Languages, translations and twin channels

A channel can be made in any of 50 languages: its episodes are written in it, narrated in it and drawn in its own script. A finished episode can be translated into another language in one click, and a whole channel can have a twin in another language — its own channel, with its own accounts and posting times — that publishes its episodes there.

The languages#

A channel's language is its project's: you choose it in Language when you create the project, and every channel drafted in that project is in it. Its episodes are then written for a native viewer — the narration, the title, the captions, the data chip, the end card and the posts' texts — numbers are written the way the language writes them, and the narrator speaks it.

Each script is drawn properly: in a font made for it, in its own direction (right to left for Arabic, Hebrew and Urdu), with lines broken by its own rules — Chinese and Japanese line-breaking rules, Thai broken between words by a dictionary — and captions paced in its own units, so a caption in Japanese is as readable as one in English.

Swahili, Punjabi and Cantonese are not offered yet: Google lists no narration voices for Swahili, and its Punjabi and Cantonese voices are still in preview. Each is added once its voices are ready.

Translating an episode#

What it does#

A translation is the same episode in another language: every word a viewer sees is translated — the captions, the title, the data chip, the labels — and the narration is translated and spoken again by the channel's narrator in the new language, each line starting where the original's did. Then the video is rendered again with the channel's own kit. The original stays exactly as it is.

Translate one#

1. Open a ready or published episode of the channel's own (a translation, a clip or a compilation cannot be translated).
2. Find Other languages, under the video.
3. Choose the language in Translate into (each shown with its own name, for example "Japanese · 日本語") and press Translate. Its price is shown underneath.

It usually takes 20 to 40 minutes on a GPU. The translation appears in the same card's list with its state; open it to watch it, download it and get its texts.

How a translation is checked#

The translation goes through the mechanical quality gates — the picture, the sound levels, the captions' pacing, flashing, the narration and the 90-second edit. The critic does not review it again: its facts passed when the original did. A translation that fails its gates is held for you to review, and not charged.

Posting a translation#

A translation is posted by hand — usually on a channel in its own language. Download it and use the texts on its page. The schedule posts only a channel's originals. To publish a channel's episodes in another language automatically, give the channel a twin.

Twin channels#

What a twin is#

A twin is a channel of its own, in the same project, made from another channel in one click: it takes the source's format, kit, brand look, mascot and schedule settings, with its own language, its own narrator, its own accounts and its own posting times. A twin gets its episodes in one of two ways:

A mirror twin makes no episode of its own: it follows its source. A native twin makes its own at the pace of its Schedule & generation, which starts as its source's; switching a twin to native sets at least one a day.

Make a twin#

1. The source channel's kit must be built. On its page, find Language twins → Make a twin.
2. Choose:
   • Language — any language the channel does not have a twin in yet, and not its own;
   • Its time zone — its audience's: its posting times are its own;
   • Name — leave it empty for the channel's name and the language's own name, for example "Cosmic Scale · Español";
   • How it gets its episodes — Mirror or Native.
3. Press Make the twin.

The kit, the brand and the settings are copied in about a minute. Then open the twin and connect its own accounts: it posts nothing until it has them.

On the twin's page#

The twin's own page has a Language twin card naming its source, its mode and its state, and a reminder to connect its accounts. Change How it gets its episodes there and press Save. Switching to mirror takes effect from then on: the source's episodes made after that are translated into it.

Never the same video twice on one account#

• A twin never posts to an account its source, or another of its twins, is linked to: a slot on a shared account is refused, and the slot says why.
• A twin's posting times keep away from its source's: when a twin's slot falls on the same minute as one of its family's, it posts a few minutes later, at a minute of its own.

YouTube titles in other languages#

What it does#

A viewer whose YouTube is set to Spanish sees a video's Spanish title and description, where the video has them. With your consent, each new YouTube video of a channel gets its title and description in the languages you choose — written in each language and shown to you first. It uses YouTube's own field for a video's titles in other languages: never YouTube's automatic dubbing, and never a note that the words were translated.

Turn it on#

1. The channel's YouTube account must be connected. If it was connected for uploads only, the card shows Allow edits: one reconnect adds the permission to edit titles and descriptions — nothing else changes.
2. On the channel page, find YouTube titles in other languages.
3. Tick Add titles and descriptions in other languages to this channel's new YouTube videos.
4. Under In, tick the languages — up to eight. A channel with twins starts with its twins' languages ticked.
5. Leave Add them without asking me each time unticked to see each video's words first.
6. Press Save. The price of writing the words is shown above the button.

Approve the words#

Each new video appears on the card with its state. When its words are written (Waiting for you), open the list of languages to read every title and description, then press Add on YouTube — they are added within the hour, at a minute of their own — or Not this one. Also its last 10 videos gives the channel's ten most recent YouTube videos their words too, shown to you first like any.

Turning it off writes nothing more; titles already added stay on YouTube. The words are the twin's own translation where the channel has a twin in that language, and written for the video otherwise.

Settings#

Credits and plans#

• A translation is a GPU job — the translation, the narration spoken again and the render — charged what it used at your plan's rate. Its price is beside Translate; the typical figure per plan is in the pricing page's "What things cost" table, as "A translation". A held translation is not charged.
• Making a twin is free: its files are copied on our servers. A mirror twin's episodes are each a translation, priced like any; a native twin's are episodes, priced like any. A twin counts as a channel in your plan.
• YouTube titles in other languages cost a small model job per video for the words; adding them on YouTube is free.
• Languages and translations are on every plan. Twins and YouTube titles in other languages are on Creator and above.

Limits and good to know#

• One twin per language for each channel, and a twin cannot have a twin of its own: make it from the original.
• A translation is made from the version that posts now: if the episode was revised, the current version is translated.
• Episodes made before their source was kept cannot be translated; every episode made since can.
• The narrator stays the same voice where it can: a twin starts with its source's narrator if that voice speaks the twin's language. See Voices.
• YouTube titles need consent per channel: nothing is written to your YouTube videos until a member turns it on for that channel; who turned it on, and when, is recorded.

Troubleshooting#

• "Translations open once it is released." A held episode is translated only after it is released.
• "This episode was made before its source was kept…" It is too old to render again; translate a newer episode.
• A twin posts nothing. Connect its own accounts (Connect its accounts on its page) and turn its schedule on; an account its source uses is refused.
• The YouTube card asks to Allow edits. Press Allow edits and approve the extra permission on Google's screen.

Related#

• Voices, casts and brand voice — the narrator in every language
• Episodes — what a translation copies
• Channels and kits — what a twin is copied from
• YouTube — connecting YouTube and its permissions
• Schedules and autopilot — a twin's slots