Choosing languages

With Lingvoo you don’t choose a language to translate from and another to translate into. Instead, you give one list: every language people will speak in this meeting. Whenever someone talks, Lingvoo recognises which of those languages it is and translates what they said into the rest. For the up-to-date set of supported languages, open the picker in the app; it is always current, so we don’t repeat the list here.

A single list, set before the call

• 2 to 10 languages in each session. With fewer than two there is nothing to translate between, and ten is the present limit.
• Regional versions of a language count once. English (US) plus English (UK) is still one language for the session, so a list of just those two won’t start. Add a language that is truly different.
• Once the session begins, the list stays as it is. To add or remove a language, stop the session and start another, which also gives you a new listener link.
• Each language other than the one being spoken uses minutes. The spoken language is free, so a minute of the call uses one minute less than the number of languages you chose: two languages use one minute per minute, five languages use four. The maths is set out in The free demo and the paid intro.

No one hears their own language

Spoken translation goes to the other languages on the list, never to the one in use at that moment. On the listener link, a person following in Spanish hears silence while someone speaks Spanish, and their audio starts as soon as someone uses another language on the list. Captions are unaffected: everything said is captioned, and the Spanish lines just show as the original text. A quiet start to a call is usually this, not a problem.

What listeners can pick

Each meeting has a listener link of its own. Anyone who opens it in a browser picks one of the session’s languages; if the status line asks for play, a single tap on Play starts the sound, and the same button pauses it. Then they follow the call through captions and translated audio, with no account, no install, and up to 500 listener connections per session. So a single meeting can be followed in several languages at once, by each person separately.

Tips for the best accuracy

• Only list languages people will actually speak. Extra ones use minutes and give recognition more options to mix up.
• If a language has regional versions, choose the one nearest to how your speakers talk: it fits their accent and everyday words better than a general option.
• Wear a headset. Most translation errors begin as audio that was never clear enough to recognise, and laptop speakers feeding a laptop microphone are the usual cause.
• Let one person speak at a time. People struggle with heavy overlap as well.
• Say product names, company names, and acronyms slowly the first time they come up in the call.

Can’t find a language you need in the picker? Let us know which one at support@lingvoo.com.