Scholarshipprogram - Blog Posts
Voice Talent Online - Scholarship Application
Auto-translated captions on platforms like YouTube can be wildly inaccurate and lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications. However, most often the only alternative is no subtitles or captions at all. Despite their flaws, auto-translated captions are an essential tool for inclusivity and accessibility of content online.
On YouTube most videos have auto-generated English captions and even those can be very inaccurate and distracting. When considering the use of this technology across different languages it gets even more complicated and has a much higher margin for error. When uploading a video the YouTuber has the opportunity to add their own subtitles in multiple different languages without using the auto-generated feature, which is often utilized in certain content like major music videos or news reports.
However, when it comes to translation it puts a lot of responsibility on the YouTuber to have accurate subtitles for many languages, when most people only speak a few, and this can cause equally as many mistakes and errors as when the auto-translate feature is used.
Personally I’m mixed raced Japanese-Canadian and I only speak English. A lot of the content I watch online is in Japanese or Korean, and having the option of auto-translated subtitles is extremely helpful. Oftentimes there are things I want to watch that don’t have any English translations available, which is very limiting. Sometimes within the online communities I’m a part of there are even other users trying to make their own translations, so more fans can understand. Despite systems like YouTube’s auto-translate feature sometimes being inaccurate and causing confusion, I’d much rather have a general idea of what’s happening (without expecting it to be 100% accurate) than not be able to enjoy the content or understand anything.
There have been multiple times when I was super excited about a new release but upon release I realized there were no English captions or other translations available, and I either had to wait weeks for updated captions or was never able to watch the content.
Additionally, I also have some minor hearing issues and often use subtitles on YouTube and Netflix, even when watching things in English, because it helps me process. Taking these two aspects of my own personal experience with auto-generated captions, it’s clear to me that this is an essential service that promotes inclusivity and accessibility for those with hearing problems or language barriers, despite not always being accurate.
Outside of my own personal experiences, the data from many different studies conducted across platforms have shown that videos with subtitles have higher viewer retention rates. And according to KAPWING, 42% of people turn on subtitles to help with concentration.
I would propose that instead of discussing the current value of this service with its many issues, we move towards optimizing the technology so auto-translated captions can be more accurate. Therefore eliminating the negative side effects and the main problem most people have with this service.
Voice Talent Online -Video Translation Service Provider
Bibliography:
Enthoven, Julia. “Subtitle STATS: How Many People Use Subtitles in 2024?” Kapwing Resources, Kapwing Resources, 6 Feb. 2024, www.kapwing.com/resources/subtitle-statistics/#:~:text=They%20found%20that%20adding%20subtitles,focus%20on%20the%20video’s%20content.