# A film in other languages

Updated 2026-11-01. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/other-languages

A finished film can be made again in other languages. Claude translates the narration and every word on screen, and the narrator says it in the new language. **Only the words change:** every line starts exactly where the original's did and is said within the same time, so the picture, its timing, the camera, the characters, the narrator's voice, the music and the sound stay as they were. Nothing is drawn or painted again, and the film keeps its length. The studio compares the translation with the original, file by file, before it is finished: if anything but the words changed, it is put back, and a film that cannot be put back is not finished and its credits come back.

Each language is **a film of its own**, with its own page, link, title (written in that language), views and YouTube posts. The original stays as it is. So the same explainer can go on an English channel and a Spanish one, each in its own language.

![The Translate dialog over a film's page: the title "Translate this film", one sentence (pick the languages; Claude translates the narration and the words on screen; everything else stays), then the grid of languages with English, Español and Français greyed as already the film's, made, or being made, and Deutsch and Українська ticked; under it Already made (Español, Ready, Watch; Français, Being made, Open); a YouTube checkbox, Also put each one on YouTube; a closed section, What stays, and what to expect; and at the bottom "2 languages, uses 0:30 of credit, you have 36:30" and the button Translate into 2 languages, circled.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/languages-dialog.webp "Translate: the languages come first; each ticked one becomes a film of its own.")

## In short

1. **Press Translate** ([where it is](#where-to-find-it)).
2. **Tick the languages.** The languages come first; what stays and what to expect is one click below them. Languages the film has already, and its own, are marked and cannot be ticked.
3. **Press Translate into Spanish** (or **Translate into 2 languages**). Each starts like any film; an email says when each is ready.
4. **Find them** under the film, in the **Languages** row, and in your films and projects like any other film.

## Where to find it

**Translate** is on a finished film of your own, in three places:

- **The film's own page** (kitcut.ai/film/…): under the video, beside **Change something**.
- **The film's page in the Studio** (kitcut.ai/studio/film/…): at the top, beside **Change something**, and a **Languages** card on the **Film** tab that lists every language the film has, with a way into each, and **Add languages**.
- **A project's episode:** open the episode (its page in the Studio) and press **Translate** at the top, beside **Change something**. A translation that did not finish has **Translate again** on its card.

![The Film tab of a film's page in the Studio: the buttons Change something and Translate at the top (Translate circled); on the tab the one version, and a Languages card listing Español (Ready, with Open) and Français (Being made, with See), and Add languages (circled).](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/languages-studio.webp "Translate on a film's page in the Studio: at the top, and as a Languages card on the Film tab.")

You do not see it when: the film is not finished, or is not yours; or the film cannot be made in another language (it is then shown with the reason).

## Which films, and who

- **Who:** the person who made the film, signed in. In a shared workspace, its owners and admins too ([Workspaces](https://kitcut.ai/docs/workspaces.md)). A new language is made in the same workspace, paid by it, and is an episode of the same project.
- **Which films:** any finished film of yours: from the idea box, a project's episode or a template, with or without people drawn from photos. A film with no narration (a template's music-only card, say) has only its words on screen translated. A film that is itself a translation has no Translate of its own: ask on the original, or on any of its languages' pages (the new language is made from the original).
- **Always from the original.** Asked on a film that is itself a translation, the new language is made from the original, as it is now, never from a translation of a translation. If the original has been deleted, its translations cannot be translated again.
- **Not offered:**
  - for a film that is still being made, or that failed;
  - while the film's next version is being made ([Changing a finished film](https://kitcut.ai/docs/changing-a-film.md)): it would be made from the version before. Ask when the new version is ready;
  - for a film told in your own ElevenLabs voice ([Voices](https://kitcut.ai/docs/voices.md)) when the workspace's narrator is no longer that kind of voice. A film in your own voice is otherwise translated in that same voice, from your ElevenLabs account's characters, as any film in it is.

## The languages

19 languages, in the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets: the ones whose letters every typeface on screen is checked to have ([Looks](https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks.md)).

| Language | Its own name | Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| English | English | en |
| Spanish | Español | es |
| French | Français | fr |
| German | Deutsch | de |
| Italian | Italiano | it |
| Portuguese | Português | pt |
| Ukrainian | Українська | uk |
| Polish | Polski | pl |
| Dutch | Nederlands | nl |
| Swedish | Svenska | sv |
| Danish | Dansk | da |
| Norwegian | Norsk | no |
| Finnish | Suomi | fi |
| Czech | Čeština | cs |
| Romanian | Română | ro |
| Hungarian | Magyar | hu |
| Turkish | Türkçe | tr |
| Indonesian | Bahasa Indonesia | id |
| Bulgarian | Български | bg |

- **Never the film's own language,** and **one film per language:** a language that is ready or being made is not offered again. One that did not finish, or that you stopped, can be asked for again.
- **Up to 12 other languages** a film.
- **Not offered:** languages in other scripts (such as Chinese, Japanese, Arabic or Hindi), because their words on screen would be missing; and **Russian**, which is not in the list and cannot be asked for any other way: through the page, an assistant or a name typed in another spelling, it is refused at once and nothing is used ([What KitCut doesn't do](https://kitcut.ai/docs/not-supported.md#language)). A film that is itself in Russian is not made in other languages either.

## What each language uses

**Each language uses 50% of what a film of the original's length uses, rounded up** (so at least half of the 30 every film uses). Pictures painted at Standard or High add nothing: they are not painted again. It is held when the new film starts, used when it is finished, and comes back if it does not finish or you stop it ([Plans and credits](https://kitcut.ai/docs/plans-and-credits.md#how-credits-work)).

| Original film | A film that long uses | Each language uses |
|---|---|---|
| 20 seconds | 30 | 15 |
| 1 minute | 60 | 30 |
| 3 minutes | 180 | 90 |

- **The same whatever its length:** a translation can come out a few seconds longer or shorter than the original, since languages take different time to say the same thing. It uses the same either way.
- **The dialog says** what the languages ticked use and what you have, and **Make** stays off when it is more than you have.
- **The account page** lists each one as "Spanish version: *the film's title*" ([Your account](https://kitcut.ai/docs/account.md)).

## Several at once

Tick as many languages as you want. Your plan makes one film at a time (two on Pro, [Plans and credits](https://kitcut.ai/docs/plans-and-credits.md)); the first starts at once and the rest **wait their turn** in your account's line, each starting by itself when the film before it is done. Their credits are held when each one starts. The dialog says which started and which wait.

- **A language already waiting** in your line is not added a second time.
- **If something stops the rest** (not enough credit, say), the languages it did not reach are listed as **Not started** with the reason, and nothing was used for them.
- **A long request** starts as many as it has time for and lists the rest as **Not started**: ask for those again.

![The dialog after Translate into 2 languages: Deutsch, Being made, with Watch it being made; Ukrainian, Waits its turn (number 1 in your line), starting by itself when the film before it is done; and under them what each used and what is left.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/languages-started.webp "After Translate: the first language is being made, the next waits its turn.")

## Where the versions are

- **Under the film:** a **Languages** row lists the original and every version, the one on screen highlighted and a version being made marked so. Each name is a link to that film's page.
- **For visitors:** someone watching the film sees only the versions that are finished and public (never one removed from the gallery); a link-only version is never shown to anyone without its link ([Who can see a film](https://kitcut.ai/docs/films.md#who-can-see-a-film)).
- **Link-only or public:** a new version starts link-only when the original is link-only, and public when it is public. Change it like any film's.
- **In All videos** (kitcut.ai/studio/videos): a version wears its language's code (ES, DE) on its picture, and is named by its own title, in its language. The original wears none. Under each, **Also in** lists the film's other languages, the original outlined and one being made dashed; each opens that film.
- **In a project:** each version is an episode of the project, its card marked "Spanish version" ([Characters and projects](https://kitcut.ai/docs/characters-and-projects.md)).
- **On YouTube:** each version is published like any film, with its own words and thumbnails ([On YouTube](#on-youtube) below). A project that publishes its episodes by itself leaves the versions in other languages alone: they go where you send them.

![Under the video of the film's Spanish version, as a visitor sees it: Done, Download and the view count, the share bar with its Spanish link, and a red circle around the row Languages: English (original) and Español, highlighted as the one on screen; then the prompt.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/languages-row.webp "The Languages row under a film: each finished, public version is a link.")

## On YouTube

Each language is published as **a video of its own**, and its words are **written again for it**, never carried over from the original:

- **The title, description and tags** are written by Claude from the translated film, in its language, in the voice of the channel it is going to ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md)). They are not a translation of the original's.
- **The thumbnails** are four new ones, made from the translated film, with their words in its language ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md#publishing-a-film)). The original's thumbnails are never reused, and neither is its draft: a draft in any other language than the film's is thrown away, not shown.
- **The video's language** on YouTube is the film's own (Spanish for the Spanish film), whatever the original is, so YouTube shows it to the right audience. KitCut never labels it English by default.
- **The title it falls back on** when no words could be written is its own, or none: it is never given the original's idea or title, so a Spanish video does not go up with an English title.

![The top of the publish dialog for the Spanish version of the bees film: under the title a circled line "Spanish version of From Flower to Honey: How Bees Make It"; two channels, Sam's Sketchbook (marked English, picked) and Bee Curious; a circled note "Sam's Sketchbook publishes in English. This film is in Spanish: its title, description and thumbnails are written in Spanish."; and on the right the title and description, written in Spanish.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/languages-publish.webp "Publishing the Spanish version: it says which version it is, marks each channel's language and says when the channel is in another one. The words are written in Spanish.")

### Which channel

The dialog starts on the channel that suits the film's language, and says so when it does not:

1. a channel whose videos are in that language: what KitCut published there before, and the language of its latest videos;
2. else the film's project's channel, unless the original is on it or it publishes in another language;
3. else a channel that does not have the original, one that has not said what it publishes in before one that publishes in another language.

It only starts there: pick any channel. When the channel publishes in another language the dialog says so, and still writes the words in the film's language.

### Put them on YouTube as they are made

In the Translate dialog, **Also put each one on YouTube** (the page remembers your last choice) picks a channel for each language (the one above, to start with). Each is put on that channel's calendar at once, on its **next free day** at the channel's pace ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md#scheduling-the-channels-calendar)); when the film is finished its words and thumbnails are written and it goes up, private until its day. A language that waits in your line is put on the calendar when it starts. Change the words, the thumbnail or the day on the film's page, or take it off the calendar there.

![The YouTube part of the Translate dialog with Also put each one on YouTube ticked (circled): Deutsch on Bee Curious, and Українська on Sam's Sketchbook, marked English, with the note that Sam's Sketchbook publishes in English (both circled); above them the line that its title, description and thumbnails are written for it in its own language and nothing is copied or translated from the original's.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/languages-youtube.webp "Translate with YouTube: a channel for each language, its words and thumbnails written when it is done.")

## What stays as it is

- **Words inside a picture,** such as a sign painted into a scene or a logo, stay as they are: only the words the film writes on screen are translated.
- **The film's name in your list** (All videos too) is its language ("Spanish version") until its own title is written: a few minutes after it is finished, Claude writes its title and description in its language, as for any film ([Your films](https://kitcut.ai/docs/films.md)).
- **The idea** shown under the film is the original's, as written.

## Through an AI assistant

`localize_film` takes the film (its id or link) and the languages, by code or name ("es", "German", "Українська"); several at once make several films, and the ones the account has no room for wait in its line (`get_queue`). `public` makes them public; they are link-only otherwise. `youtube` puts each on a channel as it is made, as `make_film`'s does, with `by_language` to name a channel for each language ({"es": ["@MiCanal"]}); left out, a language goes to the channel that suits it. Later, `draft_youtube_post`, `publish_to_youtube` and `schedule_film` work on a translated film like on any film: its words and thumbnails are written for it, its channel defaults to the one that suits its language, and `get_film` says which film it is a translation of. `get_film` lists the languages a film has, with each one's link and where it stands ([Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)).