Translating your video
There are two ways to translate a video: either from the dashboard, or from the Share page. From the dashboard page, click on the 3 dot menu on the video that you'd like to translate, then click Translate video:
From the Share page, click on Translate in the bottom menu:
A copy of the video is made and you'll be taken into the video editor for this version. You can select the language you'd like the video to be translated to, and we'll translate everything in the video: the text on your scenes, your captions, and the AI voiceover, if there is one:
The original video’s text will appear in a comment on each scene so you can reference it and make any edits you need to:
A badge appears on a video tile to show that a video was automatically translated, and what the source language was.
FAQ
How accurate are the translations?
Translations are usually around 80% accurate. Accuracy tends to be higher when translating between languages with similar grammar and sentence structure (for example, English → French or Spanish). Translations into languages with very different structure (like English → Japanese or Korean) may sound less natural at first and often need more manual polishing.
Because of this, we strongly recommend having a fluent/native speaker review every translated video before publishing.
Can a translated video be re-translated?
Yes, you can translate a translated video again. However, keep in mind that translation quality can degrade over multiple rounds if you don’t correct the text in between.
Example:
If you translate English → Russian, then translate that Russian video → Chinese without fixing the Russian, the Chinese version may drift further from the original meaning. For best results, review and edit after each translation step, or translate from the original video each time.
What languages can I translate my video into?
You can translate into any of the supported languages listed here: What languages does Lumen5 support?
How scene durations are calculated after translation
When you translate a video, the total timing of the video may change. **Translations can be shorter or longer than the original depending on the language. To keep your pacing consistent, Lumen5 uses the **original scene timing as a template, then scales the translated version proportionally.
We start by looking at the total duration of the original group of scenes. For example, imagine two scenes that add up to 10 seconds. Next, we calculate how much of that total each scene represents: if scene 1 is 4 seconds and scene 2 is 6 seconds, then scene 1 makes up 40% of the timing and scene 2 makes up 60%.
After the video is translated, we keep those same proportions and apply them to the new total duration. So if the translated version now runs 15 seconds overall, scene 1 will take 40% of that time (6 seconds) and scene 2 will take the remaining 60% (9 seconds).
This method keeps the relative rhythm of your original video, even if the translated language changes the total length.
Why might text shift across scenes?
Different languages expand or compress ideas differently. Since translated timing is redistributed by percentage (not by semantic sentence boundaries), some words may land slightly earlier or later than expected. That’s normal, and why we recommend a fluent speaker review the scene text and make small adjustments where needed.
What languages can I translate my video into?
See the full list here: What languages does Lumen5 support?
Updated on: 27/11/2025