How to choose the right starting point
Most churches recognise themselves in more than one of these situations. A practical way to start is to ask who is in the pews this Sunday who cannot follow the sermon, and how often that happens. The answer tells you which page to read first and roughly how many credits you will need.
- Every week, several languages: you are an international or expat church, or a local church that has grown multilingual. Start with international churches.
- Every week, one or two languages, people who are new to the country: refugees, migrant workers, families who have just arrived. Read refugees and newcomers.
- Now and then, a speaker in another language: a missionary, a visiting pastor, a partner church. See guest speakers.
- Special services with guests from abroad: weddings, baptisms and funerals. See weddings, baptisms and funerals.
- One-off events with many people: conferences, synods, youth weekends. See conferences and events.
- Visitors you never see again: tourists in a historic church, holiday congregations, cruise passengers. See tourists and visitors.
- A small church with a small budget and one volunteer: see small churches.
What stays the same in every situation
Whatever the occasion, the visitor's side is the same. They scan a QR code, choose their language in the browser and hear a translated voice through their earbuds, with live captions on screen. There is no account and nothing to install. On the church side, one person starts a broadcast from a laptop or phone, ideally with a feed from the mixing desk. The guide on how to translate a church service walks through it step by step.
What changes is the planning: how many languages you switch on, who runs the broadcast, whether you can test beforehand, and whether a human interpreter would serve the moment better. Each use case page is honest about that last point. Translation software is a good fit for sermons, notices, prayers and teaching. For a funeral eulogy spoken by a grieving relative, or a pastoral conversation, a person who knows the family is often the better choice.
A word on costs
You pay in credits: 1 credit is 1 minute of translation into 1 language, and a language only uses credits while someone is listening to it. That makes occasional use affordable and weekly use predictable. The cost guide has worked examples, and the pricing page lists the plans.
Not sure yet? Every new church account gets a free 10-minute trial service, which is usually enough to hear how your own preacher sounds in another language.