A 17-year-old Ukrainian created an app that translates YouTube videos into Ukrainian for free
A Ukrainian developer has created a service called Free Video Translator that translates YouTube videos into Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar for free. He spoke about this in a conversation with Mezha.Media.
The project was launched by 17-year-old Taras Ivanov from the town of Selydove in Donetsk Oblast. He came up with the idea for Free Video Translator after an incident when a developer needed to translate a video urgently, and he couldn’t find the right service.
So he decided to create his own and shared the development on the channel. Other people liked the idea, and the guy decided to work on it further, so it grew into an interesting project.
“So the goal is to give everyone the opportunity to watch videos in languages they don’t understand for free, quickly and without any extra steps,” says Taras Ivanov about Free Video Translator.
He recalls that the very first version of the translator was shared on the channel on June 22, 2023. According to him, back then it was just a console program on his PC that was not available to other people. The developer created it in just one day. The first version, which became available to everyone, was published on August 2, 2023.
The principle of Free Video Translator is described in detail on the website. To use the service, you need to go to the Telegram bot, send a link to YouTube, and get a ready translation in a few minutes.
“You don’t need to provide an email address or phone number, or come up with a password. Everything is quick and easy. The main thing is to have a Telegram account. Given that many people are now abandoning Telegram, I plan to create similar bots in other messengers and social networks for convenience and greater accessibility,” the developer said.
He also noted that translation into Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar is now available from almost any language. This is due to the use of not one, but three translators at once and an additional large language model.
“I would like to note that currently Crimean Tatar (the language of the indigenous population of Ukrainian Crimea, the Crimean Tatars) is not available in most well-known translators. More languages will be added in the future,” emphasized Taras Ivanov.
According to him, he has also just made automatic video annotation, so you don’t have to watch the video to get the main point of the video.
Currently, Free Video Translator is supported exclusively by donations and mostly by the developer’s own funds, who is currently finishing the 11th grade and continues to improve the project.
“But due to the fact that I will be writing the NMT very soon, more active preparation for it, and, as a result, lack of time, updates have not been coming out as fast as before. But when I have free time, I often improve the project because I just like it,” the guy said.
