our work is for English-speaking audiences. With our partner Dull Light in Miami, we handle post-production for English-language podcasts such as The Sage Steele Show, The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast and Sadia Khan's The Brutal Truth, from Spain. That means taking care of subtitles, titles and thumbnail text in English on every episode, to the same standard as in Spanish.

In corporate video, we have worked for internationally minded companies such as Qilimanjaro, a European quantum computing company, with coverage of international events and pieces designed for investors and talent outside Spain. It is the kind of project where the version in another language is not an extra but part of the brief from day one.

And we work with clients who are not in Barcelona: European brands coming here to shoot, as we explain in shooting in Barcelona as a foreign brand, and Latin American shows that record in their own country and send us the footage, as we explain in how to record a podcast remotely.

If you have a video you want to take to other markets, or you are about to shoot one that needs to work in several languages, tell us about it. As part of our corporate video service, we will propose the best way to adapt it and get it ready for each country.

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