Zoom: Language Interpretation and Translation in Meetings and 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 language for my automated captions? Can I use auto-translated captions?

Resolution

Audio Interpreter Feature

U-M Zoom users who would like to include interpreters in their meetings or webinars have the ability to enable language interpretation for their meetings. This allows the host to designate participants as audio interpreters on the web portal or during a Zoom session so attendees can select an audio channel in the session to hear the interpreter in real-time. 

Learn more about assigning and using language interpreters in your Zoom meeting or webinar.

 

Setting Speaking Language for Automated Captions

Zoom does allow users to choose a speaking language for captions (ex: everyone in the meeting is speaking one language, such as Spanish, and the captions can also display in Spanish). You can learn more about setting a speaking language

Note: By default, if automated captions are enabled, any participant of the meeting can enable captions and therefore set the speaking language for everyone in the meeting. If a host does not want to allow other members to change the speaking language, they will need to go to their account settings and select "Allow only the following users to enable captions for the meeting" under Automated Captions. It is highly recommended that if the host chooses to restrict this feature that captions are still enabled for meeting participants to accommodate those who need captioning in meetings.

 

Auto-Translated Captions

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

Note: If you are using a Translated Captions license and using the translated captions feature in a meeting that is being recorded to the cloud, the generated transcripts for the closed captioning and audio transcript for the cloud recording will not be translated. In order to save a fully translated transcript, the host should manually save the meeting transcript before the meeting ends.

Additional Information

For additional assistance, contact the ITS Service Center.

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Related Articles (1)

This article summarizes the sign language interpretation feature in Zoom and links to Zoom's help article for additional information and instructions.