Lingvoo in Google Meet

In Google Meet, Lingvoo joins a regular meeting as a participant. Nobody installs anything: you paste the meeting link, someone in the call lets the translator in, and from then on each person who speaks is translated while they talk. You hear the translation spoken in the call itself, captions show on the translator’s tile, and anyone who wants can follow on a listener link in a browser.

Pick the correct link

Lingvoo needs the link that joins the meeting itself: a meet.google.com address with the three-part code after it, looking like meet.google.com/xxx-xxxx-xxx. Copy it from the calendar invitation or the meeting window and paste all of it. A calendar page, or just the code by itself, won’t join the call.

Open the call first, then add the translator

1. Join the meeting yourself, or ask the host to. If nobody is in the call yet, there is nobody to admit a participant.
2. Paste the Meet link into Lingvoo, choose the languages people will speak (2 to 10, see Choosing languages), and start the session.
3. Keep an eye on the participant list. The translator shows up there like any guest, normally within a few seconds.
4. Admit it when Meet prompts you. Guests who aren’t on the invitation need to be let in by hand: the usual prompt pops up in the meeting window, and one click handles it. Any host of the call can do this.
5. Pass on the listener link to anyone who would also like captions, or their own language, in a browser tab; people in the call already hear the translation spoken. Once the translator is in, it drops the link into the Meet chat on its own (a brief message in English, pinned), and Lingvoo puts it on your clipboard when the session begins in case you want to paste it. Listeners pick a language; if the status line asks for play, a single tap on Play starts the sound, and the same button pauses it.

Before you start

• Someone needs to notice the prompt. It shows in the meeting window, so if everyone is busy in another tab, it can go unanswered while the translator waits. Ask a co-host to watch for it in the first few seconds.
• A recurring meeting keeps the same code. The link in the series invitation works for every occurrence, so pasting it again starts next week’s session.
• Languages are set when the session starts. To add one later, stop the session and start a new one, which also gives you a new listener link.
• Use headphones if you listen along. Anyone in the meeting who also opens the listener link should wear headphones: translated speech from laptop speakers gets picked up by the microphone and goes back into the call for everyone.

Using a different platform? It works the same way in Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and Your first call with Lingvoo covers everything from creating an account onward.