How to Get Translation for Zoom Meetings?

Brief Answer: To get live translation in your Zoom meetings, use third-party tools like JotMe. Simply select the spoken and translation languages and watch JotMe start the live translation with zero delay.

Language barriers can ruin the whole agenda of the meeting. While most live translation tools claim to be quick and accurate, they either don’t understand the context of the meeting or are too expensive.

Even Zoom offers a translated captions feature to translate the speaker’s language into another in real time. But it only comes with Zoom paid plans, and the captions are not always accurate.

Thanks to tools like JotMe, you get contextual live translation in over 200+ languages with its NLP and speech recognition technologies that understand your industry’s domain knowledge. For just $10/month paid annually, JotMe offers 200 translation minutes, along with multilingual transcription and 20 AI credits for Zoom meeting notes, summaries, and live AI insights. It even offers a free plan with 20 minutes of monthly translation and 5 AI credits. 

Follow the steps below to learn how to use JotMe with Zoom to get live translation:

1. Download JotMe: Download the JotMe app from its website and install it on your device. 
2. Launch Zoom Meetings: Start your Zoom meeting and launch JotMe. 
3. Set Up the Languages: Set the spoken language of the meeting and the translation language to the language you want the translation in. 
4. Begin the Translation: Just click the “Play” button to start the live translation. 

Step 1: How to Download JotMe on your Device

To download the JotMe app on your device (Windows or Mac), visit its official website and click the “Try for free” option to download and install it. 

Step 2: How to Join a Zoom Meeting for Translation

Start or join your Zoom meeting in the Zoom Workplace desktop app or through the browser, and open the JotMe app. You will see the JotMe window open on the right. 

Step 3: How to Set Up the Spoken and Translation Language

In the JotMe window, toggle on the Start Live Translation button at the top right, then set the “Spoken Language” to the language spoken in the meeting. You can set it to “Multilingual” if there are multiple language speakers in the meeting. Finally, set the “Translation” language to the language you want the translation in. 

Step 4: How to Begin the Live Translation in Zoom Meetings

Once you’ve set the spoken and translation languages, you will see JotMe instantly start the live translation in your selected language. You can also save the live translation and access it later to go over the meeting in more detail. 

How JotMe Provides Effective Translation for Zoom Meetings

JotMe lets you effectively translate your Zoom meetings from one language to another in real time. JotMe also allows you to share the translation minutes with other participants, access AI meeting notes, and get a summary in bullet points. Let’s get into the details of these features.

Contextual Translation

Most live translation tools give word-for-word translation that hardly makes any sense. JotMe dives deeper by analyzing the tone and flow of the speaker and provides contextual translation that is easily understandable. We also held a meeting with our Japanese client and were able to deduce what he was saying from his tone and pauses even, instead of just relying on what he was saying.

As another example, you can consider these Japanese statements about a cat’s story:

A: ある日、あるところに、とても古いお寺がありました。

B: そのお寺には、大きな庭があり、そこには美しい桜の木がありました。

C: 桜の木の下で、一匹の猫がのんびりと寝転がっていました。

A line-by-line translation would look like: 

X: One day, in a certain place, there was a very old temple.

Y: The temple had a large garden with beautiful cherry blossom trees.

Z: A cat was lying leisurely under a cherry tree.

But JotMe’s contextual translation would be: 

“Once upon a time, in a certain place, there was a very old temple. The temple had a large garden, and there was a beautiful cherry blossom tree. Under the cherry blossom tree, a cat was lying lazily.”

This output reflects how people would actually narrate the story in a natural way.

Translation in Bullet Points

If you get overwhelmed by looking at a long paragraph of the translation, JotMe helps solve this issue by providing live translation in bullet points. This makes it easier for you to organize the translation in a crisp list that includes the main points of the discussion. 

Sharing Translation Minutes

JotMe lets you share live translations with other participants during a Zoom meeting. With JotMe’s sharing feature, participants can access the translated conversation through a shared URL, QR code, or code without installing the JotMe app themselves.

To share a translation, start the live translation in JotMe and use the available sharing options to give participants access. They can then follow the translated conversation in real time while the Zoom meeting continues.

JotMe also supports sharing through a subtitle camera, making it easier for participants to view translated captions on another screen or device. This can be useful when several people in the meeting need access to the same live translation.

AI Meeting Notes

Suppose you just wrapped up a Zoom meeting with your global team discussing your upcoming projects. In such cases, you don’t have to multitask and concentrate on the meeting while taking notes manually. JotMe provides meeting notes once it’s over, with key insights, highlights action points, and gives you a meeting gist so you can concentrate fully on the meeting. This way, you can keep a record of what was discussed during the meeting and refer to it anytime to plan out your next meetings and chalk out a content roadmap, among other things.

Voice to Voice Translation

JotMe’s voice-to-voice translation converts spoken language into translated speech, so participants can hear the translation instead of relying only on translated text. This is particularly useful in Zoom meetings with speakers of different languages when you need a quick, natural way to follow what someone is saying.

AI Chat

JotMe’s AI Chat provides a way to communicate through translated text while a multilingual conversation is taking place. Instead of interrupting a Zoom meeting to clarify a question or message, participants can use chat to communicate in their own language and follow the translated conversation.

Custom Vocabulary

JotMe’s Custom Vocabulary lets you add names, product names, acronyms, and specialist terms that JotMe should recognize or preserve. For Zoom meetings, this can be useful when conversations include company names, technical terminology, or industry-specific language that may otherwise affect transcription and translation accuracy. Custom Vocabulary is account-wide, so the terms can also be used across JotMe’s other supported transcription and translation features.

‍What are the Best Practices to Get Accurate Translations in Zoom Meetings

According to Statista, the language translation NLP market is estimated to reach 9.87 billion in 2025. This also means that more businessmen, global teams, and international students will use live translation tools for their Zoom meetings and for various scenarios that include global meetings, multilingual academic conferences, and even communication with external stakeholders in other countries.

But no live translation tool is 100% accurate. You can follow a few simple tips to help you get effective live translation, like speaking clearly, having a stable internet connection, and choosing the right tool. Here’s how to get accurate live translation in Zoom meetings in real-time, explained in detail.

Maintain Clarity and Speed while Speaking

Speak clearly at a steady pace to allow the live translation tools to process your words and deliver accurate translation. Take a pause while speaking, make sure to use headsets to cut out the background noise, and attend the Zoom meeting without any interruptions or distractions. 

Have a Stable Internet Connection

According to Market.us, 58% of professionals reported software or technical issues in video conferences. Your internet connection is a defining factor in your technical glitches not being solved on time, playing into your frustration.

So, make sure that you have a stable internet connection during your Zoom meetings for effective translation. An unstable internet connection may cause the speaker’s voice to break or lag. This will make it difficult for even the most effective live translation tools to understand what’s being said, and they won’t be able to translate effectively. 

Choose the Right Live Translation Tool

Zoom’s live translated captions can deliver inaccurate results. So, make sure to use third-party tools like JotMe for accurate real-time translation. Test it in advance in your Zoom meetings to understand its UI and other features. JotMe also provides post-meeting notes and AI summaries, which you can refer to in case you’ve missed a part during the Zoom meeting.

With JotMe, you can even share the meeting translation with other participants via email. You just have to add their email to share the translation and summaries of the meeting post-completion. This way, they get access to the translation and notes easily.

Best Way to Get Quality Translation in Zoom Meetings

Live translation in Zoom meetings should not be limited to word-for-word translation. The tool should be able to understand the context and scan through the industry’s domain knowledge for effective understanding and communication.

Even though Zoom offers translated captions, the feature is available only on eligible Zoom Workplace plans or with the Zoom Translated Captions add-on, and Zoom notes that translated captions may not always be accurate. JotMe provides another option that works with any Zoom plan without requiring the host to change Zoom settings. Its free plan includes 20 minutes of monthly live translation, along with transcription and AI credits for features such as meeting notes.

If you regularly conduct multilingual meetings on Zoom, JotMe can provide real-time translated captions and voice-to-voice real-time translation in 200+ languages. It runs on your computer rather than joining the meeting as a bot, so the host does not need to enable a translation feature or change the Zoom meeting settings. JotMe also saves the transcript, translation, and notes so you can review the meeting afterward.

Try JotMe today for free and discover how you can communicate effectively in multiple languages. 

FAQs

Is there a live translator for Zoom?

Yes, Zoom has a built-in translated captions feature that automatically translates speech into captions in another language in real time. Availability depends on the Zoom account and whether translated captions are enabled. You can also use JotMe for real-time translation with features such as live transcription, contextual translation, and AI meeting notes.

How to use Google Translate in a Zoom meeting?

Google Translate is not designed to directly translate a Zoom meeting. You would need to route the meeting audio through Google Translate, which can make the setup inconvenient. For a more direct workflow, JotMe can capture the audio from your Zoom meeting and provide real-time transcription and translation without requiring a translation bot to join the call.

Is there a way to translate a Zoom meeting or webinar without host intervention?

Yes, depending on the translation tool and its setup. Zoom's own translated captions are controlled through Zoom's account and meeting settings, and some configurations may require host or admin involvement. JotMe works from the user's device and can capture Zoom audio for real-time translation without adding a bot to the meeting.

Is ChatGPT's translation accurate?

ChatGPT can translate text and help with language-related tasks, but its output can vary depending on the language, context, and instructions. For live Zoom meetings, a dedicated translation tool such as JotMe is designed specifically for real-time speech transcription and translation, making it more suitable when you need translation while the conversation is happening.