Zoom: Language Interpretation and Translation in Meetings/Webinars

Environment

U-M Zoom

Issue

• Can I assign a language interpreter to an audio channel in my Zoom meeting or webinar?
• Can I change the speaking language for my automated captions?
• Can I use the translated captions feature?

Resolution

Use the language interpretation feature

• Note: There are several limitations and requirements to enabling this feature. Please review these before continuing. (For example, this feature cannot be used with Personal Meeting IDs (PMI) or instant meetings.)
• The language interpretation feature allows hosts to designate up to 20 participants/attendees in a meeting or webinar as audio interpreters​​​​​, so participants/attendees can select an audio channel to hear the interpreter in real time. (This is a different feature from sign language interpretation.)
• The Zoom Support article linked above explains how to enable this feature as a host for a scheduled meeting or webinar, and how to use it as an interpreter or participant/attendee.

Viewing automated captions in another language

• Automated captions use automatic speech recognition (ASR) to caption Zoom meetings/webinars in real time.
• If everyone in the meeting/webinar is speaking a language other than English (the default), the host can select another available language, such as Arabic, Spanish, or Japanese, to generate captions in.
  • This tells the system which language it will hear you speak in and generates captions in that language. (If speaking in language A, but Zoom is expecting language B, the generated captions will be inaccurate.)
• Available caption languages are set by the host in their account settings before the session.

Important: By default, when the host enables automated captions, any meeting or webinar participant/attendee can enable captions and set the speaking language for everyone in the meeting/webinar. If you, as the host, do not want to allow other participants to change the speaking language for everyone, you will need to adjust this in your Zoom account settings

1. Click the Meeting tab at the top.
2. Select In Meeting (Advanced) to the left.
3. Scroll until you find the "Automated captions" setting.
4. Select Allow only the following users to enable captions for the meeting or webinar.
5. Check the Host or Host + Co-host box and click Save.

If you, as the host, choose to restrict this feature, ensure that participants/attendees can still request captions during the meeting/webinar to accommodate those who need them.

Translate captions into another language

There is a limited number of translated caption licenses available. If you host meetings with multilingual participants and would like to apply a license to your account, please contact the ITS Service Center.

Additional Information

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.