cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/40428037
even using FreeTube, i have to change audio track and subtitle settings almost non-stop…
it’s slightly less annoying to see wrong/unnecessary subtitles. but it’s pretty confusing/tiring when the algorithm interprets sound effects or music (instrumental even) as Hindi or Uzbek or something and i have to turn off subs even if there is no talking.
audio on the other hand 🤬👿👹
even if I watch a video not in either of my 2 fluent languages, i don’t ever want to hear any dubbed/ai-gen audio track.
any idea if this is in YouTube’s issue tracker?
regardless, in the absence of fix from YouTube side, any clue if this can be improved on the client side?
PS - any responses telling me to just watch peertube instead will be downvoted and user will be blocked. fyi i don’t reject watching peertube but my chosen antidote for the corporate streaming disease is 🏴☠️
And porn sites win again. Most of them which have auto translation also have an option to turn it off.
sorry to anyone if my grievance wasn’t clear.
the problem is:
- auto translated video titles make many videos seem like they’re in my language (either of my 2 fluent languages) but in fact the video is not -> ai generated title fraud
- auto generated translated audio track -> don’t like dubs, from humans or not. if i watch a video in a language i don’t understand, i want the original audio and subtitles. always.
- auto generated subtitles appear even when there is no talking, i.e. during sound effects or music (even instrumental)
root causes:
- ai translation is incompetent thus far and for the foreseeable future. (please don’t mention “good” ai translation between western European languages. Compared to the rest of the world these may as well be slight accents of the same language, especially but not limited to Romance<-> Romance, Germanic<->Germanic, English<->Germanic/Romance)
- YouTube corporation thinks multilingual audience don’t exist, i.e. thinks everyone only wants audio/subtitles in the settings’ selected 1 (one) language. no option to select multi languages.
- ai translated audio track can only be disabled per video during playback. no option in settings screen to disable ai generated audio (on watcher side). maybe this is Freetube issue, not sure cuz i haven’t watched YouTube directly in years.
In general, US-based sites/companies are usually terrible with supporting multi-lingualism. It’s not really surprising I guess considering how monolingual most of the country/region is.
For years google maps has annoyed me, since I just wanted a good way to have German and English reviews not be translated, since both are common in my city and I speak both languages.
Somehow it randomly works sometimes and then suddenly will start translating them again. It’s very inconsistent.
You can turn off captions, I thought. Uploaders can supply their own caption tracks if they want. Otherwise auto generated ones are available. They aren’t great but they can help.
sorry if i wasn’t clear.
edit: added clarification in the main thread
I feel like the AI dubs are just a way to annoy people with ad blockers. Both on desktop, and my modded mobile client, any time i open a new video, the player forces my quality down to 144p, and turns on the first available dub
I have ublock origin on desktop and revanced patched youtube and I don’t have any of this issues. So it might just simply be YouTube being YouTube.
