The Youtube channel is at the center of a massive translation and subtitling effort. We’re working with volunteers and professional translators to bring all the videos to at least 5 languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. If you can contribute or review subtitles in these or any other languages, go to my Youtube channel and pick one of the top videos!

You don’t need permission or registration – Jump in and start translating!

A Quick Guide to YouTube Subtitles

1. Navigate to https://www.youtube.com/user/aantonop/videos, where you will find the full collection of videos currently available on my YouTube channel.

You can sort them by: “Date added (newest)”, “Date added (oldest)”, “Most popular”

While I appreciate translation submissions for any video, the most popular talks and Q&A are a top priority.

2. Navigate to the subtitling center by choosing a video and clicking “Add translations.” If you are not yet logged in to your Google account, you will be sent to the login screen first.

If you have the old YouTube page format, “Add translations” can be found by clicking on the three-dotted “More” option near the sharing option.

If you have the new YouTube page format, “Add translations” can be found by clicking on the three-dotted button near the rating and sharing options.

3. You are now within the transcription / translation center. You will probably see the English subtitles, as the default language for all of my videos is English. Click on “Switch language” to choose which language you will be translating into. If your language does not immediately appear as one of the options, use the search bar to find it. Once you have made a selection, click “Set language.”

4. Now you can begin translating. If you or someone else had already partially translated subtitles for that language, you need to click “Edit” in the top right corner so that you can make changes to the current version.

Subtitle Formatting & Style

5. If I am not the only speaker in the video (e.g. someone from the audience asks a question or I am interacting with an event organiser), indicate who is speaking with brackets:

Ex. [AUDIENCE] Why is there a limited supply of bitcoin?
[ANDREAS] There is a limited supply of bitcoin…

If it is a panel discussion and the name(s) of other speakers are known (usually listed in the video description), put their first name or initials in brackets.

6. In general, do not include pause sounds like “umm” and “uhh.” Onomatopoeia used for effect like “boom,” “tick-tock,” or “uh-oh” etc. are fine – though understandably those words will be harder to translate across multiple languages. If you are not sure which words to include, use the English subtitles as a guide (if they are available) or put them in [brackets] to indicate it is onomatopoeia. Also use [brackets] to indicate when the audience laughs or applauds.

Ex. How many of you have money in banks?
None of you have money in banks. [Laughter]

7. Press SHIFT + ENTER after typing a line of text to add a new line, especially after the end of a sentence. This will make the text overlay look centered and neat on the video.

8. If you would like to be credited for your translation work, check the box above the playback area that says “Credit my contribution” before submitting your translation. This will make your name (whatever you have as your Google account name) appear publicly in the video description. If you do not want credit, leave the box unchecked and your submission will be anonymous.

9. When you are done translating, click “Submit contribution.” When you submit it, YouTube will notify me by adding it to the ‘Translations and Transcriptions’ folder of my channel. Once I approve the contribution, it will update any previous versions of the translated subtitles that you or someone else had saved.

Thank you so much for your help!