Translate the script, not the words
Jokes, idioms and references often don't survive word-for-word translation. Rewrite them for the new audience.
Check numbers, dates and units - miles to kilometres, dates in the local order.
Time it again
Languages take different amounts of time to say the same thing. A 60-second English script can run long in German or short in Japanese, so retime it rather than squeezing the voice.
Use a native-sounding voice
An English voice reading Spanish sounds wrong straight away. Pick a voice made for the language and, where it matters, the region (European or Latin American Spanish, for example).
A separate channel or the same one?
A separate channel per language usually works better - the platforms show your videos to people who speak that language, and viewers know what they'll get.
TallClip makes scripts, voices and captions in 49 languages and times each one to its language.
Choosing topics that travel
Universal topics - animals, space, the human body, history, mysteries - work in any language. Local jokes, local news and local celebrities usually don't.
Check the topic is searched in the new language. A niche that's crowded in English can be wide open in Portuguese or Indonesian.
Check with a native speaker
Machine translation is good but not perfect. If you can, have a native speaker check your first few videos in a new language. Small mistakes in grammar or tone make a channel feel foreign.
Ask them about names and numbers too. The way dates, decimals and money are written differs between countries.
Captions and titles in the language too
Translate the title, description and hashtags, not just the voice. They're what search and recommendation systems read.
Keep the same visuals where they work. A good picture needs no translation.
Questions
Which languages are worth trying first?
Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi have huge short-video audiences and less competition than English in many niches.