Google Meet's live translated captions start rolling out widely

Google Meet has started rolling out live translated captions widely after testing the feature last year. It works on web or mobile but is still fairly limited, translating only English meetings to four languages: French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

"Translated captions help make Google Meet video calls more inclusive and collaborative by removing language proficiency barriers," Google wrote in a Workspace blog. "When meeting participants consume content in their preferred language, this helps equalize information sharing, learning, and collaboration and ensures your meetings are as effective as possible for everyone."

The feature is designed to be helpful for all-hands or training meetings with teams located around the world. It can also be helpful in education settings, according to Google, "allowing educators to connect and interact with students, parents and community stakeholders with diverse backgrounds."

To use the feature, users need to switch on captions in settings and set it to English before toggling on translated captions underneath. They can then choose one of the translated language options. For more detailed information, check Google Meet's translated captions help page.

Google first announced the feature at its I/O developer's conference last year, and Otter offers a similar service for Google Meet and Zoom. Live translated captions are available for Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Google Workspace for Education Plus customers. It's rolling out gradually as of yesterday, so it could take up to 15 days before you see it.