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How to use the translation feature for a meeting

Forum|Forum|24 days ago
July 3, 2026
7 replies
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Hi community. I have read a little about zoom meeting have a translation feature. I will be meeting with a woman from Spain and wanted to know how that feature works. Does it produce text like subtitles when one speaks a different language? Does the voice that translates the language override the voice of the person speaking the foreign language. I would like the translation feature just to write text like a subtitle and still hear her voice in her Spanish language and for her to hear me in the same way. Thanks.

Best answer by Don.z

Hi @Daryl Wolf! Yes, Zoom can do what you're looking for.

In a regular Zoom meeting, you can use translated captions. This shows the translation as text (subtitles) on your screen while you continue to hear the other person's original voice speaking Spanish.

To turn on translated captions during the meeting:

Click Show Captions (or CC) in the meeting controls.
Click the ^ (up arrow) next to it.
Under Captions and Translation, turn on Translation.
Choose the language you want the captions translated into (for example, English), then click Save.

Each participant can choose their own caption language. For example, you can read English captions while hearing Spanish, and the other person can choose Spanish captions while hearing English.

If you see a Voice Translator option, leave it off if you only want translated subtitles. That way, you'll continue to hear each other's natural voices instead of a translated voice.

For more insight into the topic, you may refer to this article: Viewing captions in another language

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Don.zAnswer

Community Manager

Hi @Daryl Wolf! Yes, Zoom can do what you're looking for.

In a regular Zoom meeting, you can use translated captions. This shows the translation as text (subtitles) on your screen while you continue to hear the other person's original voice speaking Spanish.

To turn on translated captions during the meeting:

Click Show Captions (or CC) in the meeting controls.
Click the ^ (up arrow) next to it.
Under Captions and Translation, turn on Translation.
Choose the language you want the captions translated into (for example, English), then click Save.

Each participant can choose their own caption language. For example, you can read English captions while hearing Spanish, and the other person can choose Spanish captions while hearing English.

If you see a Voice Translator option, leave it off if you only want translated subtitles. That way, you'll continue to hear each other's natural voices instead of a translated voice.

For more insight into the topic, you may refer to this article: Viewing captions in another language

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Daryl WolfAuthor

Explorer

Thank you so much. So the one who I will be inviting to the zoom meeting that only knows Spanish will have to do the above steps on her end to be able to see subtitles in Spanish on her end correct?

Annie warner

Participant

Zoom has a couple of different language features, so it depends on which one you're referring to.

If you use translated captions, Zoom will display subtitles in your chosen language while you continue to hear the other person speaking in their original voice. Likewise, they can hear you speaking normally while seeing translated captions if they enable them. This sounds like the option you're looking for.

If you use translated audio (available with certain Zoom plans and settings), an AI-generated voice translates the speech into another language. In that mode, the translated audio can replace or be played instead of the original speaker's voice, depending on the settings.

For a one-on-one conversation where you both want to hear each other's natural voices, translated captions are probably the better choice. Just make sure the meeting host has the feature available and enabled, as it isn't included with every Zoom plan.

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Daryl WolfAuthor

Explorer

Thank you Annie for the input. Hopefully with me being the host the zoom program I have has the translated caption feature. I will test it out soon.

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Daryl WolfAuthor

Explorer

Hi Community. I tried the translation feature on Sunday. I was speaking to a person who spoke Russian and no English. She said she was only getting text in English not Russian on her screen. When I asked her what her setting were she said “My spoken Language”: Russian. And “My subtitle Language”: English. Shouldn’t her “My Subtitle Language” setting have been Russian as well. I put both of my setting on English and zoom translated the subtitles in English fair to good most of the time. But her subtitles were in English on her device. Thanks for the help Community.

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Don.z

Community Manager

Hello, @Daryl Wolf! Yes, if she wanted to read subtitles in Russian, her “My subtitle language” should have been set to Russian (or she needed to enable translation and choose Russian as the translated caption language). With My subtitle language set to English, Zoom will show captions in English on her device.

Have her try this during the meeting:

Next to Show Captions, click the ^ (up arrow).
Under Captions and translation, turn on Translation and choose Russian as the preferred caption language.
Click Save.

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Daryl WolfAuthor

Explorer

Thank you Don.

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Don.z

Community Manager

You’re welcome, @Daryl Wolf! I’m marking my response as the best answer, as it appears to address your question. If you have any follow-up questions or need further clarification, feel free to reach out; we’re happy to help!

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