Dynamic video caption translation player

A computer system for providing a dynamic video caption translation player, the system comprising:

• a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions embodied within the following components;
• a video receiving component that receives an identification of a digital video;
• a caption identification component that identifies captions associated with the identified digital video without playing the identified digital video, wherein the captions have a source language;
• a language selection component that selects a target language associated with a user requesting playback of the identified digital video;
• a caption translation component that receives the captions identified by the caption identification component in the source language, receives the selected target language, and performs an automated translation;
• a caption storage component that stores translated captions in a caption format that can be read by at least one video playback application;
• a video package component that packages information for playing back the identified digital video using the translated captions for access by a client;
• and
• a video playback component that includes an application that plays digital video and can display the translated captions to a user using hardware of a computing device associated with the user.

A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling a computer system to handle automated translation requests at a web translation service, wherein the instructions, upon execution, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:

• receiving a list of captions to translate at a translation service from a web server that hosts video files with captions in a source language;
• receiving a target language to which to translate the received list of captions;
• detecting a source language of the received list of captions;
• attempting to identify a cached set of captions in the received target language;
• if no cached copy of the captions is found, automatically translating the received list of captions from the detected source language to the requested target language that was received;
• and
• sending the translated captions as a response to a sender of the original captions.