YouTube Launches Auto-Translated Captions

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YouTube Launches Auto-Translated Captions

YouTube Launches Auto-Translated Captions & Auto-Generated Transcripts for Mobile App

Content creators build content in their primary languages all over the world. And, they prefer YouTube mostly to upload them because of YouTube’s flexible usage. But, now, everyone can’t understand every language. Thus, audiences might get a useful YouTube video regarding their circumstances. But, due to the language restrictions, audiences can’t use it.

This will be solved as Google has rolled out exciting updates to YouTube. The YouTube mobile app will now have an auto-translated captions feature to help viewers. In addition, the video will show translated captions below the screen. And, you don’t need to understand what the creator is speaking about as long as you have captions.

On the other hand, auto-translated captions are not the only thing that appeared in the latest YouTube update. Google has made YouTube video navigation easy with auto-generated transcripts. In other words, YouTube has become a more feasible platform for enjoying relatable content.

Auto-Translated Captions on YouTube: How does it Work?

Captions or subtitles in your primary language are a great way to understand any video when you don’t understand the language. Google realized it way before and brought Closed Captions or CC to YouTube videos, as reported by Mobile Repair Dubai. Well, Google moved a step further for the YouTube mobile app, and it introduced auto-translated captions.

It came to light through the Google I/O 2022 event. And it showed the roadmap of YouTube for 2022. The tech giant confirmed that YouTube viewers could access auto-translated subtitles or captions with every video. Previously, this feature was only limited to the web version of YouTube.

YouTube will now generate captions automatically even though the creator hasn’t provided the video with captions. Currently, YouTube supports 16 different languages for generating auto-translated captions.

Now, the question arrives, ‘How do auto-translated captions help YouTube creators and viewers?’. YouTube creators are from every nook and corner of the globe. However, they mostly speak in which language they’re comfortable.

However, the language might not be understandable to all. The advent of multilingual captions will help viewers to understand the video even though they don’t know the creator’s native language. In addition, auto-translated captions will break down the geographical barriers.

Thus, YouTube creators will gain a more expansive base of audience. And, audiences need not wait for a video to be released in their native language.

What are other Uses of YouTube’s Auto-Translated Captions?

Apart from this, multilingual subtitles will help those people who are suffering due to low hearing capacity. Auto-translated captions are a good option for the hard-of-hearing community.

In addition, you might prefer watching YouTube videos without sound where it is mandatory to keep silent. Therefore, you can activate auto-translated captions and interpret what’s happening through the subtitles.

According to a study, 92% of audiences prefer watching videos on mobile devices. That’s why auto-translated captions are a must for a seamless experience.

How many Languages do YouTube’s Auto-Translated Captions Support?

For now, Google launched auto-translated captions for the YouTube mobile app for 16 different languages. Additionally, Google confirmed that auto-translated captions would soon be available for Ukrainian content.

Currently, you can enable this feature for the following languages:

  • Russian
  • Portuguese
  • Korean
  • Japanese
  • Italian
  • German
  • Arabic
  • French
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • Hindi
  • English
  • Indonesian
  • Dutch
  • Thai
  • Spanish
  • Vietnamese

Undoubtedly, auto-translated captions will be a great move for the YouTube mobile app. Audiences mostly prefer mobile phones for watching content. Thus, viewers and creators will receive the perk equally. Auto-translate captions will be available on YouTube mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms.

How to View Auto-Translate Captions on YouTube Mobile App?

It’s very easy to enable auto-translate captions on the YouTube mobile app. Irrespective of an Android or iOS mobile, the following steps will allow you to watch subtitles in your preferred language.

  1. Tap the video you want to play with your preferred language for captions.
  2. Next, tap the Settings or gear icon from the upper right corner of the screen.
  3. The Settings icon is between the Closed Captions or CC and the three dots icon.
  4. Once Settings expands, select the Captions option.
  5. Now, tap the Auto-translate option and choose the language for subtitles.

English captions will be the default if you don’t select a language.

What about YouTube’s Auto-Generated Transcripts?

After auto-translate captions, transcripts are the talk of the YouTube town. Google started the initiative to make navigation way easier for YouTube videos. YouTube videos can be versatile as well as lengthy. The audience might lose interest in the video if it’s tediously long. The audience might quit the video before the section where they find the video useful.

Google had introduced video chapters before. However, Google has rolled out auto-generated transcripts for YouTube videos. Transcripts are timestamps mentioned in texts that will tell you the topics discussed along with the video, including their timestamps. Previously, creators had to include transcripts in the description section to simplify navigation.

Now, it’s not mandatory anymore for creators to include one. Instead, YouTube will automatically generate transcripts. This technology hasn’t hit every content on YouTube yet. However, Google plans to increase the quantity from 8 million to 80 million for this particular technology.

However, auto-generated transcripts were available on the web edition of YouTube. Introducing the technology on mobile devices was overdue. Currently, Android users can access the ‘Show Transcripts’ option. If you own an Android phone, play a video on YouTube. Touch the down-arrow icon beside the video title to open descriptions. Then, touch the ‘Show Transcripts’ option.

And you can see the transcripts or timestamps for the YouTube video. So you can tap on any timestamp according to your interest, and the entire video won’t feel boring.

Accuracy of YouTube’s Auto-Translate Captions and Auto-Generated Transcripts

Google has employed its speech recognition models to create auto-translate captions and auto-generated transcripts. Therefore, the accuracy of these two technologies relies on the video’s audio quality. The clearer the audio is, the results will be more accurate.

In addition to this, the speech recognition models test the dialects and accents of the YouTube video. Hence, you can expect a moderate experience from these automated updates on YouTube mobile app. On the other hand, they might not be that accurate in their initial period.

However, we can expect the features to be more accurate with each passing day. YouTube videos’ transcripts and captions might appear to be a mixed bag. This would be easier for YouTube and audiences if creators added captions and transcripts.

Summing Up

Experimenting with speech recognition models has become a trend for Google. With the help of auto-translation tools, Google wants to improve the YouTube experience for most users. However, Google eliminated community captions in 2020 for Korea and Japan especially.

However, Google is back in form with a target to stretch the technology field to as many YouTube videos as possible. Keep in mind that these YouTube updates are server-specific. You have to wait if you can’t enable auto-translate captions or Show Transcript. Hopefully, Google will release these exciting features of the YouTube mobile app for your region, too.

YouTube Launches Auto-Translated Captions

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