YouTube Shares Inside Information On International Policy, Translations & The Future Of YouTube Worldwide

Captions & Translations

When it comes to the international YouTube audience, one of the most important YouTube features is captions and translations. YouTube Product Manager Brian Truong explains how easy it is to implement captions and translations on YouTube videos.

If you already have a script for your video, you can upload it to YouTube by going to “My Videos” and clicking the “Captions” button on the video you’d like to upload your script to. Then, click on “Add New Captions or Transcript.” You can add a caption file that includes time codes, or you can upload an English transcript. You can do this on your own, or hire a subtitling and transcription service to help you. Once your captions are uploaded, Truong says YouTube can auto-translate into a variety of languages for your viewers.

Don’t have a script prepared? YouTube offers Machine Transcription services. To use the Machine Transcription service, click on “Request Processing” under the Machine Transcription area of the Captions page. Note that this service is only available in English. Machine transcription is not perfect, but it is a good start and will make your videos a lot more accessible to international audiences.

YouTube’s International Policy & Guidelines

YouTube’s Head of Policy, Victoria Grand, gives an overview of the video site’s international policy in the video as well. She emphasizes the fact that, while YouTube sees themselves as a platform for free expression, they still have to adhere to laws and regulations in countries around the globe.

24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute and it goes live as soon as it is posted. It is impossible for YouTube to review every single minute of video that is uploaded. However, each video has a flag icon below it and users are encouraged to flag inappropriate content that they think violates YouTube’s guidelines. Flagged content is reviewed and taken down when necessary.

You might find that you cannot watch a video in your country that is available in other countries. There are a couple of reasons this may occur. For starters, some local law does not allow certain subjects in videos. In Germany, for instance, Nazi content, symbols and propaganda are against the law so YouTube content about or including these subjects cannot be viewed in Germany. Content may also not be available in your country if the content creator has decided that they only want to show their videos in certain countries. Grand stressed that YouTube does not make these decisions, rather they apply content owner policies and adhere to local laws around the world.

International YouTube Partner Program

A lot of international YouTube users wonder when YouTube’s partner program will be available in their countries. The partner program is currently available in 14 countries around the globe but still has a far way to go. For instance, it is not currently available in Serbia, Greece or Argentina.

In the video, YouTube Software Engineer Shalabh Chatuvedi does not provide any concrete information about when the program will be available in more countries, but he does say that interested parties should check the YouTube blog for updates to find out when the partner program will be launching in their countries.

YouTube also announced that in the future they want to expand into even more countries and even more languages. Several months ago they launched 5 new languages and hope to launch 6 more in the near future. They also recently launched localized YouTube in South Africa and look forward to expanding into even more countries, making it easier for users to discover local content and local talent.

Check out the video below to see YouTube’s answers to questions about YouTube Worldwide. Is there anything they left out that you are curious about?