How to Get a YouTube Transcript in a Different Language (2026)

There are two distinct things people mean when they ask about YouTube transcripts in different languages. The first: they have a foreign-language video (say, a Spanish lecture or a French documentary) and they want the transcript in that language — or ideally translated into English. The second: they have an English video and want the transcript in another language for accessibility, subtitling, or language learning. Both are solvable, but the workflow is different. This guide covers both.

When you paste a non-English YouTube URL into TubeScript, it automatically detects the video's language and returns the transcript in that language. TubeScript uses Gemini 2.5 Flash for AI transcription, which supports over 50 languages — including all major European, East Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern languages.

If YouTube has auto-generated captions for the video in its original language, TubeScript extracts those. If no captions exist, the AI transcribes directly from the audio. Either way, you get the transcript in the video's original language.

Getting an English translation of a foreign transcript

TubeScript returns the transcript in the video's original language. To translate it to English, the recommended workflow is:

1. Get the transcript. Paste the foreign-language YouTube URL into TubeScript. Copy or download the transcript text.
2. Translate with DeepL or Google Translate. DeepL (deepl.com) produces noticeably higher quality translations than Google Translate for most European languages. Paste the transcript text, select your target language, and copy the translated output.
3. Review for context. Machine translation handles everyday language well but can struggle with idioms, humor, technical jargon, and cultural references. A quick review catches anything that needs clarification.

Supported languages for AI transcription include Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and many more.

YouTube has a built-in auto-translation feature for captions. When watching a video, click the CC (captions) button, then go to Settings → Subtitles → Auto-translate. You can select any of YouTube's supported languages and it will machine-translate the captions in real time.

This is useful for watching with translated captions, but it has several limitations for users who want the translated transcript text:

• The translated captions appear in the player but can't be easily copied as a block of text.
• YouTube's translation quality is generally lower than DeepL, especially for technical content and less common language pairs.
• The auto-translation is only available if YouTube has auto-generated captions for the video. Videos without captions can't use this feature.
• There is no way to download the translated captions as a file through YouTube's interface.

For most use cases, the TubeScript + DeepL workflow above produces better results and gives you an actual text file you can work with.

TubeScript has dedicated pages for getting transcripts in the most commonly requested languages. These pages explain language-specific considerations and link directly to the transcript tool pre-configured for that language context:

• YouTube Transcript in Spanish — For Spanish-language videos and Spanish subtitles on English content
• YouTube Transcript in French — French-language academic content, news, and entertainment
• YouTube Transcripts for Language Learning — How to use transcripts as a language learning tool

• Language learning. Get the transcript of a video in your target language and read it alongside the audio. This is a proven language learning technique — reading and listening simultaneously accelerates comprehension. Timestamps let you pause, look up a word, and return to the exact moment in the video.
• Research on international content. Researchers studying global media, political speech, or cultural content need access to non-English YouTube material. Getting a transcript and translating it is far faster than watching foreign-language content without comprehension aids.
• Accessibility for global audiences. Creators publishing content for multilingual audiences can use TubeScript to get their video's transcript, translate it, and upload translated SRT files as manual captions in YouTube Studio. This is significantly faster than paying for professional subtitle translation.
• Subtitling international content. If you're reposting or referencing foreign-language YouTube content with permission, getting the transcript and translating it lets you add subtitles to the version you share, making it accessible to your audience.