Meta adds Hindi and Portuguese support for its AI translation feature for Reels

Meta is already putting Reels in front and center of the Instagram experience on iPad and on mobile in countries like India and South Korea. Now, to allow more people to consume and understand Reels in different languages, the company is adding support for Hindi and Portuguese to its AI-powered translation feature across Instagram and Facebook, as well.

The company first launched this feature in August with support for English and Spanish after teasing it at its Meta Connect conference last year. With Hindi and Portuguese support, Meta aims to tap into creators from its biggest markets, like India and Brazil, to have a global reach.

“We believe there are lots of amazing creators out there who have potential audiences who don’t necessarily speak the same language,” explained Instagram head Adam Mosseri in a post on Instagram in August.

“And if we can help you reach those audiences who speak other languages, reach across cultural and linguistic barriers, we can help you grow your following and get more value out of Instagram and the platform,” he added.

Users can turn on automatic translation in their preferred language to consume Reels that were originally created in another language.

Creators can turn on automatic translation for their Reels by turning on the “Translate your voice with Meta AI” option before publishing. They can also select which languages to translate to after reviewing the translated video with automatic dub and lip sync.

Meta said that it is working on new features for AI-powered translation that will roll out soon. Reels on Facebook already support multi-speaker AI-powered translations. Meta said that this feature will be available for creators posting on Instagram soon.

Apart from voice translations, the company is also building a way to translate text or caption stickers posted with Reels in supported languages. Users will be able to select the “Translate text on Reels” option when the feature is rolled out. This is useful for someone who is watching a video without sound.

What’s more, Meta plans to roll out a new voice dubbing feature that will preserve the creator’s original voice and tone. The company will also give an option to opt for a new version of lip-syncing that better matches the movement of your mouth.

Meta’s rival YouTube has been working on translation features for a few years now. Last month, the company rolled out lip-sync improvements to its auto-dubbing feature with support for 20 languages.