What is Auto-Translate?
Auto-translation is a near-instant process of taking text in one language and translating it into another using an algorithm. Auto-translation has no human intervention. Services use auto-translation to help everyone access content on them more readily. These days, many auto-translation services use AI, so it’s a rapidly changing option.
How Does Auto-Translate Work?
Auto-translation works in text, so that first has to be generated. In the case of YouTube, it can come from the video transcript or it can be auto-generated straight from the video. The text is then sent to a complex algorithm that works out the translation, checks for context that doesn’t translate directly, and smooths over the language. Then the new text is sent back for display.
Enabling Auto-Translated Captions on YouTube
YouTube makes enabling auto-translation very simple, and you can do it from any video. Unfortunately, there have been reports that the platform’s auto-translation feature can conflict with other auto-translation software, so keep that in mind before enabling.
Note: Directions are current as of February 2025.
- Turn on closed captions, which are in the lower left of the viewer.
- Click the settings gear.
- Click ‘Subtitles/CC’.
- Click ‘Auto-translate’.
- Select your language.
- Enjoy.
Providing Better Auto-Translation
The quality of auto-translation is highly variable depending on the language pair as well as the quality of text available. Where possible, submitting a verified transcription or closed captioning file of videos to YouTube can help improve auto-translation quality. When that’s not possible, ensuring clear audio quality so the program can auto-generate more accurate text to work with can also help.
Content creators also have the option to provide their own translations into specific languages and skip auto-translation for that language-pair.
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Want to know more about accessible communication? Check out Accessible Communication 101.