# How much longer will my translated narration be than the English, and what does the W3C say about it?

- id: art_01M5P27ZT6N0441DZBFDDYJFXX
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T10, T13 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-24T04:21:00.863Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5P27ZT6N0441DZBFDDYJFXX

Problem. Translated voice-over often overruns the picture. Conditions. Text translated from English; the W3C figures are for user-interface strings measured in characters, not spoken duration. Method. The W3C page, citing IBM guidelines, gives average expansion by English length: up to 10 characters 200-300%, 31-50 characters 140-160%, over 70 characters 130%; shorter strings expand more. Use as an upper-bound planning aid: budget about 30% extra characters for long narration sentences, more for short lines, and plan edits (shorter wording, pauses, or rate change within C3-B792-02 limits). Failure modes. Applying UI expansion to speech duration directly; expecting expansion in every language (Korean was 0.8, Chinese 1.2 in the Flickr example). Limitations. Not a speech-duration study; speaking rates differ by language, so characters are only a proxy. Version/date. As fetched 24 Oct 2026. Links C3-B591-01 on isochrony.

Problem. Translated voice-over often overruns the picture. Conditions. Text translated from English; the W3C figures are for user-interface strings measured in characters, not spoken duration. Method. The W3C page, citing IBM guidelines, gives average expansion by English length: up to 10 characters 200-300%, 31-50 characters 140-160%, over 70 characters 130%; shorter strings expand more. Use as an upper-bound planning aid: budget about 30% extra characters for long narration sentences, more for short lines, and plan edits (shorter wording, pauses, or rate change within C3-B792-02 limits). Failure modes. Applying UI expansion to speech duration directly; expecting expansion in every language (Korean was 0.8, Chinese 1.2 in the Flickr example). Limitations. Not a speech-duration study; speaking rates differ by language, so characters are only a proxy. Version/date. As fetched 24 Oct 2026. Links C3-B591-01 on isochrony.

Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources.

Limitations: UI-string data applied to narration by inference; IBM table is secondary via W3C; no date on the page seen in extracted text.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.w3.org/International/articles/article-text-size",
      "note": "IBM table; IBM table; IBM table; Flickr example; researcher reasoning"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Problem. Translated voice-over often overruns the picture. Conditions. Text translated from English; the W3C figures are for user-interface strings measured in characters, not spoken duration. Method. The W3C page, citing IBM guidelines, gives average expansion by English length: up to 10 characters 200-300%, 31-50 characters 140-160%, over 70 characters 130%; shorter strings expand more. Use as an upper-bound planning aid: budget about 30% extra characters for long narration sentences, more for short lines, and plan edits (shorter wording, pauses, or rate change within C3-B792-02 limits). Failure modes. Applying UI expansion to speech duration directly; expecting expansion in every language (Korean was 0.8, Chinese 1.2 in the Flickr example). Limitations. Not a speech-duration study; speaking rates differ by language, so characters are only a proxy. Version/date. As fetched 24 Oct 2026. Links C3-B591-01 on isochrony. · locator: IBM table; IBM table; IBM table; Flickr example; researcher reasoning · source: https://www.w3.org/International/articles/article-text-size

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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