Multi-Language Dub on YouTube
Some YouTube creators struggled to grow their audience around the world because of a language barrier. But this can change. YouTube recently added a feature that allows creators to add voice tracks to their content in multiple languages.
The platform had been testing it with some creators over the past year. And it is now expanding its reach. Thousands of creators can access it now.
The ability to dub episodes in the viewer’s own language is one of the reasons Netflix’s Squid Game is popular. And with this latest feature on YouTube, creators can further help them reach an international audience.
But it’s not just for creators. The feature may also benefit the platform as it expands the reach of all videos uploaded on its platform.
In-House
The technology to support this feature was built in-house. However, creators will have to use third-party dubbing providers to create audio tracks.
After uploading the videos, viewers can pick a different audio track from the same menu where they adjust other settings, such as audio quality and subtitles.
Creators can choose which language they wish to support.
YouTube tested it across over 3,000 videos uploaded in more than 40 languages.
According to YouTube:
“In fact, we found that creators testing multi-language dubbed videos saw over 15 percent of their watch time coming from views in the video’s non-primary language.1 And, on average, viewers watched over 2 million hours of dubbed video daily this past January alone.”
The feature will first support long-form content. However, it will expand on Shorts and other videos.
How to Get Started?
It’s easy. “When uploading a video to their channel, all creators need to do is add different audio tracks through the Subtitles Editor tool. Existing content in creators’ catalogs can be updated with additional audio tracks as well. If you’re a viewer, just click the video’s settings to see what audio tracks are available to start watching in another language.”
To ensure you have a seamless experience, the content will be defaulted to match the viewer’s preferred language. They can search for multilingual content through translated video titles and descriptions.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to use this feature, there are several online tools that you can use right now to dub your videos.
Movavi is one. It’s an excellent dubbing software with several editing features. It’s easy to use and you can start recording immediately. The outcome is professional-sounding.
Audacity is another tool that is free for everyone. It’s available for macOS and Windows devices. It also supports several audio formats.
But if you want a powerful dubbing tool, Animator Voice can give you fantastic features. It can add voiceovers in real time. You can also change speed and pitch. What’s great about it is that its free version is comprehensive.
On the other hand, if you are familiar with Adobe Suite, then Adobe Audition might be a perfect choice. It has preset multitrack options and lets you edit complex audio. However, it doesn’t have MIDI support. Thus, you can’t use it as full DAW.
