The team behind Google Meet has begun testing a feature that should make tracking conversations a lot easier. Mainly teams that collaborate globally should benefit from this. Workspace users who want to participate in the beta will be the first to get access to the new functionality.
The new feature for Google Meet is live subtitles. This makes Meet a lot more accessible to everyone worldwide in one fell swoop, if you don’t speak a certain language. Of course, everyone can do everything in English, for example, but communication is simply better in your own language.
Google Meet offers live subtitles
Conversations are thus subtitled live during online meetings. Thus, as a user, you are no longer forced to speak another language when you have difficulty doing so. No matter what language the other person speaks, with live subtitles on screen, in your own language, you always follow what is happening on the screen.
Live subtitles within Google Meet (Image: Google)
If you are part of the beta of Google Meet, you will already have access to the brand new functionality. Go to settings by tapping on the three dots. There, select the options for subtitles. Now the language is set to English by default. But you can change that by pressing English.
Dutch does not work anymore
Unfortunately, the Dutch language is not yet available. If you join the beta now, you will have the choice of English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German languages. Additionally, the beta is limited to a handful of Workspace accounts, so chances are you won’t see the options listed.
Google does warn users in advance about the quality of the translation option. The live translations are probably not of high quality. But perhaps it can already help you to better participate in the online conversations. Sometimes all help is welcome, especially when your language skills sometimes let you down a bit (for whatever reason).