AssemblyAI and DeepL Enable Multi-Lingual Subtitles for Videos

Subtitles play a crucial role in making video content accessible to a broader audience. Traditionally, creating subtitles involves painstaking manual transcription and synchronization. However, advancements in AI-driven technologies now offer more efficient solutions. According to AssemblyAI, a new method leverages AssemblyAI's transcription capabilities and DeepL's translation services to generate multi-lingual subtitles swiftly and accurately.

Using AssemblyAI for Transcription

AssemblyAI's audio transcription feature can transcribe video content into text within minutes. This asynchronous transcription service allows users to upload a video file and receive a transcription in formats like SRT or VTT, which are commonly used for subtitles.

In a tutorial provided by AssemblyAI, users can build a web application in Go to handle video uploads, transcribe the audio, and generate subtitles. The tutorial outlines the setup process, including creating a directory for the project, initializing a Go module, and writing the server code using the Gin framework and UUID for unique job identifiers.

Integrating DeepL for Translation

Once the video is transcribed, the subtitles can be translated into multiple languages using DeepL. DeepL is known for its high-quality translations and supports various languages, making it an ideal tool for this purpose.

The tutorial demonstrates how to create a route that handles the translation request, sends the transcribed subtitles to DeepL, and receives the translated text. This translated text is then integrated back into the web application, allowing users to select their preferred language for subtitles.

Frontend Implementation

On the frontend, the application periodically checks the transcription status and updates the user interface accordingly. Once the transcription is complete, a video element is created, and the original subtitles are added. Users can then choose a language from a dropdown menu, which triggers the translation process and updates the subtitles in the selected language.

The tutorial provides detailed code snippets for setting up the server, handling file uploads, transcribing audio, and translating subtitles. It also includes instructions for creating the frontend components and integrating them with the backend.

Conclusion

By combining AssemblyAI and DeepL, developers can create a seamless workflow for generating multi-lingual subtitles, significantly improving the accessibility and user experience of video content. This integration not only saves time but also ensures accuracy and consistency in subtitle generation and translation.

For more detailed instructions and code examples, visit the original tutorial on AssemblyAI.