Translate Spanish to English audio and video

Translate Spanish audio to English in one upload

First the Spanish recording becomes a Spanish transcript, then each segment of it is rendered in English. The timing of every segment carries over, which means you turn Spanish audio to English text and can still locate any sentence in your recording by its time.

Think of it as a Spanish to English translator, voice or video, that works on files you already have. Because the timing stays, the English version doubles as subtitles.

Spanish from Mexico, Spain and everywhere in between

Spanish sounds different in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Madrid, and the vocabulary shifts too. Regional words are the first place to look when you check a transcript and its translation.

• A car is carro in much of Latin America and coche in Spain.
• A computer is computadora in Mexico and ordenador in Spain.
• In Argentina and Uruguay, vos replaces tú, with its own verb forms such as vos tenés.
• Slang like chido in Mexico or guay in Spain often has no single English match.
• In the Caribbean, a final s often fades, so ustedes can sound close to uted.

Tú, usted and the English you

Spanish marks formal and informal address. English uses you for both, so the difference in tone disappears in translation. In an interview where a guest moves from usted to tú, that shift can matter, so mark it in brackets if your readers need to know.

He, she or you when Spanish drops the subject

Spanish often leaves out the subject, because the verb ending already carries it. Dijo que viene mañana can mean he said, she said or, formally, you said that someone is coming tomorrow. English needs a pronoun, so the translation has to pick one.

When a speaker talks about several people, compare those English lines with your recording. The sentences before usually make clear who is meant, and you can correct he or she in the editor.

Spanish words that only look English

These Spanish words resemble English ones, yet their meaning differs. Read them with care.

• Embarazada means pregnant, and embarrassed is avergonzado.
• Actual means current, and actualmente means currently.
• Librería is a bookstore. A library is a biblioteca.
• Éxito means success. An exit is a salida.
• Constipado means having a cold.

TipRead names, numbers and these false friends in the English before you share it, and use the timestamps to find the spot in your recording.

Numbers, dates and the Spanish billón

A few Spanish number habits trip up English readers.

• Un billón is a million million, which English calls a trillion. A billion in Spanish is mil millones.
• Spain, Argentina and Chile write 2,5 for two and a half and 1.500 for fifteen hundred, while Mexico writes them the way the US does.
• Dates come day first, so 3/5 is the third of May, not March 5.

Two surnames and accented names

Many Spanish speakers carry two surnames, the father's first and the mother's second, as in Gabriel García Márquez. On second mention, Spanish uses García or García Márquez, rarely Márquez alone.

Accents change names. Peña and Pena are different families, and José keeps its accent in English text. Check those letters before a quote goes out.

Ahorita and other small words

Diminutives carry tone more than size. In Mexico, ahorita can mean right now or some time later, depending on the speaker, and un cafecito is an invitation more than a small coffee. A literal English line can sound odd here, so smooth it in the editor.

Spanish clips with English captions

A Spanish clip for an English audience needs only one upload here. If you want to translate Spanish video to English captions, Single file or Unlimited exports the result as SRT or VTT, and YouTube Studio or your editor takes either file. The cues start and stop where the Spanish speaker does.

Spanish speech is quick, and English often says the same thing in fewer words, so the English lines under a Spanish speaker usually leave viewers enough time to read.

Leave official records to a certified translator

Immigration papers, court records and medical reports call for a certified human translator. Sending that person the checked Spanish transcript gives them a typed starting point.