YouTube’s Automated Subtitling from English into Arabic: A Case Study of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Authors

  • Ahmad Mohammad Al-Harahsheh

    Translation Department, Faculty of Arts, Yarmouk University, Irbid , Jordan
  • Ro’a Hasan Rababah

    Translation Department, Faculty of Arts, Yarmouk University, Irbid , Jordan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i2.8163
Received: 1 December 2024 | Revised: 10 January 2025 | Accepted: 13 January 2025 | Published Online: 18 February 2025

Abstract

Recently, the development of speech-to-text technology, together with machine translation, has led to the development
of simultaneously translating the captions of videos into other languages. YouTube, a video-sharing platform, offers
multilingual subtitles using this feature. The current automated caption system captures audio data during video uploads
and generates a subtitle file in text format. The current study aims at examining whether YouTube machine translation from
English into Arabic is reliable in rendering the intended meaning on subtitling, depending on the FAR model (functional
equivalence, readability, and acceptability). The data of this study consisted of 30 examples that were taken from the
YouTube platform and their translated versions into Arabic using YouTube’s machine translation. The study is both
descriptive and comparative. The results of the study indicate that YouTube machine translation represents varying levels
of inadequate translation according to its system and database, revealing many deficiencies. The total approval rate is
68.5%, which gives the impression that the translation is very poor. Therefore, the machine requires the development of its
system and the enrichment of its databases, specifically the Arabic ones.

Keywords:

Machine Translation; Subtitling; Far Model; YouTube; Harry Potter

References

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How to Cite

Al-Harahsheh, A. M., & Rababah, R. H. (2025). YouTube’s Automated Subtitling from English into Arabic: A Case Study of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(2), 583–602. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i2.8163

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 2 (February 2025): In Progress

Article Type

Article

License

Copyright © 2025 Ahmad Mohammad Al-Harahsheh, Ro’a Hasan Rababah

Creative Commons License

This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.