Zoom has released an add-on for accounts to help remove language barriers and promote inclusivity through translated captions.
The feature reduces the need for interpreters and third-party integrations in meetings and webinars.
Translated captions allow users to translate the source language into English captions or translate English into another preferred language.
A Zoom blog post said: "Zoom connects the world, and more specifically, Zoom connects people. Many of these people, however, don't always speak the same language.
"We’re proud to announce an add-on for Zoom accounts to help remove language barriers, connect people, and promote inclusivity to your meetings and webinars: translated captions.
"The translated captions feature reduces the need for interpreters and third-party integrations so you can foster a more inclusive environment in every meeting and webinar.
"Whether you're a large company conducting business in multiple languages or a global university with multinational enrollment, translated captions help bridge language gaps."
Translated captions are already included in the Zoom One Business Plus and Zoom One Enterprise Plus plans, which were released in June 2022.
Now the feature is available as an add-on for paid Zoom accounts for $5 per month per user, with the feature following a host's configured settings, so if the host enables the feature, all participants and attendees can use them in the meeting or webinar.
Currently, the translated captions feature supports 12 languages which include:
- English
- French
- Spanish
- Dutch
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Ukrainian
- Chinese Mandarin - simplified (beta)
- Japanese (beta)
- Korean (beta)
Zoom has stated that if a meeting or webinar is recorded, the translated captions will appear in the full recording transcript rather than on the recording itself.
The company intends to more than double the number of supported languages for translated captions and provide the ability to translate captions to and from languages beyond English - for example, translating from French to German and vice versa.
Translated captions are simple to enable within the Zoom web portal, where the feature can be turned on and preferred languages set.
Zoom also recommends users download the latest Zoom desktop client to access the most up-to-date Zoom features.
Once the feature is enabled and languages are set, users can select a caption language directly in the meeting, with the caption appearing a the bottom of the screen and can be hidden at any time.
