Multimedia project for the snappy multilingual news channel of EuroparlTV

All the Parliament news offered in 24 languages

Executive summary

Our customer for this Multimedia project is EuroparlTV, the online video service of the European Parliament, one of the most significant promoters of this institution. The purpose of this television channel is to broadcast parliament activity by producing short videos with a duration of approximately 1 minute, which are subtitled in the 24 EU languages and disseminated through the Web channel, as well as on social networks. The two types of videos broadcast are parliament current events, which require immediate dissemination, and documentaries, which have a longer broadcasting time frame.

Until now, the only provider awarded this service was a news agency, which was in charge of recording and producing all the video material, as well as all the translations. The process implemented by this provider involved the presence of translators at European Parliament sessions, where they carried out their work. This solution restricted the selection of professionals to those available at a given time, regardless of their level of quality; however, a remote work system would have opened the possibility of always choosing the most suitable translators. Following an internal review of the situation, the institution decided to change the structure used to award the service by dividing it into the following lots: news agencies, a production firm that could offer technological developments and a language services provider. Thus, each successful bidder would be in charge of the part it specialized in.  Given this new scenario, CPSL decided to take part in the tender and was finally awarded the contract. The other successful bidders were two news agencies and the production firm that developed the digital technical platform.

At CPSL, we believe that the multimedia format offers a wealth of opportunities. We have experience working with both the institutional and private sectors to provide high-quality, localised content in multiple languages and within short deadlines

The challenge

• Immediacy: The main challenges that face us are immediate delivery of the translation, as well as the unpredictability of events and news associated with the current events dealt with in the videos. EuroparlTV requires news subtitles within 2 hours for the 5 most widely-spoken languages in the EU:French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish, and 6 hours for the remaining languages.
• Versatility: The next challenge is to obtain the best possible team of versatile translators: those with knowledge of institutional parlance, basic knowledge of subtitling, ample schedule flexibility and technical skills to work with an online platform, as well as availability compatible with the customer’s delivery deadline requirements.
• Unpredictability: As the subject matter of the videos is intertwined with current events, frequent changes to delivery deadlines take place and must be managed appropriately. Most of the videos are launched after 4 in the afternoon, the most frequent time span being between 5 and 7 in the afternoon.
• Coordination: Lastly, a project like this, which is awarded to several specialized providers, demands exceptional coordination and communication between all the parties involved.

How did CPSL help?

As a language services provider that has been collaborating with European institutions for over 30 years, CPSL has extensive experience in developing institutional projects, allowing us to rapidly detect and bolster those areas where we could add value to this project:

1. Tried and tested processes and work flows that ensure quality and delivery deadline control, in addition to risk analysis in each project;

2. Technology applied to management;

3. Technology applied to translation, subtitling and voice-over;

4. Ample and flexible scheduling options, thanks to the global presence of our project management teams and collaborators;

5. Scalability and multilingual services, thanks to our extensive, worldwide network of collaborators;

6. An integrated video production process thanks to the implementation of the subtitles translation platform with the latest technological features, which achieves greater efficiency in production and in the implementation of updates and corrections in both the source content and translation.

Described below is the work flow implemented by CPSL to achieve optimal project results, thus ensuring that the customer has its video ready for broadcasting on the requested date and time.

The news agency in charge of producing the video (France Press or ESN, depending on the case) uploads the video onto a technical platform (WorkSpace) specifically designed for the development and management of this project. Once the video is uploaded, the platform generates a job (task) per language (that is, 46 jobs per video), which is assigned to the expert linguist, translator or reviewer selected in each case to work on the video. The technical platform also provides a direct link to the video, thereby allowing the linguist to view it and obtain the necessary context for their translation or review. In addition, translators must take into consideration that the time codes are the same for all languages, requiring translation lengths similar to those of the source. This technical platform and its functions facilitate and streamline the work of all the players that participate in the process and are therefore one of the keys for its success. The news agency uploads the video and the file with the associated metadata (title, description, etc.) and fills in the form indicating what is to be translated, into which languages and when it will be broadcast. This form and the files uploaded by the agency are used by the technical platform to generate all the material that CPSL will work on subsequently. Once the subtitles and metadata are translated, the platform integrates this information to generate the 23 resulting videos, which are broadcast automatically at the time scheduled by the customer.

Each video requires the coordination of 46 linguists (23 translators and 23 reviewers), while taking into consideration constant scheduling changes and unexpected incidents. All project participants must be informed of any changes or incidents, so they can adapt them to each stage of the process they are taking part in. For example, any errors detected in the source video must be communicated to the news agency that generated the video, to all the linguists involved and to the QA managers (quality review stage) of the process.

Results & ROI

After more than one year of collaboration, the results of the project have been, and continue to be, very positive, despite the constant challenge for all the parties involved, including the customer, to which we have contributed the following:

1. Excellent coordination of all the players in the project.

2. Fully remote project development thanks to the technologies put into practice and the integrated tools that allow the implementation of this specific work flow.

3. The capacity to translate into 24 languages within periods of time that are very limited by the pressing need to broadcast the content (25% of the deliveries in 2 to 6 hours, 60% to be delivered in 12 hours and the remaining 15% in up to 72 hours).

4. A large number of translators given that each video requires the participation of 46 professionals: 23 translators and 23 reviewers that have to be coordinated for strict compliance with the deadlines

5. Fast response capabilities in the event of changes and contingencies, always in less than 2 hours.

6. Approximately 200 videos have been delivered since the start of the project (November 2016), equivalent to between 400 and 500 minutes of translated subtitles.

The implemented process flow has also allowed us to help the customer optimize costs, time and resources.  The results reflect the high degree of service quality provided by this remote working method.  At CPSL, we are extremely pleased with all of the above. We believe this is a perfect example of a solution that can work for and adapt to any customer, whether private or institutional, that decides to commit to making the most of the advantages provided by using a multimedia format for its business strategies or to disseminate official corporate content.

Do you need to create efficient, easy-to-use, multilingual e-learning content or a multimedia project from scratch? CPSL has partnered up with a renowned immersive and interactive technologies provider to offer state-of-the-art, comprehensive digital solutions.

Give us a ring to find the best fit for your needs!