Translate subtitles quickly with Google's Translator Toolkit

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 16, 2015
Updated • Jan 4, 2018
Companies, Google
|
20

I prefer subtitles over dubbing when it comes to video productions. The core reason for this is that the original version is usually the best and that dubbing on top of that may break scenes or the entire movie.

I don't want Japanese Samurai to speak German for example. Subtitles are on the other hand not always provided with movies. If you take retail releases for example, you may get a couple of subtitles depending on the region you live in but that is only the case if it is released officially in the country you are living in.

If you buy a movie on a business trip or vacation, you may end up with no proper option to play it if subtitles are not provided in your language and if dubs are also not provided.

If subtitles are provided in a different language, you may use Google's Translator Toolkit to translate it into a language that you understand.

Translator Toolkit is a web service by Google that requires a Google Account. After you have signed in to your Google account you can get started right away.

Note: The service supports SubRip (SRT) and SubViewer (SUB) subtitle formats only. If your subtitle is in a different format, you need to convert it first before you can translate its contents properly. This web service for instance converts between SRT, STL, SCC, ASS and TTML subtitle formats.

Hit the upload button on the start page after sign in.

google translator toolkit

 

You make two important selections on the next page. First, you click on the "add content to translate" link to upload one subtitle file to the service that you want translated. Just pick upload file and select a supported file from the local system.

Then you select the desired language you want the subtitles to be translated to and click on the next button to start the process.

translate subtitles

The upload may take a moment. You are taken to a sponsored page where you can order a translation but that is not what you want. Click on no thanks to skip the step.

professional translation

This brings you back to the frontpage of the service. There you need to click on the uploaded subtitle file to open the translation interface.

The original language and the translated language are displayed on that page.

original translation

Select File > Download to download the translated subtitle file to your local system. If you want, you can make modifications to it before you do that provided that you speak the language it was translated from as well.

The machine translation has its quirks and you will encounter translation errors and even some words that have not been translated at all.

Still, considering that this may be your only option to get a translated copy of a subtitle, it is better than nothing.

Summary
Translate subtitles quickly with Google's Translator Toolkit
Article Name
Translate subtitles quickly with Google's Translator Toolkit
Description
Find out how to translate subtitle files in a matter of minutes using Google's Translator Toolkit.
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Comments

  1. The Dark Lady said on July 9, 2023 at 11:19 am
    Reply

    Martin, I would appreciate that you do not censor this post, as it’s informative writing.

    Onur, there is a misleading statement “[…] GIFs are animated images …”. No, obviously you don’t seem to have take much notice of what you were told back in March regarding; Graphics Interchange Format (GIF).

    For example, https://www.ghacks.net/2023/03/31/whats-gif-explanation-and-how-to-use-it/#comment-4562919 (if you had read my replies within that thread, you might have learnt something useful). I even mentioned, “GIF intrinsically supports animated images (GIF89a)”.

    You linked to said article, [Related: …] within this article, but have somehow failed to take onboard what support you were given by several more knowledgeable people.

    If you used AI to help write this article, it has failed miserably.

  2. KeZa said on August 17, 2023 at 5:58 pm
    Reply

    AI is stupid, and it will not get any better if we really know how this all works. Prove me wrong.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYl1sTIOHI

  3. Database failure said on August 18, 2023 at 5:21 pm
    Reply

    Martin, [#comment-4569908] is only meant to be in: [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/09/how-to-send-gifs-on-iphone-two-different-ways/]. Whereas it appears duplicated in several recent random low-quality non relevant articles.

    Obviously it [#comment-4569908] was posted: 9 July 2023. Long before this thread even existed… your database is falling over. Those comments are supposed to have unique ID values. It shouldn’t be possible to duplicate the post ID, if the database had referential integrity.

  4. Howard Pearce said on August 25, 2023 at 12:24 pm
    Reply

    Don’t tell me!

    Ghacks wants the state to step in for STATE-MANDATED associations to save jobs!!!

    Bring in the dictatorship!!!

    And screw Rreedom of Association – too radical for Ghacks maybe

  5. Howard Allan Pearce said on September 7, 2023 at 9:13 am
    Reply

    GateKeeper ?

    That’s called “appointing” businesses to do the state’s dirty work!!!!!

    But the article says itself that those appointed were not happy – implying they had not choice!!!!!!

  6. owl said on September 7, 2023 at 9:50 am
    Reply

    @The Dark Lady,
    @KeZa,
    @Database failure,
    @Howard Pearce,
    @Howard Allan Pearce,

    Note: I replaced the quoted URI scheme: https:// with “>>” and posted.

    The current ghacks.net is owned by “Softonic International S.A.” (sold by Martin in October 2019), and due to the fate of M&A, ghacks.net has changed in quality.
    >> ghacks.net/2023/09/02/microsoft-is-removing-wordpad-from-windows/#comment-4573130
    Many Authors of bloggers and advertisers certified by Softonic have joined the site, and the site is full of articles aimed at advertising and clickbait.
    >> ghacks.net/2023/08/31/in-windows-11-the-line-between-legitimate-and-adware-becomes-increasingly-blurred/#comment-4573117
    As it stands, except for articles by Martin Brinkmann, Mike Turcotte, and Ashwin, they are low quality, unhelpful, and even vicious. It is better not to read those articles.
    How to display only articles by a specific author:
    Added line to My filters in uBlock Origin: ghacks.net##.hentry,.home-posts,.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))
    >> ghacks.net/2023/09/01/windows-11-development-overview-of-the-august-2023-changes/#comment-4573033

    By the way, if you use an RSS reader, you can track exactly where your comments are (I’m an iPad user, so I use “Feedly Classic”, but for Windows I prefer the desktop app “RSS Guard”).
    RSS Guard: Feed reader which supports RSS/ATOM/JSON and many web-based feed services.
    >> github.com/martinrotter/rssguard#readme

  7. Anonymous said on September 14, 2023 at 6:41 pm
    Reply

    We all live in digital surveillance glass houses under scrutiny of evil people because of people like Musk. It’s only fair that he takes his turn.

  8. Anonymous said on September 18, 2023 at 1:31 pm
    Reply

    “Operating systems will be required to let the user choose the browser, virtual assistant and search engine of their choice. Microsoft cannot force users to use Bing or Edge. Apple will have to open up its iOS operating system to allow third-party app stores, aka allow sideloading of apps. Google, on the other hand, will need to provide users with the ability to uninstall preloaded apps (bloatware) from Android devices. Online services will need to allow users to unsubscribe from their platform easily. Gatekeepers need to provide interoperability with third-parties that offer similar services.”

    Wonderful ! Let’s hope they’ll comply with that law more than they are doing with the GDPR.

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