Generate Spanish subtitles for your Portuguese videos

Choosing between Portuguese and Spanish

Portuguese and Spanish are close enough that automatic detection between them is unreliable, especially on short clips — there is simply not enough audio to tell them apart. Set both languages explicitly here rather than leaving the source on detection.

Because the two are so close, translation between them is largely a matter of vocabulary and written convention rather than restructuring sentences. Expect a Spanish subtitle file that tracks the Portuguese original almost line for line.

How Portuguese audio becomes Spanish subtitles

Audio in Portuguese (Português) is transcribed first, then translated into Spanish (Español). Because the translation runs on the transcript rather than on the audio, the Spanish subtitle file keeps the timings of the original Portuguese speech — each line appears at the moment it was actually said.

Why translate Portuguese video into Spanish

Portuguese is spoken principally in Brazil, Portugal and Lusophone Africa; Spanish in Spain and most of Latin America. A Spanish 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 Portuguese audio

Brazilian and European Portuguese differ enough in rhythm and vowel reduction that they can sound like separate languages to a learner. Both transcribe accurately, and the written output follows the variety spoken.

About the Spanish subtitles

European and Latin American Spanish differ in pronunciation, pronoun use and a good deal of everyday vocabulary, and Caribbean and Rioplatense speech diverge further still. All transcribe well; the variety is preserved rather than standardised.

What a Portuguese to Spanish subtitle file looks like

Four lines of Portuguese speech, transcribed and translated, as they come out of the exported SRT. The timings are the Portuguese 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
Buenos días a todos.

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,120
¿Me oyen bien?

3
00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,300
Compartiré los detalles en un momento.

4
00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:12,040
Escriban sus preguntas abajo.

What to check before publishing

• Names and places, which translation handles less reliably than ordinary prose.
• Idiom — a phrase that is natural in Portuguese may need loosening to read well in Spanish.
• Timing on fast exchanges, where two speakers overlap.