Video translation services boast wide range of supported languages — granting content accessibility on a truly global scale. The most populous tongues are going to be the common languages such as English, Spanish, French, Mandarin and Arabic, with a combination covering huge populations of speakers, to maybe 50% of the world. These platforms use AI and ML algorithms to offer translations in these languages with up to 90% accuracy. Platforms that support subtitles in upwards of 100 languages include YouTube and Vimeo, along with dedicated translation providers like Rev and Amara, supporting nothing from just European languages such as German and Italian, to Asian languages including Japanese, Korean, and Thai.
But, less spoken languages do bring with them, challenges. For example, while popular video translation service providers support languages such as Swahili, Zulu, and Haitian Creole, the accuracy may not be very high owing to the less data available to train algorithms for these languages. Example: Research has found translation quality can be up to 15% better for high-data languages than low-data languages. Minds from industry such as Google Translate work to produce increasingly accurate models in 100+ languages, choosing to improve languages with increasing demand, larger populations of speakers etc [7].
The application of video translation services has increased rapidly in the business, media, and educational sector. The global video translation market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 18% in the next five years, per a 2023 report by Grand View Research. The rise is mostly attributed to the rising deployment of video content to implement e-learning, online marketing, and international streaming. With companies looking to expand into non-English speaking geographies, big money is now being spent on multilingual video content, and the numbers show that over four in ten viewers prefer to watch in their native language (which also greatly increases retention and engagement metrics).
Similarly, video translation is an essential ingredient to ensuring inclusiveness. John Maeda, a technology expert, has said, “Language is not a question of accessibility; it is a question of connection.” Companies can now use video translation tools to remove barriers of culture and expand their audience, particularly as more platforms introduce tools for regional lingo adaptations. As an example, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil would have a massive draw in the Indian markets, and hence, localized translations would be quite useful, considering the number of languages India is home to. The change is reflected in Africa too, as languages such as Yoruba and Amharic begin to receive more backing.
Platforms offering translation services for videos have become key to global communication, especially with the continuous improvement of technologies. Thanks to developments in neural network models and data processing, these services are going to expand to provide even more languages and perform with better accuracy, allowing content to become more global and efficient.