Watch Arabic Videos and Vlogs with Subtitles on YouTube

In many languages, you can watch videos with subtitles. Arabic, however, falls out of line in this regard. YouTube is a wonderful resource for finding films and vlogs.

In this article, I will show how you can search for Arabic Videos with subtitles and use an extension to find certain sequences in a video.

Furthermore, I will give some recommendations of Arabic YouTube vloggers and channels which offer English subtitles.

How to find Arabic videos with subtitles on YouTube

The built-in function of YouTube

You can use a filter on YouTube to only show videos with subtitles.

The Chrome extension: Language Learning with Netflix and YouTube

This extension works quite well with YouTube. It is only available for the Chrome browser. There is a free and a paid option, but the free option is usually enough. You can download the extension from the Google Web Store:

After the installation, go to YouTube and refresh your browser (F5). You now have to set your target language and your mother tongue.

You should then see a small icon now (CC) next to the search bar. Press on this button to only show videos with subtitles.

The video will show the subtitles in a separate frame. You can copy the subtitles, translate words, etc.

Arabic Vlogs and YouTube channels with subtitles – some recommendations

There are thousands of Arabic videos on YouTube but almost all of them have no subtitles. In this article, I present some high-quality channels who offer English or Arabic subs.

Since I spent many, many years in Egypt, I mainly watch videos in Egyptian Arabic. If anyone knows Vloggers who speak in different Arabic dialects and offer subtitles (English or Arabic), please let me know or add them in the comment section below.

Egyptian Arabic

Da7ee7 – ARABIC and/or ENGLISH subtitles

My favorite YouTube channel. Da7ee7 (دحيح) is an Egyptian Arabic expression for nerd. Ahmed Elghandour calls his great YouTube channel the “first popular science channel in the Arab World!”

A warning: he speaks ultra-fast. So, if you really want to know about your level of understanding, try some videos of Ahmed (but don’t be frustrated afterwards ;-)

Not all of his videos have subtitles. So enter الدحيح in the YouTube search bar and then use the filter option (CC/subtitles). If you press on this link, you should also get only videos with subs.

Kareem Elsayed – ENGLISH subtitles

Kareem is an Egyptian who lives in the UK now. In his YouTube Channel, he shares his experiences through the eyes of an Egyptian. His videos are highly professional and are all with English subtitles. It is a great resource for learners of Arabic!

Mohamed el-Hady – ENGLISH subtitles

Mohamed el-Hady (محمد الهادي) takes you to interesting places in Egypt and abroad and explains his view on life on his YouTube channel. He tests things and vlogs about his experiences.

Mada Masr – ENGLISH subtitles

Mada Masr is one of the last independent and critical news outlet covering news about Egypt. In Mada Masr’s YouTube channel, you will find many videos most of them with English subtitles.

Levantine

Sarde After Dinner

Médéa & Mouin found each other right before the COVID-19 pandemic in Beirut, Lebanon, and decided to quarantine together (@James v. N. – THANKS!).

Coming from different generations, sexes and religions, they realized they had many things to say about the country they love and hate.

In each episode, they bring experts & friends to learn not only what makes us Lebanese, but also what makes us human.

Palestinian Arabic

Have a look at these two links to watch Palestinian movies:

• Palestinian Film Institute: great films with Palestinian dialect with subtitles
• Aflamuna: Palestinian independent films with subtitles

(@James v. N. – THANKS!)

Modern Standard Arabic

Midan – ARABIC subtitles

This platform is part of al-Jazeera and targets young people. On the YouTube channel, Midan offers Arabic subtitles which is perfect for advanced learners (and so rare to find).