Adding Subtitles to Videos

Hi! A few weeks ago I was faced with a challenge. I needed to add subtitles to a Youtube video. At first it seemed like an easy task and I'd be done in a short time. However, it turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. I will describe the process I followed and hope that it can help others in a similar situation.

Situation 1: I needed to add Spanish subtitles to a 45 min. long English video.

Before working on the long video, I tested how to create the translated subtitles on a smaller one, and it worked!

STEP 1: Obtain the transcript.

In the editing mode, go to Subtitles/CC. You'll be prompted to select the language of the video. Once this is defined, you'll see a transcript of your video.



At this point, you can download a file with the transcript.

STEP 2: Translate the transcript

For this I found an application called Subtitle Translation Wizard (in the Apple App Store). This application requieres an .srt file, so now I knew what type of file I needed to download from Youtube. This is a free application, however it's limited to translating about 20 lines of text. I needed way more than that so I purchased the full version. It's quite expensive, but works really well and is well worth the cost.


Once the translation is done, you will now have a new .srt file.

STEP 3: Upload to Youtube

Going back to Subtitles/CC in Youtube for your video, you'll select "Add new subtitles or CC", and upload the new .srt file. You will now have two subtitle options.


STEP 4: Enable Subtitles

When you play your video, go to settings and select the subtitle of your preference. (Notice, that this is different from enabling CC.)


Situation 2: Youtube doesn't detect the correct language!

Now it was time to work on the 45 min. video. After trying the same steps as described above, I realized that Youtube was not detecting the language. It was trying to detect Spanish, when it should be English, so I didn't have an .srt file to get started. 

STEP 4: Transcribe the entire video.

What I did was manually create the subtitles for the video. I chose the language and then clicked on edit. As I listened to the video, I wrote what I heard. This, by the way, took me a very long time to finish! After that, I returned to steps 1-3, and was done. The Youtube video now had two subtitles to choose from.

Situation 3: Turns out I needed the video as a file, not as a Youtube link, therefore if I downloaded from Youtube, the file would not include the subtitles!

Step 5: Adding .srt track to an .mp4 video file

After searching Google for options, I found an application called HandBrake that I downloaded for free. 


Select the "Subtitles" tab and then "Add external SRT..."


I clicked on the Start button and waited a bit for this to process. (Make sure to select "Burned in"). When done, I opened the resulting video. It had worked fine, but I noticed something wrong. All the special characters were incorrect! 

I learned that the problem was the SRT Encoding. The default encoder was ISO-8859-1. After a lot of trials and errors trying out different encoders, I found the one that worked just fine. For Spanish language, I had to select UTF-8.



Finally, after about 10 hours of work, I had completed the task. Yes, it took a long time due to the length of the video and the processing times in each of the steps, but I learned a lot regarding videos and subtitles.



Has this ever happened to you? Do you have a different way to solve this? I'd love to hear about it.

Cheers!









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Communicating and Collaborating Through Skype

Image
If you are thinking of ways to transform your classes, then consider the possibility of communicating and collaborating beyond your classroom walls. A great resource that can help you accomplish this goal is  Skype in the Classroom . You'll find hundreds of lessons already created that you can participate in. Choose by subject area, age group, country, etc. Don't find what you're looking for? No problem. Create your own content. That's what first grade teachers did this year.  First grade teachers Ms. Mireya Almaguer and Ms. Claudia Martinez were looking for an opportunity to interact with classes from other parts of the world. Early in the start of the school year, first grade focuses on the Mapping Unit. In it they learn about such topics as directions, the compass rose, legend, and locating parts of a map. A project they work on is creating the map of what would be the students' ideal classroom or school. At this time, they were looking for partn...
Read more

Interactive YouTube Videos

Image
Hi! This is the second post related to editing videos in YouTube.  Did you know you can make interactive YouTube videos? Yes! This means you can add options to the video so the viewer can decide what to watch next. This is great for story telling, video series, personalized learning, etc.  Here's an example of an interactive video that plays a magic card trick with you . The options are endless ! Remember, this is done in the same place where we edit videos, but now you will go to Annotations .    Basic Steps: Upload first all the videos you'll need to YouTube. Open each video in a different tab. (This is so you can copy-paste the URL of each video easily) Start editing the first video you will start the series with. Add annotations: Note - The annotation will be visible. You write a message in the text box. Spotlight - The annotation is invisible, unless you hover the mouse over it. Great for placing a link over an image in the video. F...
Read more

Voice Feedback in Google Docs

Image
Hi! I was recently asked by a teacher how she could provide voice feedback in Google Docs. Sometimes, it's better to record your feedback, rather than writing a long note, and I'm pretty sure students would appreciate listening to their teacher's voice too! Here are some options I found. They all work for Google Docs. Some will mention if they work on Google Slides or Google Classroom too. Mote This is a Chrome extension. The basic plan has some limitations , but it's ok. Mote creates a link to the voice note in a comment box. For a better experience, the kids would also need to install that extension, that way they wouldn't be taken out of the Google doc to listen to the message and could play directly in the comments box. Works the same also in Google Slides and in Google Classroom. Read&Write This is another Chrome extension, which also has other cool features you might like. Again, to better experience this feedback option, it is recommended that the student...
Read more