Live Translations adds a suite of subtitle languages to your session, allowing each participant to select the translation that best fits their needs.
In this article
Live Translations
Enable Live Translations#
Make every attendee feel at home, no matter where they’re joining from. With a single click, your guests can toggle live subtitles in their preferred language. Our real-time translation does the heavy lifting, so your audience can focus on what matters: your content.
How does it work?#
Single-source input: Speakers present naturally in their primary language.
Automated processing: The platform transcribes and translates audio into your enabled languages instantly.
Personalized viewing: Attendees toggle their preferred subtitle language directly from the player at any time.
Note: This feature provides text-based subtitles only. It does not offer audio dubbing or real-time voice translation.
Before you start#
Browsers: For the best host/presenter experience, use the latest version of Google Chrome. Edge, Firefox, or Safari are also supported.
Audio: Use a quality microphone in a quiet room. Avoid overlapping speech for better accuracy.
Professional Tip: To provide your attendees with the most accurate subtitles, ensure your speakers are in a quiet space with clear audio. Because the system processes speech in real time, single-speaker clarity is key to preventing translation errors caused by background interference.
Enable Live Translations for an event#
Once activated for your workspace, the Captions button becomes available to all registrants, allowing them to toggle Live Translations in their preferred language.
As the organizer, all you need to do is:
1Go to your event room in Livestorm.
2Start your event to initiate the live stream.
Your event must be started to enable Live Captions
Recordings and transcripts: Live Translations is available on live events only, during the beta. It does not include post‑event translations at this point.
Attendee experience#
Once inside the event room, participants can personalize their view by clicking the Captions button to enable subtitles. Attendees maintain full control and can switch languages at any time:1Click the Captions button in the menu bar.
2Choose the language from the Translated Captions menu.
Participants can change languages at any time.
Supported languages#
Source language: One language per session. The event’s language is used as the source language in the private beta.
Target languages: Translated captions are currently available in 28 languages
Recording, replay, and transcripts#
Live display: Translated captions appear during the live session for attendees who enable them.
Recording and replay: No offline or on-demand translation of recordings at launch (live-only).
Live Translations works on live events only, during the private beta. It does not include post-event translated replays or translated transcripts at this stage.
Quality and latency#
In internal testing and technical catchups:
Time to first caption can be around 10 to 15 seconds.
With multiple languages requested, latency can reach 5 to 10 seconds.
Best results come from clear, single‑speaker audio, steady speaking pace, and minimal background noise. Proper nouns, acronyms, and domain‑specific terms may need to be said clearly (or spelled out verbally) by presenters.
Data handling#
Audio is processed in real time to generate captions and translations.
Live Translations is powered by Gladia.
Best practices for presenters#
Use a dedicated USB or XLR microphone and speak at a moderate pace.
Avoid crosstalk. Hand off between speakers clearly.
Read key terms (product names, acronyms) slowly the first time you say them.
Test the session with captions enabled and verify readability on a sample attendee device.
Troubleshooting#
I don’t see captions in the room
Make sure Live Translations is enabled on your account
Ask attendees to turn on captions via the Captions button and pick a language.
Check the presenter’s microphone input and reduce background noise.
Captions are delayed or inaccurate
Slow down and avoid interruptions.
Confirm the Source language is set correctly.
Close heavy CPU/browser tabs and stabilize your network connection.
If you need a language that is not available in the beta list, contact help@livestorm.co
When someone switches languages, other attendees see a brief “loading” effect
In internal beta testing, there is a known limitation that switching the caption language can introduce a short loading time (a few seconds), which affects all users in the session with captions enabled.
FAQs#
Can attendees switch languages during the event?
Yes. Attendees can change languages at any time from the CC/Captions menu.
Does this provide translated audio?
No. Live Translations provides on‑screen subtitles only.
Is there a limit to how many languages I can enable at once?
Translated captions are currently available in 28 languages during the private beta
Join the private beta or ask a question#
Request access: Email help@livestorm.co with your workspace URL, expected source language, and the list of target languages you need.
Already enrolled and need help? Reply to your beta welcome email or contact help@livestorm.co
Join our Livestorm Live Product Demo
During this 30-minute live event, we will introduce you to the platform. You will learn how to use Livestorm for your webinars.