RED FLAG WORDS
I had a great time at the Brno Fulldome Film Festival this year, but also saw a lot of fulldome films with poor English translations.
One way to test whether your script has been appropriately translated is to check for the ‘red flag’ words listed below.
These are all perfectly good English words, and any of them could be used well in the right context - there are no definitive rules for language. However, if you find these words in your translated script then it may be worth your time checking everything is ok. Especially if the target audience includes children or people who don’t read books.
The most useful red flag word is “thus”. This word shouldn’t be used in any standard planetarium show, but it is a direct translation of common words from many languages.
If you find these words in your fulldome film script, you can send it to me for a FREE check to find out if you have a problem or not.
RED FLAG Word list
I have heard every word here being used inappropriately in a fulldome film, some of them many times (yes, I take notes!). I have roughly divided the words into four groups, but many of them could be considered to belong to more than one group.
Words That Make You Sound Like An Old Textbook
aforementioned • albeit • anew • beauteous • celestial body • firmament • furthermore • in addition • moreover • myriad • nevertheless • notably • numerous • of such • one such • regardless • therefore • thus • why so
Difficult Sciency Words People May Not UNderstand
assessed • attribute • auxilliary • biosphere • body (for object) • compression • ejected • emit • employ • evolutionary • exceed • flora • frigid • inclination • indicated • minimal • parabolic • perturbations • (flat) plane • predominate • significantly • simplistic • situated • zenith
Difficult Words For Children (Tier-2 Words)
eliminate • accumulate • arid • characteristic • consist • decline • determine • disperse • emerge • enabled • erected • interact • interior • isolated • located • perceive • prevailing • process • prominent • remnant • saturated • substantially
Words That Just Sound Awkward
actually • “I am” / “it is", and similarly uncontracted words in dialogue • in order to • such as • various • what we call