Services:
Subtitling

Languages:
Spanish 

Badoo tasked VSI with the creation of Spanish subtitles for their English promotional video, which centred around intersex people searching for and finding love online.

The first half features River narrating an original poem in English, as the camera artfully cuts between River’s rooftop dance sequence and visual metaphors signifying relationships. This leads to an interview segment, where they then discuss what it means to date as an intersex person.

In this segment of the video, River relates their personal experiences of online dating. They confess that, at first, they chose not to disclose being intersex for fear of being judged, but after finally deciding to present themselves as intersex, they received a flurry of messages and interest from those also seeking a relationship.

In the video, River delivers the poignant lines:

I chose to be bold.
I chose to be free.
I chose to date honestly.

The focus of our brief was to ensure that the performative nature of the poem would be reflected in the Spanish translation. Recognising this unique requirement, we adapted our subtitling workflow to include transcreation. This allowed us to offer multiple creative options, even within the challenge of adhering to the technical requirements of subtitling.

River’s candid interview was also treated as a specialised translation. Their personal struggles and uplifting moments while dating were conveyed with sensitivity by VSI’s linguists, ensuring that we carried over not only the meaning behind the interview, but River’s own nuanced way of describing their experience.