YouTube auto-generates captions in over 100 languages. You can extract these transcripts and translate them into any target language, which means a Japanese tech review or a Portuguese lecture is accessible to English-speaking audiences and vice versa. The process takes under 5 minutes with the right tool.
For creators and educators who work across language barriers, multilingual transcript extraction opens up content that was previously locked behind a single language. Here's how to get transcripts in any language and what to watch out for along the way.
How YouTube handles multilingual captions
YouTube generates auto-captions using speech recognition models trained on dozens of languages. The accuracy varies by language:
- English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese: ~85–95% accuracy
- Japanese, Korean, Mandarin: ~80–90% accuracy
- Hindi, Arabic, Turkish: ~75–85% accuracy
- Less common languages (Swahili, Tagalog, Welsh): ~60–75% accuracy
Accuracy improves when:
- Audio is clear and high quality
- There is a single speaker
- Background noise and music are minimal
It drops when there are heavy accents, music, or multiple overlapping speakers.
Creators can also upload manual captions in any language. When manual captions exist, accuracy jumps to near 100% because a human wrote and reviewed them.
Extracting transcripts in the original language
To get a transcript in the video's original language using YouTube directly:
- Open the YouTube video.
- Click the three-dot menu under the video and select "Show transcript".
- YouTube displays the transcript in the video's primary language.
- Copy the text from the transcript panel.
This works for any language where captions are available. The main limitation is formatting:
- Auto-generated captions often lack proper punctuation.
- Speaker labels are missing.
- Line breaks are based on timing, not sentences or paragraphs.
Translating transcripts to another language
Once you have the transcript text, you can translate it in several ways:
1. Machine translation tools
Google Translate or DeepL:
- Paste the transcript and select your target language.
- Works best for common language pairs (e.g., Spanish → English, English → French).
- Quality is weaker for rare pairs (e.g., Thai → Finnish) and highly technical content.
2. AI tools with built-in translation
Tools like Jellypod can extract and translate in one step:
- You paste a YouTube URL.
- The tool pulls the transcript, cleans it, and translates it.
- Context-aware AI translation better preserves idioms, technical terms, and tone than word-by-word translation.
This is especially useful for:
- Tech reviews with jargon
- Educational content with domain-specific vocabulary
- Long-form lectures and interviews
3. Professional human translation
For high-stakes content, use professional translators:
- Legal testimony
- Medical or clinical lectures
- Compliance, policy, or safety training
Services like Gengo or TransPerfect typically charge around $0.05–$0.15 per word, depending on language pair, subject matter, and turnaround time.
Building a multilingual workflow
If you regularly work with content in multiple languages, set up a repeatable workflow:
- Extract the transcript
- Use YouTube's Show transcript feature, or
- Use a dedicated extractor like Jellypod.
- Clean up the raw text
- Fix punctuation and capitalization.
- Remove filler words ("uh", "um", repeated phrases).
- Correct obvious speech recognition errors.
- Translate the cleaned transcript
- Use AI translation for speed and context.
- Use human translation for critical or nuanced material.
- Review for accuracy
- Check domain-specific terms (technical, legal, medical).
- Confirm names, numbers, and acronyms.
- Have a native speaker review if possible.
- Repurpose the translated content
- Publish as a blog post or article.
- Turn it into a podcast script or episode.
- Create subtitle files (e.g., SRT, VTT) for multilingual captions.
For podcast creators, Jellypod's multilingual content feature can automate steps 1–3:
- Paste a YouTube URL.
- Choose the target language.
- Receive a cleaned, translated transcript ready for audio conversion.
Common mistakes with multilingual transcripts
Three recurring issues can undermine quality:
1. Trusting auto-captions for rare languages
When YouTube's speech recognition quality is low (often below ~80% for less common languages), expect:
- Frequent mis-hearings and misspellings
- Broken or missing phrases
- Incorrect names and technical terms
Mitigation:
- Always have a native speaker review the transcript.
- For critical content, consider manual transcription instead of auto-captions.
2. Ignoring cultural and contextual meaning
Literal translation often fails for:
- Idioms (e.g., "break a leg" in English)
- Cultural references and jokes
- Politeness levels and formality
