How to Set Closed Captioning to Spanish

With today's vast array of television and internet-based media programming, individuals from all corners of the globe can enjoy high-quality content whenever they want. Although programming may originally be in a language that does not match the viewer's primary reading or writing language, closed captioning options are frequently available.

Many of the most popular media platforms allow individuals to view closed captioning in a variety of popular languages. With that in mind, turning on Spanish captions for your favorite show may be easier than you thought and require only a few relatively straightforward steps.

With the rise in popularity of services such as Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, viewers from around the world are suddenly capable of accessing foreign content at the touch of a button. While this unprecedented level of access certainly boosts exposure for many shows and media productions, it also created the need for a highly effective subtitling service that could instantly show the correct captioning in several languages.

Universal closed captioning has become a de facto standard industrywide. Although not every program offers closed captions for several languages, the chances are good that you can find a subtitled version in Spanish available somewhere on the internet.

If you are using a customizable media viewer such as VLC, you can download subtitling files that are designed to sync directly with the film or show you are watching. These subtitle files can often be downloaded free from sites on the internet.

Although changing the closed captioned language on different media players varies somewhat, the process is similar on most of them and usually begins with locating the familiar CC icon that indicates closed captioning features.

Using YouTube as an example, when you find a video you want to view with Spanish closed captions, your first step is to click the CC button located on the bottom right side of the screen. It is usually the left-most clickable icon in a series of icons found in this area of the viewable screen. After you click this button, the current subtitling language is displayed at the upper left side of the screen, along with text prompting you to click the gear icon for additional configuration parameters.

To enable Spanish subtitling, click the gear icon, which is located to the immediate right of the CC box. A menu appears that includes a Subtitles tab. In parentheses, a number indicates the current number of subtitled languages for your chosen video. Click this area to open a menu of available languages. If Spanish is available, select it here. From this point forward, Spanish subtitles appear in your video.

If the subtitles do not appear, restart the video or refresh your browser and try the process again. You can also notify the team at YouTube directly if the subtitles fail to turn on after repeated attempts to activate the feature.

Although these steps are specific to the YouTube platform, they can be adapted as needed for virtually all major media viewing websites. With that in mind, take this information and use it to discover and enable subtitling options on other websites where you intend to view media.