Use language interpretation in Microsoft Teams meetings

Communicate clearly and efficiently during multilingual meetings and conferences with language interpretation in Microsoft Teams.

Language interpretation allows professional interpreters to convert what the speaker says into another language in real-time, without disrupting the speaker's original flow of delivery. This simultaneous interpretation will lead to more inclusive meetings, where participants who speak different languages can fully collaborate with each other.

Notes:

Language interpretation is not currently available in end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) Teams meetings.
If you turn on spatial audio in a meeting with live interpretation, you'll hear the original and translated audio at the same volume. Turn off spatial audio and rejoin the meeting to hear the interpreter's voice clearly with reduced original voice.

Create a meeting in Teams.
Add attendees in the Add required attendees field.
In the meeting Details, select Options > More options.
In Roles , turn on the Enable language interpretation toggle.
1. In Interpreters, search for and select an interpreter in the dropdown menu.
2. In the Language dropdown menus, designate the interpreter’s spoken and target languages. Interpreters can switch between interpreting one language into the other.
  
  Note: To assign external or guest interpreters, you need to designate an interpreter during the meeting.
Select Add more interpreters if your meeting needs additional language channels.
Select Save.

Designate an interpreter during a meeting

To make someone an interpreter during a meeting:

In your meeting, select People .
Hover over the person you want to make an interpreter and select More options > Make an interpreter .

Note: This option is only available in meetings scheduled with language interpretation enabled.
In the Language dropdown menus, designate the interpreter’s spoken and target languages. Interpreters can switch between interpreting one language into the other.
Select Confirm.

Make an interpreter an attendee

In your meeting, select People .
Hover over the person you want to make an interpreter and select More options > Make an attendee.

Change interpretation language and volume

When you join a meeting with language interpretation, you can choose which language you want to hear the meeting in. You can also balance the interpretation volume to change how loud or quiet the original and interpreted audios sound against each other.

Note: If you turn on spatial audio in a meeting with live interpretation, you'll hear the original and translated audio at the same volume. Turn off spatial audio and rejoin the meeting to hear the interpreter's voice clearly with reduced original voice.

To change interpretation language and volume:

Select Choose interpretation language when you join the meeting.
In the Listen to the meeting in dropdown menu, select the language you want to hear the meeting in.

Note: To hear the meeting in the spoken language only, keep Original audio selected and select Save.
Adjust the Balance volume slider to your desired volume levels. Your overall meeting volume won’t be affected.
Select Save to apply changes immediately.

To change these settings during the meeting:

Select More actions > Language and speech > Language interpretation in the meeting controls.
Make your desired changes.
Select Save.

Interpreter experience

Interpreters can hear all speakers and start interpreting immediately after they join a meeting. Once they join, they won't be able to switch rooms themselves.

Interpreters can also switch their translation direction during a Teams meeting by selecting the language they’re currently translating into at the bottom of the meeting window. The language they’re translating into will appear highlighted.

Screenshot highlighting the interpreter experience in Microsoft Teams

FAQ

Does Microsoft provide interpreters?

Microsoft does not provide interpreters. Organizations will need to hire their own interpreters to support their interpretation needs.

Can interpreters join on web?

Interpreters can join live interpretation meetings on web; however, this feature is not currently supported for attendees joining on web.

What information does the interpreter have access to?

Interpreters will have the same permissions as attendees. They'll be able to see the meeting chat, meeting roster, etc.

How many interpreters can I add to a meeting?

You can add up to 16 different language pairs (for example, translating French to Spanish counts as one language pair). You can assign as many interpreters to the 16 language pairs as needed.

Note: An interpreter can't be an organizer or co-organizer of the meeting.

What types of meetings does this feature work with?

Language interpretation is supported for regular scheduled meetings, channel meetings, meetings with up to 1000 participants, and webinars.

Breakout rooms are not currently supported. In meetings with breakout rooms, the main meeting can be interpreted, but interpretation will stop when the breakout rooms start.

Language interpretation is not currently available in end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) Teams meetings.

Can I turn on captions for a meeting with interpretation?

Captions in a meeting with language interpretation will only caption the main speaker, not the interpreter. If the language of the main speaker changes, the meeting's organizer will need to switch the live captions' spoken language to the correct language for captioning to work.

Will meeting recordings have both original and translated audio?

Meeting recordings in a meeting with language interpretation only capture the audio of the main channel, or original speaker. The interpreter's audio will not be present on the recording.

Compliance recording is not currently supported in meetings with language interpretation.

What kind of set up do interpreters need?

Interpreters must join meetings on Teams for desktop or web. Language interpretation is supported on mobile devices when using a headset.

Use language interpretation in Microsoft Teams meetings

In this article:

Organize a meeting with language interpretation