Captions have always been an important part of YouTube, and you might use them quite often. They help you access a wide range of content and to get a larger audience for your videos. While auto-translated captions were already available on the desktop version, it was missing on mobile devices. So, Google has recently fixed that by adding auto-translated captions on the YouTube mobile version.
Transcripts are yet another great feature that increases the accessibility of the information on YouTube videos. Google has also added this feature to the mobile version of YouTube, along with the auto-translated captions.
So, you might want to know how they work and how to use them. We shall also look at the benefits of these new features on mobile devices.
How do Auto-Translated Captions Work and How to View Them?
Auto-translated captions are subtitles for the video that you can enable. As opposed to captions uploaded by the creator, these captions are generated automatically. This feature uses a built-in translation technology on YouTube to translate the video into multiple languages.
You should be able to use auto-translated captions without any issues on your mobile device. If you cannot, your phone might have an issue, and you must get a mobile repair Dubai immediately.
To view auto-translated captions, tap the ‘CC’ icon on the video. This will enable the captions in a specific language. Do you want to change the language of the captions? Tap the gear icon with the captions enabled and select ‘Subtitles (CC)’ from the menu. This will open the list of supported languages, and you must choose one.
Do you see the ‘CC’ option darkened on a video? In that case, you cannot use captions and must try them with another video. Most informative videos would allow you to enable auto-translated captions. Also, you can get auto-translations of up to 16 languages as of now. We might see more languages added for auto-translation in the future.
What are Video Transcripts & How do You Use Them?
You must keep in mind that transcription is not available for all YouTube videos right now. YouTube generates transcripts for videos using its in-built auto-sync feature. If you have never used transcripts before, they are simply audio information in textual form.
They also come with timestamps to help you know where specific information lies in the video. This feature is quite useful for various purposes and in many situations.
Video transcripts are not yet available on the YouTube Android app as of now. You can view them on the desktop web version of the platform if you want to try them out. Open any video and click the three-dot icon below to find the ‘Show Transcript’ option.
If you cannot find this option, you must try another video. Clicking on the timestamp next to a transcript will play the part of the video containing the specific information.
The transcripts are available for a handful of languages, including English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and Korean. These are the only languages that the speech recognition technology identifies currently.
How will these New Features Benefit You?
The auto-translated captions and video transcripts should be quite useful for viewers. Moreover, they should offer a lot of convenience to creators on the YouTube platform as well.
After all, these new features automate two important and time-taking tasks. Here are some ways that they will improve your YouTube experience:
Easy Translation into Multiple Languages
As you know by now, not all videos have auto-translated captions. Other than that, auto-translation is quite a useful feature for videos. You can find multiple translation options through the settings with the aforementioned steps that allow you to understand videos in other languages as a viewer. As a creator, it might make your task of translating your videos easier.
However, you must note that the auto-translation feature often shows inaccurate translations. You might have to create your own subtitles for your videos to prevent such issues. Especially if a large part of your audience speaks a different language.
Boost SEO and in Viewer Count
As a creator, you must put enough focus on boosting your video’s SEO. One of the ways to raise your video’s rankings in the search results is by using transcripts. After all, that enables the algorithm to find your videos more easily. As a result, you might get a higher ranking among search results than you used to get.
Now that Google has automated transcript generation, you need not worry about creating one yourself. So, you can now focus on other important aspects, such as the quality of your content.
The boost in your SEO also means users can find your videos more easily. In other words, you might get more views, and this is beneficial for creators as well as the viewers on the platform.
Easier Clipping of Videos
You might want to clip a specific part of a video and upload it separately. This can sometimes be quite a time-taking task, especially so in the case of long videos. In such situations, you can use the transcript to create the clip.
This will help you make sure all the information you want in the clip is included in it. Open the transcript with the aforementioned steps and view the timestamps there. Then, click on the ones where you want to start and end your clip.
Unaffected Viewing in Noisy Environments
A lot of people watch YouTube videos while travelling and have to deal with surrounding noises. You might want to use headphones in such situations, but may not have them. Video transcripts and captions can be quite useful in such situations.
You must enable them on your videos to understand the script without any issues. With transcripts, you can simply read all the audio information of the video.
Access to Audience With Hearing Problems
As a creator, you must consider people with hearing disabilities as well. After all, they form a significant part of your audience. Besides, certain states have a law that requires you to make your video accessible to such viewers.
A lot of people with hearing disabilities probably watch YouTube videos on mobile devices. With the recently-announced automatic transcription on mobile, making your videos comprehensible to them becomes easier for you.
Which Platforms have these New Features?
Google has announced the aforementioned YouTube mobile features for both Android and iOS devices. So, you can get them on both of the major mobile platforms. All you need to do for that is get the latest YouTube version on your device.
You can then start using transcripts and auto-translated captions for videos. And, that might also require you to update your smartphone’s system to the latest version. So, what are you waiting for! Enable the feature and enjoy YouTube on mobile.
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