English video translator

English

English is selected when you start from this page. Add any other language in the same job; each is priced on its own.

Lip sync, on or off

On, the speakers' mouths are rendered again to match the English lines. Off, your picture stays exactly as it was and only the voice changes.

Proofread the English script

Read the transcript beside its English translation, line by line, and correct it before anything is voiced. Or upload your own English .srt or .vtt and the dub says exactly those lines.

English subtitles in the picture

When the dub comes back with its English script, style the subtitles and export a copy with them burned in, set in Noto Sans unless you pick another font.

Write for second language viewers too

Many people watching in English learned it at school. Plain sentences travel further than idioms, so while you proofread, replace any saying that was carried over word for word from the original language with what it actually means. Short, direct lines also sound more natural when they are voiced.

Choose American or British spelling and words

Sonilo dubs one English. If your audience is in the UK, Australia or India, check the script for color or colour, apartment or flat, and fall or autumn, and make it consistent. The words on screen and the words spoken should agree, especially in a tutorial that shows menus.

Decide what stays untranslated

Dish names, festival names, forms of address and brand names often read better left as they are, with a few words of explanation the first time. Decide this while proofreading. A term you keep is spoken by the English voice, so listen to it once in the result.

English is often the shorter version

A line in English frequently needs fewer syllables than the same line in Spanish, Portuguese, German or Hindi. With lip sync off, that can leave a speaker mouthing words after the voice ends. Turn lip sync on to match the mouths to the English lines, or keep the original picture and accept the small gap.

Creators going global

A channel that grew in Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese or Indonesian can test an English audience with the videos it already has. Translate the best performing ones first, and keep the originals for the home audience.

Startups and software demos

A founder who recorded the product demo in their own language can show it to customers and investors in English the same day. Proofread the feature names so they match the product, and download the English cut for the website.

Lectures, courses and training

Teachers and companies that record lessons in one language can offer them to English speaking learners. Each lesson is its own job, so a course can be translated a module at a time and corrected where a term needs it.

Short dramas and entertainment

Series made for one country can find viewers in English speaking markets. With lip sync on, the actors appear to speak English; with it off, the original performance stays untouched and only the voices change.

The soundtrack stays

Sonilo keeps the original background music and sound effects and replaces only the speech, with lip sync on or off.

The speaker’s own voice

Sonilo keeps the speaker’s own voice in the new language, so the translated speech sounds like the person in your video, not a stock voice. There is no voice to record or set up.

Lip sync, when you want it

On: mouths are re-rendered to match the new language. Off: your original picture stays untouched and only the voice is replaced.

You approve the words

The translation is a script you can read and correct first. A product name, a joke, a line of dialogue: fix it before it is spoken.

Your subtitles, spoken

Upload an .srt or .vtt for a language and the dub says exactly those lines, instead of a machine translation of them.

Music for the new cut

Sonilo also adds music to video. If a translated version needs its own soundtrack, add music to it in the same account.