A new feature in YouTube promises accessibility to non-English speaking users by automatically translating all video titles, descriptions, and captions into their native languages.
The feature is one that's making strides in terms of community acceptance overseas. While YouTube's early days might have been marked with a primarily Western, Anglo-centered population, that is no longer the case. With famous YouTubers spanning countries and borders, be they Russian, Indian, Spanish, Japanese, the online community's a lot different now. And, honestly, for the better. Platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit are only further empowered by the diversity they enable, offering a glimpse into worldwide views and practices to virtually anyone. If such a melting pot is to be properly preserved, these sites need to start catering towards their needs, and not the other way around.
YouTube started this process of theirs with the addition of closed captions to videos. Featuring an almost endless plethora of languages spoken all over the world, these were here to ensure that viewers could potentially watch any and all videos, unhindered by a lack of grasp around the medium of communication. However, it should be noted that automatic captions can wildly vary in terms of quality and accuracy, and custom made captions, while certainly available, aren't always the norm. However, even with their presence, non-English speaking users might not even get to relevant videos in the first place. Why? Well, because the titles and descriptions are still in English, aren't they?
This latest feature of automating translations of all three video components, those being audio, title, and description, has been touched on before. Its implementation was discussed by the YouTuber Creator channel for developers. Therefore, it's trumpeting in was already an anticipated event. The translations will be drawing upon Google Translate to further improve themselves. And, if closed captions are anything to judge by, accuracy may start off a bit spotty. However, there's always room for improvement, and we look forward to seeing the changes in coming months and years.
While this author understands that they've used English as a constant for inaccessible language, that is simply because of its online prevalence. The feature can very much be applied to videos in other languages as well, helping out folks that don't speak those languages either. English speaking YouTube residents, there's a lot more you can unpack as well.
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The feature is one that's making strides in terms of community acceptance overseas. While YouTube's early days might have been marked with a primarily Western, Anglo-centered population, that is no longer the case. With famous YouTubers spanning countries and borders, be they Russian, Indian, Spanish, Japanese, the online community's a lot different now. And, honestly, for the better. Platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit are only further empowered by the diversity they enable, offering a glimpse into worldwide views and practices to virtually anyone. If such a melting pot is to be properly preserved, these sites need to start catering towards their needs, and not the other way around.
YouTube started this process of theirs with the addition of closed captions to videos. Featuring an almost endless plethora of languages spoken all over the world, these were here to ensure that viewers could potentially watch any and all videos, unhindered by a lack of grasp around the medium of communication. However, it should be noted that automatic captions can wildly vary in terms of quality and accuracy, and custom made captions, while certainly available, aren't always the norm. However, even with their presence, non-English speaking users might not even get to relevant videos in the first place. Why? Well, because the titles and descriptions are still in English, aren't they?
This latest feature of automating translations of all three video components, those being audio, title, and description, has been touched on before. Its implementation was discussed by the YouTuber Creator channel for developers. Therefore, it's trumpeting in was already an anticipated event. The translations will be drawing upon Google Translate to further improve themselves. And, if closed captions are anything to judge by, accuracy may start off a bit spotty. However, there's always room for improvement, and we look forward to seeing the changes in coming months and years.
While this author understands that they've used English as a constant for inaccessible language, that is simply because of its online prevalence. The feature can very much be applied to videos in other languages as well, helping out folks that don't speak those languages either. English speaking YouTube residents, there's a lot more you can unpack as well.
H/T: AP.
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