Turn Japanese video or audio into English subtitles, exported as SRT, VTT or plain text with the original timings intact. Japanese is written without spaces, so word boundaries are decided during recognition and carry into the translation.
Where Japanese words begin and end
Japanese is written without spaces between words, so deciding where one word stops is part of recognition rather than something applied to the transcript afterwards. That matters more here than it would for a same-language transcript: the translation into English runs on those segments, and a boundary in the wrong place changes what gets translated.
It is also why subtitle timings on Japanese audio are worth spot-checking at the start and end of each line, where segmentation decisions land.
How Japanese audio becomes English subtitles
Audio in Japanese (日本語) is transcribed first, then translated into English (English). Because the translation runs on the transcript rather than on the audio, the English subtitle file keeps the timings of the original Japanese speech — each line appears at the moment it was actually said.
From kanji and kana to the Latin alphabet
Japanese is written in a mix of kanji, hiragana and katakana and English in the Latin alphabet, so the exported file uses a different writing system from the audio that produced it. The subtitle formats handle that — SRT and VTT are plain text and carry any script — but the font in whatever plays the file has to cover it.
This is the most common reason a English subtitle track looks correct in an editor and shows boxes or blanks on a device. Test on the target platform before you publish a batch.
Why translate Japanese video into English
Japanese is spoken principally in Japan; English in worldwide. A English subtitle track is what lets one recording reach both audiences without re-recording, re-editing or dubbing it.
Because subtitles are a separate file rather than part of the picture, you can attach several language tracks to the same video and let viewers pick.
About the Japanese audio
Japanese is written without spaces between words, so segmentation is part of recognition rather than something that happens afterwards — this is why word-level timings matter more here than in a space-separated language. Output mixes kanji, hiragana and katakana as normal written Japanese does.
About the English subtitles
English has a wider spread of accents than any other language here, and the gap between spelling and pronunciation means recognition leans on context rather than sound alone. Names and technical terms are where errors concentrate, because those are exactly the words context cannot predict.
What a Japanese to English subtitle file looks like
Four lines of Japanese speech, transcribed and translated, as they come out of the exported SRT. The timings are the Japanese speaker's — translation does not move them, which is why the file drops onto the original video unchanged.
1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,240
Thank you all for coming.
2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,120
Can you hear me clearly?
3
00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,300
I'll share the details in a moment.
4
00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:12,040
See you next time.
Japanese
English subtitle
お集まりいただきありがとうございます。
Thank you all for coming.
私の声はよく聞こえますか。
Can you hear me clearly?
詳細はこの後すぐ共有します。
I'll share the details in a moment.
また次回お会いしましょう。
See you next time.
What to check before publishing
Names and places, which translation handles less reliably than ordinary prose.
Idiom — a phrase that is natural in Japanese may need loosening to read well in English.
That the Latin alphabet renders in your player, not just in the editor you exported from.
Timing on fast exchanges, where two speakers overlap.
Transcribe
Transcribe Your Video/Audio to Subtitles Automatically.
Almost always, but it depends on the font rather than the file — SRT and VTT are plain text and carry the Latin alphabet without difficulty. If you see empty boxes, the player is missing a font for the script, not reading the subtitles wrongly.
How do I add English subtitles to a Japanese video?
Upload the video, set the spoken language to Japanese and the subtitle language to English, then export the result as SRT and upload it alongside your video. Nothing is burned into the picture, so the subtitles stay switchable.
Does the English subtitle file stay in sync?
Yes. Translation happens on the transcript, so every English line inherits the timing of the Japanese words it came from. The file will sync with the same video without adjustment.
Can I get the Japanese transcript as well?
Yes. Transcribing Japanese into Japanese subtitles is a separate job on the same recording, and gives you the original-language track alongside the English one.
