Found a YouTube video you want to watch, but don't understand the language? Start with English subtitles or an English audio track in the player. If neither is available, the options below cover automatic caption translation and Chrome's audio translation for videos without captions.
Turn on English subtitles on your computer
This gives you English text while the video's currently selected audio track keeps playing. If YouTube has already defaulted the video to a dubbed track for your preferred language, use Settings > Audio track to choose the original or English audio.
Open the YouTube video. Then click the player's Settings button and choose Subtitles/CC.
Select English if it's listed. Creators can supply English subtitle translations, so check for an existing track first.
If English isn't listed, select an available caption track. Reopen Settings, return to Subtitles/CC, then choose Auto-translate when available.
Select English. YouTube translates the captions without replacing the spoken audio.
Get English captions on Android, iPhone, or iPad
Watching on your phone? The YouTube app offers English captions and automatic translation for videos with the relevant caption options.
Tap the video to reveal its controls. Tap Closed captions if captions are off. Open More, then select Captions. YouTube also calls this language menu Subtitles/CC.
Choose English if the video has an English caption track. If English isn't listed, select Auto-translate, then choose English as the translation language.
If the app doesn't offer automatic translation, try the desktop caption menu above. For a video with no captions at all, use Chrome's audio translation on a computer, covered below.
Switch to English audio instead
Open the video's Settings menu. On YouTube's website and Android, iPhone, and iPad apps, videos with an English audio track let you listen in English instead of reading subtitles.
Select Audio track, then choose English. Available tracks include creator-recorded dubs and YouTube-generated dubs.
Tip: This menu only selects existing tracks, so use English captions when there's no English dub.
Use Chrome when the video has no captions
A missing source caption track prevents YouTube's Auto-translate from working.
Chrome's Live Caption and Live Translate work from browser audio, including videos without YouTube captions. They support specific source languages and produce English text while the original voice keeps playing. Translation sends captions to Google.
On Windows, Mac, or Linux, open Chrome's More menu. Select Settings, then open Accessibility. On Linux, open Captions within Accessibility.
Enable Live Caption, then turn on Live Translate. Set Translate to to English.
On Windows, Mac, or Linux, open Manage languages if you need to add the video's spoken language. Select Add languages to add that language. Set Preferred caption language to that spoken language, so Live Caption transcribes the right language before Live Translate converts it to English.
Play the YouTube video in Chrome. The spoken language must be supported for English caption translation to work.
Select English captions on a TV or console
On a TV, game console, or streaming device, start by checking the video's available caption languages. YouTube's apps on these devices let you choose an existing English track.
Pause the video with your remote or controller. Open Captions, then select English if it's listed. YouTube's TV and game console caption instructions cover choosing a caption language, but don't document the desktop player's Auto-translate option on these devices.
If English isn't offered, try the caption translation steps on a phone or computer. For a video without source captions, try Chrome's audio translation on a computer.
Translate the transcript for easier reading
This turns a captioned video's transcript into English text you can read at your own pace.
On a computer, select Show transcript in the video's description. The video must have a transcript for this method.
Copy the portion of the transcript you want to translate. Paste it into Google Translate, keeping each section within the 5,000-character limit. Select the video's spoken language or Detect language.
Set the destination language to English. This produces a separate text translation, not synchronized YouTube subtitles. Select Listen to hear the translated text read aloud. Repeat the process with the next portion of the transcript for a longer video.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will changing YouTube's app language to English translate videos?
No. App language, account language, and location do not translate a video's speech or captions. Preferred-language settings apply to available audio, title, and description translations, but they do not create missing translations or configure subtitle translation.
Can I translate subtitles that are part of the video image?
Yes, as a still image. Capture a clear screenshot of the paused video. Open Google Translate's Images tool. Choose the source language or Detect language. Set the destination to English. Select Browse your computer to upload the screenshot. This translates visible text, not moving video or speech.
Is there a keyboard shortcut to translate YouTube captions?
No. Press C while the desktop video player has focus to turn captions on or off. The shortcut doesn't select English or start translation. Choose English or Auto-translate separately in the caption menu.
Can I make YouTube show English captions automatically on Android?
The default caption toggle turns on available captions, but doesn't automatically translate them into English. Tap your profile picture. Open Settings. Select Captions. Enable Show captions. Choose English separately in the video's caption menu.