What simultaneous translation is (and how to do it without an interpreter)

You’ve probably seen, at international events and meetings, people translating a speaker’s words almost at the same moment they’re spoken. That’s simultaneous translation. For a long time it depended on human interpreters in booths; today, you can do the same thing with artificial intelligence, live and with no one to book. Here’s what it is and how it works.

What simultaneous translation is

Simultaneous translation is the translation of speech in real time, while the person is still talking — with only a few seconds of delay. The listener gets the content in their own language almost at the same time, without the speaker having to stop and wait for the translation.

It’s the format used in conferences, corporate meetings, webinars and negotiations between people who speak different languages. The goal is to keep the conversation flowing, as if everyone spoke the same language.

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How it works, step by step

Traditionally, simultaneous translation involves an interpreter who hears the original speech, translates it mentally and speaks the translated version in near real time — all at once. It’s demanding work, which is why it usually takes two professionals taking turns.

With artificial intelligence, the flow is similar but automated: the system hears the speech, recognizes what was said, translates it and generates a voice in the target language, in seconds. There’s no booth, no scheduling and no taking turns — the translation just happens while the conversation goes on.

How to do simultaneous translation without an interpreter

Langless is an AI voice translator that does live simultaneous translation, in both directions. In practice:

• In meetings (Zoom, Teams, Meet): your voice goes out translated on the call and what the others say comes back in your language. That’s Meeting mode.
• In multilingual chat rooms: each participant speaks their own language and hears the others in theirs. See the multilingual chat room.
• To just understand: if you only need to follow along (a training session, for example), use Listen mode.

That’s dozens of languages, with no need to hire a professional for every conversation.

How much it costs

Langless works by subscription, from US$ 25/month, plus your own AI key (BYOK): you pay for the translation minutes directly to the provider (from ~US$ 0.03/min), with no markup from us. See the plans. It’s a fraction of the cost of a human interpreter per hour.