In a bid to encourage more video uploads from outside the U.S., Google has added a new set of caption translation tools on YouTube. Google has integrated its Google Translator Toolkit with YouTube Video Manager, enabling support for more than 300 languages.
It’s notable that these tools should not confused with the automatic caption translations, which YouTube currently supports for about 50 languages. Users who want to add captions in languages that are not supported by the automatic caption translate will have to do the work themselves or ask others to help in.
To get started, users need a caption track for their video. Choose ‘Request translation’ in the YouTube Video Manager, and then select the languages they’d like to translate into, and click ‘Next’. YouTube will publish caption translation documents, with which users can invite anyone to assist in translations. If users want to translate the captions themselves, they need to select the language, which will open up the caption translation document in the Google Translator Toolkit editor.
Google has also embedded the YouTube video in the editor enabling users to watch as they translate. According to Google, YouTube will provide a draft of the translation using Google’s machine translation technology. There’s also a preview of what the translated caption looks like on the video.
Once translations are completed, users need to click ‘Publish to YouTube’. In case translator is not the video creator, the latter will be informed via e-mail about a pending translation awaiting approval and publication.
“By providing translated captions, you’ll not only make your video globally accessible but also improve discoverability in other languages. Now you can increase your audience by reaching more people around the world,” says Google in a blog post.
Learn more about YouTube’s new caption translator feature here.
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