DubbingMate
How to Watch Korean YouTube Videos with English Audio
Korean dramas, vlogs, lectures and museum tours are often posted on YouTube with Korean speech only. This guide covers three ways to follow them in English: reading translated captions, using a dubbed track when a video has one, and listening to English speech generated from the captions.
1. Free: YouTube's auto-translated captions
- Open the video and click the CC button to turn captions on.
- Click Settings (the gear icon) → Subtitles/CC → Auto-translate.
- Choose English.
This costs nothing, but you have to read. Your eyes leave the picture, fast lines can vanish before you finish them, and it is awkward when your hands or eyes are busy (cooking, exercising, looking at slides or a demo).
2. YouTube's own auto-dubbed audio
Some videos offer extra audio tracks. If a video has one, open Settings → Audio track and pick English. This exists for some videos only, so you cannot count on it for a given Korean video.
3. Listening with DubbingMate
DubbingMate is a desktop app for Windows and Mac. It reads a video's captions out loud in English while the video keeps playing.
- Install DubbingMate and open a YouTube video that has captions.
- Press the dub button. For a Korean video, DubbingMate takes the Korean captions (auto-generated ones work), uses YouTube's auto-translation to get English text, and speaks it.
- Captions required. A video with no captions cannot be dubbed.
- First run. The app downloads a voice model the first time you dub, so the first sound can take about 1–2 minutes.
- Trial and price. Everything is free for 72 hours counted from your first dub, then it is a one-time purchase with no subscription. See the pricing section for the current price.
Which Korean videos work well
| Video type | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Talk, vlog, lecture, tutorial, museum or tour video with captions | Works. Spoken content with clear captions suits dubbing best. |
| Drama or variety clip with captions | Works when captions exist. Speech quality follows the caption and translation quality. |
| No captions at all | Cannot be dubbed. Check whether the video has an auto-dubbed audio track instead. |
| Music videos and songs | Not a good fit. Lyrics read aloud over the music are usually not what you want. |
FAQ
Can I get English audio on a Korean video that has no captions?
Not with DubbingMate, which works from captions. Some videos have an auto-dubbed audio track, so check the Audio track menu.
Is the English translation perfect?
No. The English comes from YouTube's automatic translation of the Korean captions, so mistakes in the captions or the translation carry through to the speech.
Do I need to pay to try it?
No. All features are free for 72 hours from your first dub; installing alone does not start the clock. After that it is a one-time purchase, see pricing.
Related: How to Watch Japanese YouTube Videos with English Audio