How to translate a lecture, sermon or guided tour live

Example: you are at a Friday sermon in Arabic, a university lecture in German or a museum tour in Italian, and you want to follow it in your own language while the person is still talking. VocaLingo does this with the lecture mode of Tourist Translator: it listens through the phone's microphone and shows the translation on screen part by part, a few seconds behind the speaker.

Which tool to use and why

Use Tourist Translator for speech you hear in the room. Lecture mode turns on by itself after 8 seconds of continuous speech, so there is nothing to switch on. It works with 84 languages, see Supported languages.

How to translate a talk step by step

Here the speaker talks Arabic and you read Russian. Set this up a minute before the talk starts.

1. Open Tools and tap Tourist Translator.

2. Pick the languages at the top of the two blocks: Arabic in one, Russian in the other.

3. Optional: open the settings at the top right and choose the Translation text size (S, M, L or XL). Turn off Show the original if you want the whole screen for the translation.

4. When the speaker begins, tap Start in the Arabic block.

5. After 8 seconds of speech the app switches to lecture mode: "Live translation is on. Tap Stop when you are done". The translation appears in the Russian block every few seconds.

6. When the talk ends, tap Stop.

If you scroll up to reread something, a New text button brings you back to the latest part.

How to place the phone

Recognition depends on how clearly the microphone hears the speaker. Sit closer to the speaker or to a loudspeaker and keep the phone on the table or in your hand with the microphone open.

• Keep VocaLingo on the screen. The screen stays on by itself while the app listens, but if you switch to another app or lock the phone, the translation stops: "Translation stopped while the app was in the background. Tap the original to continue".

• If the app hears nothing for 20 seconds, it shows "No speech for 20 seconds. If someone is speaking, move the phone closer to them or the speaker".

• Don't record with another app at the same time. If another app takes the microphone, VocaLingo tries to reconnect to it.

• For a long talk, connect the phone to a charger: the screen is on the whole time.

If the internet is weak

Tourist Translator needs the internet all the time: speech is recognized and translated on the server. Short drops are handled by the app.

• When the connection drops, the status line says the app is reconnecting and that speech is being saved. In lecture mode VocaLingo tries up to 8 times in a row and sends the saved audio once the connection is back.

• "Recognition is running behind" means the text is coming late. Wait: it catches up by itself.

• The mark […] in the text shows a part that was lost. "(this part could not be translated)" means the speech was heard but the translation failed.

• If the connection doesn't come back, the translation stops with "Connection lost". Tap the original text when the internet is back: the same lecture continues, and the text so far stays on screen.

In a crowded hall the mobile network is often overloaded. If there is Wi-Fi, connect to it before the talk.

How long it can run

One recording in lecture mode lasts up to 1 hour. After an hour the app stops with "An hour has passed" and asks you to tap the original to continue. Tap it, and the translation goes on in the same entry, so a two-hour lecture needs one tap in the middle.

The translation of a lecture is text only. VocaLingo reads it aloud at the end only when the speech lasted less than a minute, so you don't need headphones.

How to keep the text after the talk

Each session is saved to History as one entry with the original and the translation of every part. The audio itself is not saved.

1. Tap History at the top of the Tourist Translator screen and open the entry.

2. Tap Discuss in chat. The whole text goes to a new chat, where you can ask for a summary, the main points or a clean translation to copy.

Right after the talk you can also copy the translation from the block with the copy button. Without Premium, History keeps the last 3 sessions of Tourist Translator, see History. If you need the recording too, record the talk on a second device and upload the file later to Text Transcription.

How many tokens a talk costs

Recognition costs about 1.3 tokens per minute of speech, about 78 tokens per hour. Translation of each part adds a fraction of a token. A lecture longer than a minute has no voiceover, so you don't pay for voice.

The balance must be above zero to start, and when it reaches zero, new parts are no longer translated. Top up before a long talk: the estimate for a two-hour lecture is in How Tourist Translator works, prices for all tools in Token prices for each tool.

Frequently asked questions