The Kitchen’s global philosophy for keeping staff current with language trends

Over the past 22 years, the language localization business has changed significantly. It has grown exponentially. And luckily, The Kitchen has grown with it. “We are often asked how our teams keep up with industry trends; how do we recognize good dubbing; if subtitles need to match the dialogue; should we watch the original language with subtitles, or the language native to the individual. Those are great questions, and in order to get the right answers, The Kitchen has formed a monthly Movie/TV Club, our version of a book club, specifically for our team to understand what works and what doesn’t in the language versioning we prepare for our clients,” Deeny Kaplan, Executive Vice President, explained.

The Kitchen’s teams in the company’s Miami headquarters for example, from Operations, Accounting, Marketing, Production Management and Casting are assigned a current title to watch at home, from one of the many broadcast or streaming platforms, that has originated outside of the US market. If a series has been selected, we are to watch the first episode. What’s interesting is that most of the time, the individuals go on to watch several, or all episodes in the season. "Intrigue and catching the viewer from the onset, is important!", said Kaplan. 

Native English speakers will always watch in English. Non-native English speakers will typically watch in their own native language, with English subtitles. Having reviewed material from Korea, France, Germany, etc., the consensus is that watching in the original language does offer many benefits. You hear the original cast and judge the casting and performances. Often the dubbed language casting isn’t as good as the original and that is what keeps us on our toes. The opportunity to review the subtitles is greater when listening in the original language. Often the subtitles do not match the on-screen dialogue, which can be quite distracting for both the regular viewer, and the professional linguist.

This is a fun exercise and a unique way for our team to grasp what other studios are doing. “We’ve learned a lot”, as Casting Manager, Ashley Perdigon explained, “I’ve learned to consider watching content in other languages, and this has helped me to learn more about what our competitors are doing, and it has given me the ability to keep up with industry standards. This is visual gratification at its best!”.

“All of our global language studios throughout LatAm and Europe will soon be starting their own Movie/TV Club and we urge anyone interested in being a part of the global language localization profession to use this a learning and refresher tool, to retain up to date processes at all times,” Deeny Kaplan concluded.