Scority

Transcript Language Options

Learn how Scority handles transcript language selection, language codes, fallback behavior and response language fields.

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Direct answer

Use language or lang to request a caption language

The transcript endpoint accepts an optional language request. Use language or lang, but not both in the same request.

  • Use language=en for a broad language request.
  • Use language=en-US or lang=en-US when you need a regional code.
  • Sending both language and lang returns ambiguous_language.
  • Malformed language values return invalid_language.

Language query examples

GET /v1/youtube/transcript?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&language=en
GET /v1/youtube/transcript?video_id=dQw4w9WgXcQ&lang=en-US
Selection

Response language can differ from the requested value

The response language field reports the caption language selected for the returned transcript. If the requested language cannot be selected, Scority may return transcript_not_available or select another accessible caption path depending on upstream availability.

  • Always inspect the response language field before labeling transcript content.
  • Use transcript_not_available as a normal content availability result.
  • Use upstream_transcript_failed for retry or support workflows.
  • Do not assume every public video has captions in your requested language.
Cache

Language requests use separate cache buckets

Scority's transcript cache separates default requests from explicit language requests. A default request, language=en request and language=ru request do not share the same cache key.

  • No language parameter uses the default bucket.
  • language=en uses the en bucket.
  • language=en-US is normalized to the en-us bucket.
  • This prevents a requested language from receiving a transcript cached for another request bucket.
Errors

Language-related errors

Language errors use the same normalized error response envelope as other API errors.

  • invalid_language: the language value is malformed or unsupported by validation.
  • ambiguous_language: language and lang were both provided.
  • transcript_not_available: no accessible transcript could be returned for the video and language request.
Reference

API reference

See query parameters, response shape and rate-limit headers.

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Errors

Error codes

Read recommended handling for invalid_language and ambiguous_language.

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Guide

Captions and subtitles

Understand captions, subtitles, transcripts and language selection.

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Guide

Transcript API guide

Read the broader transcript API guide for AI workflow context.

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