YouTube testing auto-translation for video title, description, buttons and more

YouTube is testing a new feature that will auto translate video titles, descriptions, captions and more in your native language. The new feature is visible as a pop-up that appears on YouTube’s desktop and mobile app as well. The translation feature has been spotted by Android Police, and it currently translates text in English to Portuguese.

According to the images shared by the publication, YouTube’s auto-translation feature is most likely powered by Google Translate. This feature is also reportedly rolling out as a server-side update so most users won’t get it from an app update. So far, the text translation supports only Portuguese but YouTube might add support for more languages soon. It’s available as a pop-up, and tapping on it automatically translates the text to Portuguese. The translation pop-up appears just next to the video title.

The video title and description, view count, subscriber count and even the button text are translated through this feature. It also translates the captions of videos, something a lot of people will appreciate. Since this is auto translation, the translated text may not be accurate and there will most likely be some mistakes. But largely it should be understandable and helpful.

YouTube hasn’t shared anything official on this translation test. The video platform regularly tests new features with select users, and it also has a dedicated space for these tests. But the latest translation feature isn’t a part of this YouTube experiment. YouTube is undoubtedly the most popular video platform globally, and since it caters to users from different regions, this translation feature will be much appreciated.