OOONA, a globally active provider of translation, subtitling, management and captioning tools for the media localization industry, announces The POOOL, an openly searchable online database of audiovisual translation talent. Directly accessible on the OOONA website, The POOOL is a directory of professionals offering services such as subtitling, closed captioning, audio description, linguistic and technical quality control, metadata translation, spotting, transcription and post-production editing.
A key element of The POOOL is AVT Pro Certification, which will be a professional qualification recognized and accepted by the localization industry as a badge of quality and competence. This initiative aims to encourage high standards of proficiency by endorsing translators who possess the linguistic knowledge and technical skills necessary to provide fully professional language services for the audiovisual industry. It will offer candidates, employers and clients a unique guarantee of excellence. In the first instance, candidates will be able to take a test in subtitling.
"We are establishing The POOOL in response to the rapidly increasing demand for media content localization resources," says OOONA CEO Wayne Garb. "A so-called 'talent crunch' is evident right across the media industry, accelerated by the ever-growing popularity of video-on-demand services. An industry-specific web portal is essential if you are trying to find media-savvy professionals with the right experience in translating audiovisual productions between specific languages. The POOOL is configured to be that portal. We have always made a point of being attentive to the needs of the AVT industry at every level and will be especially so in ensuring this venture achieves worldwide recognition."
OOONA is developing The POOOL in co-operation with some of the world-leading specialists representing all the stakeholders in media localization, including LSPs, translators' associations, localization professionals and academia.
"The increasing popularity of video-on-demand viewing, combined with the globalization strategy driving the fast development of most OTT providers, has led to a vast increase in the volume of translation and access services needed to operate successfully in such a competitive mediascape," adds Jorge Díaz Cintas, Professor of Translation at University College, London. "The POOOL looks set to become a really useful online hub for AVT specialists, allowing interested parties to identify and contact professionals with the necessary experience in terms of language combination, education, specific skills and location. In terms of AVT Pro Certification, the time is certainly ripe to establish such accreditation. I am delighted to be part of the discussions which have now been initiated and am confident that this joint effort will yield fruitful results in the very near future."
