Emirati developer uses AI to cut Japanese-to-Arabic anime translation from weeks to minutes

Dubai: A new anime episode may end in Japan, but for Arab viewers, another journey begins: transcribing the dialogue, understanding and translating it, timing each sentence and preparing the subtitle file for viewing. It is a process that Emirati Mohammed Saeed Al-Ansari says once took days or even weeks. Now, he is working to shorten it to less than 10 minutes using artificial intelligence. During his participation in “Vandome Dubai 2026”, Al-Ansari showcased a project he has been developing to accelerate the translation of anime, films and series from Japanese into Arabic, taking advantage of rapid advances in AI models and their ability to process audio and recognise speech. Al-Ansari said translating a single episode was traditionally a long and cumbersome process, requiring translators to handle the dialogue, timing, translation and preparation before it could be viewed. Completing an episode or film, he said, could take one to two weeks. But the emergence of increasingly capable AI tools prompted him to rethink the process: could all these steps be cut from weeks to minutes? That question led him to develop an app that he says can complete the anime translation process in less than 10 minutes. Japanese to Arabic According to Al-Ansari, the process begins by selecting an episode or film file and adding it to the app, after which AI automatically performs a series of tasks. The system separates the audio from the video, recognises the spoken Japanese words and translates them into Arabic. It then times the translation from the beginning to the end of each sentence, allowing the subtitles to appear in sync with the dialogue. The process is not limited to spoken words. Al-Ansari said the app can also recognise some text appearing within the video, such as an episode title, and translate it into Arabic. It then produces a complete subtitle file ready for use. According to Al-Ansari, the project does not rely on a single AI model. Instead, it uses several models and services, including Whisper, Google services and open-source tools, selecting those best suited to the content being translated. Old anime returns in its original Japanese The project could also offer another way to experience older animated series that generations of Arab viewers grew up watching dubbed into classical Arabic. What if viewers could return to those programmes, but this time hear the characters speaking in the original Japanese while reading the dialogue in Arabic? Al-Ansari cited the old animated series “Junger” as an example. He said he worked with another person interested in the project to translate its episodes using the app, completing the work in less than a day. For Al-Ansari, the technology gives fans of older works a different way to revisit them and discover their original Japanese dialogue rather than relying solely on the Arabic versions they knew from childhood. From hobby to business The app Al-Ansari is developing is currently available online under the name “Sabti”, he said. It remains under development, with modifications and new features being added. His ambitions extend beyond the current project. Al-Ansari is considering turning the idea into a commercial venture, offering users a limited number of translation minutes with the option to purchase additional packages to translate longer content. He sees the model as a way to combine the use of artificial intelligence with a business that can be developed over time. Between an episode that once could take days or weeks to translate and one that could be ready in minutes, Mohammed Saeed Al-Ansari’s project reflects a broader shift that artificial intelligence is bringing to the content industry.