A likely source language of a media item can be identified by attempting an initial language identification of the media item based on intrinsic or extrinsic factors, such as words in the media item and languages known by the media item author. This initial identification can generate a list of most likely source languages with corresponding likelihood factors. Translations can then be performed presuming each of the most likely source languages. The translations can be performed for multiple output languages. Each resulting translation can receive a corresponding score based on a number of factors. The scores can be combined where they have a common source language. These combined scores can be used to weight the previously identified likelihood factors for the source languages of the media item.