Google

Google also felt that to improve the interactivity of the programme and better relay the information, they needed to replace the human actors with animated characters within the educational videos. translate plus put some designs together and upon feedback from Google, we all settled on the use of customisable, universal Google Android characters. Cultural and social factors were taken into account when designing the outfits, hairstyles and background themes for the Android characters, ensuring that the users can relate to the animations. This means that Google will not have to continuously source new human actors in order to continue to cater to new global users – saving them time and money. Although the characters are adaptable, the Android “character template” is basically the same, strengthening the recognisability of the e-learning programme across several countries.

To place the Androids onto the customised background themes, we used software such as Adobe Character Animator and Adobe After Effects.
Synchronisation was also important to this project, so we embedded the new voiceover audio into the videos and ensured the on-screen movement of the Androids were natural and that they integrated with the recorded speech.

Utilising screen-capturing software such as ScreenFlow and Final Cut Pro, we were able to reproduce the videos in the target languages, as well as localise the on-screen-text (OST).

We recognised that the character limit of the OST often increased once translated, so we used typesetting to ensure that all the translated text fit on to the screen whilst remaining visually appealing.

translate plus was able to derive terminology from the software that Google was using in the tutorials and integrate it into our translation tools, saving a lot of time.
Constant QA checks were put in place to ensure the translations were thoroughly accurate. translate plus created a termbase – an electronic glossary –specifically for Google, allowing for the systematic management of approved terms in both source and target languages. CAT tools were also vital to this project, saving the translated content into a database, called a translation memory (TM). This means key terms can be re-used for any other text, or even in the same text. This was particularly helpful in regard to adapting Google’s accompanying course material to suit the target languages, such as activity sheets, brochures, stickers and flyers, to the target language. Consequently, this saved a lot of time and effort and helped to make a coherent and consistently high-quality translation.

As Google continues to roll out CS First globally, our aim for this project is to keep Google’s brand message, material and content consistent throughout. This enables us, along with Google, to create the desired audience reaction.