Web Video Translation Site DotSub Powers Ted Talks, Sony

One of the rubs against online video has been the near-pervasive lack of subtitles. This might seem like a small issue at first blush, but with Web watching being a worldwide phenomenon, a creator can limit his or her audience by only offering the content in one language. Enter DotSub.

DotSub, a privately funded startup whose mission is "any video, any language," has won deals with non-profit TED and movie studio Sony, DotSub founder Michael Smolen told Beet.TV.

Smolen says that the browser-based technology lets Web video be subtitled in any language. Anyone can submit a video to the site and begin the process of subtitling so the video can then be translated into other languages.The translation can be conducted collaboratively, a la Wikipedia-style where anyone can weigh in, or in a closed environment, which works for DotSub's media company partners.
Non-profit group TED announced last month that it's using DotSub to translate all its "Ted Talks." In the first month, more then 2,300 talks have been translated into 72 languages by more than 1,300 people, Smolen said. Here is a talk by Michelle Obama with Turkish subtitles.

Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer