Zoom has fast become one of the leading go-to video chat platforms, both for communicating with friends and families as well as for conducting formal business meetings. Among the platform’s more obvious communication-based advantages, there are also features that facilitate simultaneous interpretation, closed captioning, and there’s even a function that lets you magnify sign language interpreters. All of these features allow for a more immersive, inclusive experience that helps everyone stay on the same page. So, how does one access these functionalities?
Not all Zoom accounts are created equal
In order to enable simultaneous interpretation, you’ll need a Zoom Pro (Business, Education, or Enterprise) account with the Webinar add-on. The webinar function allows you to host panels without the interruption of a Zoom audience. You can also use Zoom Rooms if you need to make sure people can speak in their native languages in smaller breakout rooms.
You need a Zoom interpreter and a Zoom-expert company
Why is hiring an interpreter essential when going global? An expert translation and interpretation company will likely have the technical know-how to help you run multilingual meetings, not only from the linguistic perspective but also by making sure that all Zoom tools are working correctly. Often, they’ll also offer to help you with a trial meeting to make sure all the bases are covered.
Zoom technical specs
A multilingual Zoom meeting requires a few extra steps to enable interpreting. You must go to your Settings (Advanced) and click on Language Interpretation. Choose your target language, and then type in the email of your translator or interpreter. From there, it’s up to the host to notify which language they prefer to listen to, and they’ll see a globe icon that allows them to make the appropriate choice. If you need interpretation in more than one language, you simply repeat the process.
Zoom also allows interpreters to contribute to the meeting via chat, and though the service is constantly improving, it doesn’t support all languages yet.
How language service providers assist with the process
It’s worth the investment to have an expert Video Remote Interpretation Language Service Provider consider the specs, instruct and consult with you about how to best take advantage of their services, and possibly add tech support so you won’t have to worry about anything except sharing your expertise.
The team of professional Zoom interpreters at Trusted Translations has extensive interpreting experience on Zoom. Our certified linguists possess the experience and knowledge to provide high quality, accurate services and interpret to and from more than 200 languages (including Sign Languages). We perform a rigorous screening to ensure that our interpreters are qualified to provide our clients with professional, detailed, and dependable service. Give us a call and take your multilingual Zoom meetings to the next level!
