Zoom is working on a translation function for 12 languages to start running in 2022. During its annual Zoomtopia event, the company demonstrated the feature, saying it would help break down language barriers during video calls.
The demonstration showed zoom employees speaking English and the app translating it in real-time subtitles in Chinese and Japanese. The same was done from other languages such as German to English.
Zoom says the technology uses an algorithm powered by Artificial intelligence to transcribe spoken word to text. The app then uses machine translation programs to translate the text to different languages
Zoom hasn’t given details regarding the specific 12 languages that will be supported. However, the demo featured Chinese, Japanese, German, English, Portuguese and Korean.
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Zoom also announced that it would expand its automated transcription service to 30 languages.currwntly, real-time transcription is only available for English.
Free zoom users will need to request for the transcription service. For paid accounts, the feature is bundled into the cloud recording feature.
Zoom says it plans to “begin testing and releasing automated transcription and live translation starting early next year.”
Lastly, the company plans to roll out a feature that will detect hand gestures such as thumbs up, raised hand or wave in a video call before translating them to emoji-like reactions. The feature has already been rolled out to iOS with plans to expand to other devices.
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