Interpreter in Microsoft Teams meetings

Interpreter in meetings

Use Interpreter in meetings where participants don't share a common language. This typically applies in situations where groups of participants speak different languages and would usually require a human interpreter. Interpreter helps bridge communication gaps by translating speech into each participant's preferred language, allowing everyone to participate fully, regardless of the languages spoken.

When you turn on Interpreter during a Teams meeting, you’ll be able to hear Interpreter translate other participants into your preferred language.

Interpreting...:When someone speaks in a language other than your preferred language, you’ll hear the translation over the original speaker’s audio. You’ll also see an indicator on the original speaker’s video feed that shows their speech is being translated.

Screenshot of the indication that appears when someone’s speech is being interpreted in a Teams meeting.

Interpreting for others...: When you're speaking in a language different from other participants' preferred languages, they'll hear your speech translated into their chosen languages. An indicator on your video feed will show that your speech is being translated for others.

Additionally, after you've finished listening to interpreted audio, f others are still listening in their preferred languages, you'll see an indicator prompting you to wait until everyone has finished listening before speaking again.

Screenshot showing Interpreter indicator that someone is still listening to an interpretation.

People who don’t have Interpreter turned on will also see an indicator that someone’s speech is being translated. This provides everyone with a visual cue to let translation finish before they unmute and start speaking.

Supported languages

Interpreter currently supports the following languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Simplified Chinese (Mandarin), Italian, German, French and Korean.

Notes:

Some spoken languages can be recognized by Interpreter, but interpretation accuracy isn't guaranteed.
Regardless of the input language, the interpretation output will always be in one of the supported languages listed above.

Turn on Interpreter

Turn on Interpreter in meetings with up to 1,000 participants, where multiple languages are being spoken.

To turn on Interpreter:

Select More actions in your meeting controls.
Select Language and speech > Interpreter > Turn on for me .
In Interpreter settings:
- Select the language you want Interpreter to translate into from the Listen to meeting in dropdown menu.
- Adjust the Balance volume slider to hear more original or interpreted audio.
- Choose the voice you want other participants to hear your interpreted speech in from the Choose your voice when interpreted options. To learn more about voice simulation, see Voice simulation in Interpreter.
Select Turn on.

To adjust Interpreter settings or turn off Interpreter, select the Interpreter indicator in your meeting window.

Select Manage settings to open Interpreter settings or Turn off for me to turn Interpreter off for yourself.

Screenshot highlighting Interpreter indicator in a Microsoft Teams meeting.

When you turn on Interpreter, multilingual speech recognition will also be turned on automatically, allowing participants to set their spoken and translated languages. Multilingual speech recognition can also be turned on independently of Interpreter by the Teams Premium or Copilot organizer in the meeting options.

Notes:

Interpreter settings will persist through your future meetings.
Interpreter isn’t currently supported in ad-hoc meetings or calls, meetings using Microsoft Teams Rooms with personal devices, town halls, webinars, or Teams Free meetings.
Interpreter isn’t currently supported by Safari browsers.

Voice simulation in Interpreter

When you use Voice simulation in Interpreter, translated speech is generated in your own voice, so other participants will hear translations as if you're speaking their language directly. Short segments of your speech are briefly analyzed by the system in real time to simulate your unique tone, style, and voice characteristics.

Voice samples or biometric data are never stored. AI instantly creates a natural-sounding voice in the selected language, preserving your authentic tone, pitch, and speaking style without exaggerating emotions. This ensures a familiar and seamless multilingual conversation experience.

Data privacy

Voice data is processed immediately, in real time, without ever storing your voice samples or biometric information.

Note: If voice simulation isn’t available, contact your IT admin.

Voice simulation policy and settings

If your IT admin has turned on the Voice simulation policy, the setting Simulate my voice will be turned on automatically. If the policy isn't turned on, your speech will be translated using a default automated voice.

To manage your voice preferences during a meeting:

Select More actions in your meeting controls.
Select Language and speech > Interpreter > Interpreter settings .
In Choose your voice when interpreted, select:
- Simulate my voice for others to hear your translated speech presented in your simulated voice.
- Automated voice for others to hear your translated speech presented in a default automated voice (e.g., Ava).
Select Confirm.

Multilingual speech recognition

Notes:

Multilingual speech recognition is available as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, an add-on license that provides additional features to make Teams meetings more personalized, intelligent, and secure. To get access to Microsoft 365 Copilot, contact your IT admin.
Multilingual speech recognition is also available as part of Teams Premium.

Multilingual speech recognition lets you communicate seamlessly in meetings where multiple languages are spoken. Each participant can set their preferred spoken language independently. When turned on, it provides live translated captions and transcripts in real time, ensuring everyone can participate fully regardless of the language they speak.

When you organize or attend a meeting with multilingual speech recognition turned on, participants can individually select their preferred spoken languages. This allows the system to generate accurate live captions and transcripts in each participant's preferred language.

To turn on multilingual speech recognition:

Select Calendar in Teams.
Double-click an event.
Select Edit .
- If you double-clicked an instance of a meeting series, select whether you want to edit This event, This and all following events, or All events in the series.
Select Meeting options .
In Recording and transcription , turn on the Enable multilingual speech recognition toggle.
Select Save.

Set your spoken language

After your organizer turns on multilingual speech recognition, set your spoken language.

To set your spoken language:

Select More actions in your meeting controls. Then, select Language and speech > Show live captions > Open caption settings > Language settings .
Select More actions in your meeting controls. Then, select Record and transcribe > Start transcription > Confirm > Language settings .

In Language settings > Your spoken language, choose your preferred spoken language.

In Language settings > Translate to, select the language you want your live captions and transcripts translated into.

Notes:

The Translate to setting is available to participants with a Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams Premium license, or to everyone when the organizer has a Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams Premium license.
The Translate to setting is also available independently of multilingual speech recognition, as long as licensing requirements are met.

Best practices for Interpreter

Follow these best practices for a smooth, effective multilingual meeting experience:

When to use Interpreter

In meetings without a common language: ideal when participants don't share a common language.
In structured discussions: best for structured conversations where one person is speaking at a time.

Tips for effective multilingual communication

Speak one language at a time. Stick consistently to a single language, especially if you're bilingual.
Be clear and concise. Use short sentences, pause frequently, and simplify technical language to improve interpretation accuracy.
Raise your hand. Select Raise in your meeting controls to indicate when you want to speak, preventing overlapping speech.
Allow interpretation to finish. Look out for visual indicators showing that others have finished listening to interpretation before continuing or changing topics.
Support your message visually. Share your screen or use chat features to provide additional context (links, screenshots, documents).
Turn on your camera. Visual cues can create a more engaging and natural multilingual conversation.

Meeting setup recommendations

Ensure the meeting organizer has either a Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams Premium license. Turn on multilingual speech recognition in your meeting options so all participants can individually select their spoken languages and translation settings for live captions for clear communication with or without Interpreter.
Easily catch up on key discussions through intelligent meeting recap, now supporting multilingual meetings. After the meeting, your recap is automatically generated in the translation language you selected for live transcription and captions.

Interpreter limitations

Meeting recordings only capture the original meeting audio and don’t include interpretation audio.
Translated transcripts are only available live during the meeting. After the meeting ends, only the original (spoken) language is shown in the transcript.
Interpreter isn’t optimized for meetings with rapid exchanges, interruptions, or overlapping dialogue, as the translation may take longer than the original speech, making it harder to follow and respond naturally.
Interpretation of people’s names, genders, or technical terms may be inaccurate.

FAQ

Can people from other orgs use Interpreter?

People from other orgs can use Interpreter in a meeting if they join from an account with a valid M365 Copilot license. People joining anonymously can’t use Interpreter because their identity and license status can’t be verified.

How does voice simulation work?

If you turn on voice simulation, Interpreter will sample brief segments of your voice to simulate your tone, style, and voice characteristics. When Interpreter translated your speech for others, people will hear the translation in your simulated voice. Opt out of voice simulation anytime and choose a different voice style in Interpreter settings.

Voice simulation only processes your voice in real time and doesn't store your biometric data or add emotional sentiment beyond what's being spoken. If you can't access Interpreter, contact your IT admin.

What technology powers Interpreter?

The Interpreter agent in Teams enables real-time speech-to-speech (STS) translation using Azure AI Services. It automatically detects spoken languages in a meeting and support multi-speaker, multilingual conversations.

How it works:

Speech Recognition (ST): Converts spoken language into English text.
Translation (MT): Translates English text into the selected language(s).
Voice Generation (TTS): Produces translated speech in the target language. It can simulate the speaker’s voice or use a predefined voice based on their preference and IT admin policy.
A bot transmits meeting audio for cloud-based processing and returns translations instantly.

Does Interpreter support meetings with people from other orgs?

Interpreter can be used in meetings with people from other orgs who are signed into verified M365 accounts and have valid M365 Copilot licenses.

Submit feedback

We’re always looking for ways to improve features. To provide feedback, select the Interpreter indicator Interpreter icon in Microsoft Teams in your meeting window. Select either the thumbs up or down button.

Screenshot highlighting Interpreter feedback buttons.

Add your feedback and select Submit to send your comments directly to Microsoft.

Interpreter in Microsoft Teams meetings

In this article

Interpreter in meetings

Supported languages

Turn on Interpreter

Voice simulation in Interpreter

Data privacy

Voice simulation policy and settings

Multilingual speech recognition

Set your spoken language

Best practices for Interpreter

When to use Interpreter

Tips for effective multilingual communication

Meeting setup recommendations

Interpreter limitations

FAQ

Can people from other orgs use Interpreter?

How does voice simulation work?

What technology powers Interpreter?

Does Interpreter support meetings with people from other orgs?

Submit feedback

Related topics

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