Arabic video to English even in Egyptian dialect
Most Arabic videos are spoken in a dialect, not the formal Arabic of textbooks, and very few carry English. WatchTranslate turns the spoken Arabic into English on the player and keeps the Arabic line below it.
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Formal Arabic class does not prepare you for real Arabic video
Egyptian, Levantine and Gulf speakers sound very different from Modern Standard Arabic, and creators rarely add English. YouTube's Auto-translate also needs an Arabic caption track before it shows anything.
- Dialect words you never met in class
- Right-to-left text that is slow to look up
- No captions, so no Auto-translate
- English for the dialect as it is spoken
- The Arabic sentence shown below
- No caption track needed
Three steps to English on an Arabic video
Install it
Add the WatchTranslate extension to Chrome or Edge on a computer. It is free to start.
Open the Arabic video
No YouTube login is needed. Once it plays, find the WT button in the controls.
WTWhat happened was the result of long yearsChoose English and start
Set Target language to English and Subtitle source to Audio recognition in the WT panel, then turn translation on. Source language was left on Auto-detect for this talk.
Egyptian Arabic in, English out
Satirist Bassem Youssef at TEDxCairo, talking about Egyptian media and the 2011 revolution in colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Four lines from our recording, unchanged.
| Second | Arabic (audio) | English (subtitle) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 s | اللي حصل في الأيام ديه ما كانش وليد اللحظة، ما كانش مجرد سبب ال 18 يوم بتاع الثورة. | What happened these days was not a momentary thing, not just because of the 18 days of the revolution. |
| 28 s | اللي حصل ده كان نتاج سنين طويلة | What happened was the result of long years |
| 31 s | من سياسة بيتبعها للإعلام تعتمد بالطريقة الأولى على التلقين. | of a policy pursued toward the media that relies primarily on indoctrination. |
| 38 s | لو فاكرين من قبل كده بتفتح التلفزيون بتشوف إيه؟ talk shows لمدة 3 ساعات، | If you remember before, when you turn on the TV, what do you see? Talk shows for 3 hours, |
Seconds count from when we started recording, after the first English line. The English words the speaker used (talk shows) stay as he said them.
Built for spoken Arabic
From the voice, not from captions
Audio recognition works on the Arabic speech, so videos with no caption track get English as well.
Arabic and English together
Read the English and see, just under it, the Arabic sentence it came from.
Dialect, recognized
Our test talk is colloquial Egyptian, not textbook Arabic, and it was recognized with Source language on Auto-detect.
Long shows prepared ahead
Translate all subtitles in advance readies a long talk show or series episode while you start watching.
Download the subtitles
Export SRT or VTT to keep the English and the Arabic.
Arabic captions can be used
If the channel has Arabic captions, translate them with their own timing.
Arabic videos you can now follow
Egyptian comedy and talk shows
Satire, stand-up and long talk shows, like the speaker in our test.
Musalsalat clips
Scenes and trailers from Egyptian, Syrian and Gulf series.
Arabic news
Reports and interviews from Arabic-language news channels on YouTube.
Gulf vlogs
Saudi and Emirati creators: cars, travel and daily life.
Football
Arabic commentary and post-match interviews.
Learning Arabic
Hear real dialect with the Arabic text and English meaning on screen.
Arabic on YouTube: what the player does, what we add
If an Arabic video already has English, use it. Otherwise this is how the two compare.
| Arabic video | YouTube's captions | With WatchTranslate |
|---|---|---|
| English subtitles added by the channel | Select English | No need for us |
| Arabic captions only, uploaded or automatic | Auto-translate gives English on its own line | English with the Arabic line under it |
| No captions | Captions button unavailable; Arabic audio only | English from the spoken Arabic, as tested here |
From the youtube.com web player signed out, checked on November 9, 2026. YouTube may have changed it since.
Our Arabic test
Published extension on a computer, signed out of YouTube: the TEDxCairo talk from the one-minute mark, English chosen, WT on.
- Works
TEDxCairo talk in Egyptian Arabic · English subtitles
Five English lines in 38 seconds of recording, each with its Arabic line under it.
- Works
Dialect handled on Auto-detect
Source language stayed on Auto-detect and the colloquial Egyptian came through as Arabic.
Tested November 12, 2026 · extension 0.5.782 · Chrome · signed out of YouTube
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Arabic video to English: questions
How do I get English subtitles on an Arabic video?
Add WatchTranslate to Chrome or Edge, play the video, click WT, set English as Target language and switch on. English appears as the Arabic is spoken.
Does it understand Arabic dialects?
Recognition is not limited to Modern Standard Arabic: the talk in our test is colloquial Egyptian, and it came out as readable English.
The Arabic video has no captions. Will it work?
Yes. Choose Audio recognition as Subtitle source; English is made from the speech.
Should I set Arabic as the source language?
Auto-detect worked in our test. You can also choose Arabic yourself under Source language.
Can I watch Arabic series this way?
Yes. An episode works like any video; turn on Translate all subtitles in advance for long ones.
Do I need a YouTube account?
No. The test was done signed out.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes, through the WatchTranslate app for Android and iPhone; on a computer, the extension.
How much does it cost?
20 minutes are free with no card. Plans are on the pricing page.
YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC and TEDx of TED Conferences LLC. WatchTranslate is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.