The courses developed in NPTEL are primarily in English. In India there are 22 languages, which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. 96.71 percent of the population in the country has one of the 22 scheduled languages as their mother tongue. Several students undergo their schooling in their regional language and may face challenges transitioning to English for technical education. Translation of NPTEL content is expected to ease this transition and assist students in more effectively utilizing the best technical content in India.

NPTEL has initiated translation of course content into 11 different languages - Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. As of now, NPTEL has received 1500+ requests from the learners to provide the translation of course contents. The translated contents are reviewed before being made available for learners. Evaluation of the translated content is further carried out with the help of learners who make use of this facility. Learners can give feedback and rating for each translation made on NPTEL. This helps to improve the process and make it more useful and error-free.

Translations generated in various languages are available on Swayam site and NPTEL site as PDF transcripts, E-books, subtitles below the videos, scrolling text below videos, and in some cases as audio files.

These features are freely accessible and downloadable.