Google’s translation capabilities are some of the best in the industry. So it is no surprise when Google brings those capabilities to various services they offer. YouTube is now testing translation options in its interface on both the desktop client and the mobile app.
Google already offers its translation capabilities in other services such as Chrome, where a built-in tool can translate entire webpages for you. For YouTube, it appears that the feature will translate a bunch of elements including text of video titles, descriptions, and even the closed captions.
The test was spotted by only a few users, and it appears to be a server-side switch, so it cannot be forced via an update to the client. Interestingly, the feature also appears to be only working when automatically translating from English to Portuguese.
Having automatic translation could be a powerful tool for people watching content that isn’t in their native tongue. Hopefully, Google completes the test quickly and rolls out the feature widely to more regions and supports more languages.