In 2025, the vast majority of people prefer to consume content in a video format. This has inspired millions of marketing agencies and simple content creators to share their own videos, but here’s the problem: only some of them find and conquer the hearts of their target audience successfully.
Why does it happen? Because the Internet might have erased the physical barriers between the countries, but people still expect content to be tailored to their unique cultures and languages. Find out how to do it, and your video assets will stay relevant in any part of the world.
Video Localization and Why It Is Essential
Video localization is a process of adapting a video in a way that is instinctively understandable and non-offensive to all kinds of geographical audiences. The language, the tone, the text, and even the images have to be adapted separately from region to region. You can check this article to understand all the benefits of video localization and find out what strategies you can use to prepare your content for international consumption. Now, let’s consider three essential approaches in detail.
How to Prepare Video Assets for Language and Cultural Adaptation
There are three strategies you must apply if you want to appeal to your international audience successfully. Each of them is equally important, so they all need your attention and resources.
Writing International-Ready Scripts or Hiring Quality Localizers
As research shows, between 2020 and 2024, the share of consumers viewing non-English language content has increased tremendously. Over 66% of English speakers aged between 18 and 34 admitted to being interested in non-English content, which includes TV shows and video streaming.
Content from Asia is particularly popular, and the same approach works the other way around. Plenty of people around the world are fascinated with English-language videos, and this fact creates numerous opportunities and problems. To prepare content that people will love and understand regardless of their location, you’ll have to write international-ready scripts.
Here is what such scripts involve:
- No idioms. Phrases that make sense in English, like “break the ice” or “until hell freezes over,” might sound like complete gibberish to other nationalities.
- No jokes. What we might find funny can sound offensive to someone in China; some jokes might be downright untranslatable.
- Shorter sentences. It’s easier to translate content and sync lip movements when the spoken sentences are concise.
- Neutral visuals. Visuals like clothes and flags should be culturally neutral, and this should be planned during the script-writing stage.
Naturally, sticking to these recommendations can result in bland, boring video assets. That’s why you can always hire a team of localizers who’ll translate all your idioms and jokes in a way that international folks will find just as funny as your English audience.
Recording Replaceable Audio
The secret to recording good videos lies in using individual speakers and creating dry audios with no background noises. Music should stay separate from voiceovers; if you need on-camera speakers, make sure they use subtle lip movements. These people should speak concisely and without fast or exaggerated twitches — this will ensure smooth re-dubbing in other languages.
Don’t forget about the role of automation. It can help you change one voice track to another with minimal effort — you’ll just need to find the right service to help you. All you’ll need to do is provide quality templates and guarantee that your audio is recorded in ways that can be easily replaced.
Setting Up a Cultural Review Process Before Video Release
Even if you’re certain your video has already been localized to a maximum, you’ll need to hire a local expert to give it a look. A person like this will be able to:
- Tell you if your video has any unclear sentences or structures
- Notice potentially offensive elements that seem normal to you
- Spot jokes or contexts that fall flat in a target language
- Give suggestions on how to solve the issues above
The last thing you want is to mortally offend your audience without even trying to. Culture is a sensitive thing; the images we think nothing of can mean the world to someone from another ethical and religious background. That’s why you need quality testers to green-light your video — it might sound like a chore, but this kind of review will let you feel completely at ease as you release your assets online.
Creating High-Performing Videos for International Audiences
Now you know how to adapt your video in a way that appeals to each person’s language and culture. Understand your audience to their core, cooperate with local language experts, and always allow them to review your final work. Keep localization as one of your priorities, and your video assets will charm their target audience for sure.
Guest Author
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