Speech to speech translation for live events

Speech to speech translation turns what a speaker says into spoken words in another language, almost in real time. At a live event, it means a participant can listen to the talk in their own language through their earphones, instead of reading subtitles. The speaker talks, the system recognises the speech, translates it, and a natural synthetic voice reads the translation a moment later.

How speech to speech translation works

Three steps sit behind it. First, speech recognition turns the speaker's voice into text in the original language. Then machine translation converts that text into the target language. Finally, speech synthesis reads the translated text aloud. Each step runs continuously while the speaker talks, so the listener hears the translation with a short delay rather than waiting for each sentence to end.

That delay matters. A translation that arrives too late breaks the link between what people see on stage and what they hear. A delay of around two seconds keeps the voice close to the speaker's gestures, slides and pauses, and the audience reacts to a joke at roughly the same moment as everyone else.

The quality of the input matters just as much. A clean feed from the room's sound desk or a lapel microphone gives far better recognition than a phone held up in the audience. Most of what goes wrong with live translation starts with poor sound, not with the translation itself.

How it differs from translated subtitles

Translated subtitles and translated voice start from the same pipeline. The difference is what the participant receives at the end: text to read, or a voice to hear.

Subtitles ask for the eyes. The participant has to keep looking at a screen, either the room display or their phone. That works well for short sessions and for people who read quickly. It also leaves a written trace they can scroll back through if they missed something.

A voice frees the eyes. The participant can look at the speaker, follow the slides and take notes while listening. The experience is closer to hearing a native speaker than to watching a foreign film.

The two can coexist. In the same room, some people prefer to read and others to listen. A good setup lets each participant choose, rather than forcing one format on the whole audience.

When a voice is the better choice

Subtitles are often enough. But in some situations a translated voice clearly serves the audience better.

When the audience does not read easily. Some participants read slowly, have a visual impairment, or simply find it tiring to read on a small screen. Others are more at ease with the spoken form of a language than with its written form. For all of them, listening is more accessible than reading.

When the session is long. Reading subtitles during a short keynote is fine. Reading them through a full day of sessions is exhausting. Attention drops, and people start missing parts of the talk. A voice reduces that fatigue, because listening asks for less effort than constant reading.

When the content is dense. Technical presentations, training sessions and panels with complex arguments demand a lot from the audience. If participants must read subtitles while also studying charts, code or diagrams on the slides, their attention is split between two places. A voice lets them watch the slides and still follow the explanation.

When people need to take notes. Workshops and professional seminars often require participants to write while they listen. Doing that while also reading subtitles is close to impossible.

How participants listen on their phone

Traditional interpretation relies on dedicated receivers and headsets, handed out at the entrance and collected at the end. Speech to speech translation can run on the device people already carry.

With Glot, the participant scans a QR code shown in the room or printed in the programme. The page opens in their phone's browser. There is no app to install and no account to create. They choose their language, connect their own earphones, and the translated voice starts. More than 60 languages are available, all included in the price, so a participant from a small language community gets the same service as everyone else.

Because each person listens through their own earphones, the room stays quiet. Nobody hears the translation except the person who chose it. And because the phone also shows live captions, a participant who misses a word can glance at the screen without changing anything.

When several people speak, as in a panel or a question session, the tool should also distinguish the speakers and indicate who is talking. That helps the listener follow a conversation instead of a single stream of words.

Translated voice or original sound

A translated voice is not always what a participant wants. Some people understand the speaker's language fairly well and only need support when the vocabulary becomes difficult. Others want to hear the speaker's real voice, their tone and their emotion, especially during a keynote or a personal testimony.

That is why the choice should belong to the listener. On Glot, a participant can listen to the translated voice or to the original sound, and switch whenever they want. Someone can follow the opening speech in the original, then move to the translation when the discussion turns technical. The captions remain available in both cases.

For organisers, this flexibility removes a difficult decision. You do not need to guess in advance who needs what. You offer the options, and each person picks what works for them.

What to check before choosing a solution

The sound source. Ask how the audio reaches the system. A feed from the sound desk, a wireless lapel microphone or a USB table microphone should be enough, and setup should take minutes, not a day of technical rehearsal.

The voice itself. A synthetic voice that sounds robotic tires the listener quickly. Ask for a demo in the languages your audience actually speaks, not only in English.

The delay. Listen to a sample while watching the speaker. If the voice lags too far behind, the experience falls apart.

Data protection. Your speakers' words pass through the system. Make sure the provider complies with GDPR and is clear about what it keeps.

The price structure. Some services charge per language, others per room or per hour. Check what is included before comparing. Glot charges per room with every language included, and its prices are public on the pricing page.

Speech to speech translation does not replace every form of interpretation. But for most conferences, training days and corporate events, it gives each participant something simple: the talk, in their language, in their ears.