Written by Mac Kendema
Have you ever wanted to share your story? Do the listeners speak the same language as you? Join us as we take a look at the world of multilingual video content with the Youtube group Japanese Recipe Book.
Challenge
Speaking a second or third language can open new doors and with Youtube, that door may open up to billions of listeners. In 2021, the USA ranked #2 with about 197 million users and Japan ranked #4 with about 60 million users.
It’s clear to see the potential of bilingual content and one up-and-coming Youtube duo, Japanese Recipe Book, aims to open new doors one bite at a time. Let’s see what’s on the menu.
Introduction
Behind Japanese Recipe Book are its creators, Shi and Ri–a dynamic duo with many years of experience working with traditional, Japanese cuisine. They met by chance while working at the same food company and have been friends ever since. So, how did we get here?
One member of the duo, Ri, is an avid street hockey player and has been playing since high school. However, due to the pandemic, everything came to a stop. Like many others, Ri went in search of a new hobby that could be done from the comfort of home. She contacted Shi and together, they developed the idea of sharing home-cooked, Japanese dishes. From the classic onigiri (Japanese riceball) to the hometown taste of Japanese curry, Japanese Recipe Book shows viewers fun and simple ways of making Japanese food.
As a food vlogger, once you’ve decided what’s on the menu, how do you prepare the content? Let’s look at the production process from start to finish: filming, editing, creating transcripts and adding subtitles.
Starting from Scratch
On a budget but wanting to produce quality content, Ri and Shi use an iPhone 11. The iPhone 11 offers high-quality video at a reasonable price. The duo uses a friend’s apartment to cook and film. This takes about three to four hours to complete.
Adding seasonings
Moving on to the video editing process, Shi sends the video to Ri who edits it in her free time. Ri uses an iPad along with an editing app called VLLO. It’s great for beginners and available in English, Japanese and Korean. She uses VLLO to put English subtitles and add BGM to her video. Editing takes about a half-day.
The missing ingredient
Everything seems ready, but it feels like something is missing. Before using our services, Shi and Ri used DeepL. But like all machine-based translations, it can miss some of the intricacies of language, especially when it comes to cooking terminology.
That’s when Japanese Recipe Book came to Borderless Translations to make their menu more appetizing to their overseas guests. One of our key members and English-Spanish Translation lead, Chelsea, worked closely with Shi and Ri to add that extra kick they needed to make things work. With the help of Borderless Translations and Chelsea’s eye for quality, the duo said their video felt more authentic.
Client Quote
“Chelsea was meticulous yet kind with her copy writing and proofreading process. We learned many new expressions that we would have never discovered just from using DeepL.”
Shi and ri, Japanese recipe book
The Translation Process
The Japanese Recipe Book created the transcripts for their video using Microsoft Excel and included start time, end time, and the source language. Then, they sent the transcript to our team, and we added a target language column and adjusted the timestamps as needed.
Here’s more on this process from JRB:
“We sent the transcript to Chelsea and she corrected it and made us feel comfortable about the whole process. She let us know that if we had any questions, she would be available to answer them at any time.”
“When it comes to Japanese people translating things into English, it’s hard for us to judge if it sounds natural or not, which leaves us with a sense of unease.”
“Even if we double-check our work and search on the web, we don’t even know where to begin searching because these expressions are things that only native speakers use.”
“So, it was very helpful working with Chelsea because now we can research the expressions she gave us for later use.”
Time to Dig in
The content is ready, but where’s the best place to serve it? This is a tough question even the most experienced vloggers struggle with. JRB decided it was better to target those who are already hungry for Japanese culture. That’s where Hello Talk came into play.
Hello Talk is an app that connects learners of a target language looking to improve their language abilities to native speakers of the target language. This made the app the perfect platform for JRB to serve up their Japanese cuisine to non-Japanese viewers. They’ve gained several followers this way and hope to continue the trend.
A Memorable Taste
We wish Shi and Ri of Japanese Recipe Book great success in the future. Borderless Translations services were used in episodes 1 and 2 of their channel. Please check them out and don’t forget to subscribe!
Looking to grow your subscribers? Visit our services page for more information. No matter where you are in the world, Borderless Translations can help open new doors. Creating a world without borders, one translation at a time.
