The Centre for Language Technology is delighted to announce that you can now access Faroese subtitles on YouTube! These subtitles are automatically generated by translating subtitles from other languages into Faroese.
How to enable Faroese subtitles on a YouTube video:
- Click the CC button in the lower-right corner.
- Then click the gear icon next to the CC button.
- Select "Subtitles".
- Click on "Auto-translate".
- Then select "Faroese".
You can try out the feature in the video below.
It works best with videos that have subtitles created manually by a person beforehand. Some videos on YouTube have subtitles automatically generated using speech recognition. This can be identified by the words appearing one by one, while subtitles created by people appear as full sentences.
This is machine translation from other languages into Faroese, so the quality of the translations can vary, and errors might appear. It can also be expected that the translation works better on newer YouTube videos than on older ones.
This breakthrough is a direct result of our collaboration with Google, which began when Faroese was introduced to Google Translate in June 2024. Our ongoing relationship with people at Google has ensured that Faroese is included in even more of the tech giant's services.
Such collaborations between researchers, institutions, and private companies are an example of how research and language technology can improve and secure the future of small languages. Machine translation tools like Google Translate are not just tools for everyday communication; they also create better opportunities for integration, education, and broadening horizons. The Centre for Language Technology will continue to work to ensure that Faroese keeps advancing on digital platforms.
