USE CASE · INTERNATIONAL CHURCH

Running a multilingual church without a team of interpreters

International churches in Brussels, Amsterdam, Oslo or Dublin often have members from twenty countries. The service is in English or the local language, and part of the congregation follows at half speed. ChurchTranslate lets each person hear the sermon in their own language, at the same time, on their own phone.

Updated

The everyday reality of an international church

Picture an English-speaking church in a European capital. The pastor preaches in English. In the pews sit diplomats' families, Erasmus students, a few Portuguese and Spanish couples, a Ukrainian grandmother who came with her daughter, and local spouses who prefer their own language for anything that matters. Most of them get by in English. Getting by is not the same as being able to take in a forty-minute sermon on the book of Hebrews.

Many international churches have tried whispered interpretation in a corner, or a volunteer who translates the notes into a second language. It works for one language on a good week. It does not work for five languages, and it depends on the same two volunteers never being ill or on holiday.

How a Sunday goes with live translation

  1. 01
    Before the service

    The sound volunteer opens the broadcast studio on the church laptop, which is connected to the mixing desk through a USB audio interface. The input level meter shows the pastor's microphone. The QR code is on the welcome slide and on a small card at each entrance.

  2. 02
    As people arrive

    Regulars scan the code out of habit. They pick Español, Português, Українська or whichever of the church's chosen languages they need, and put in one earbud. Newcomers are shown how by the welcome team.

  3. 03
    During worship

    Readings, prayers, notices and the sermon are translated with a few seconds of delay. Visitors hear a translated voice and see captions. Someone who understands English quite well can switch the audio off and simply read along in their own language when a sentence goes too fast.

  4. 04
    After the service

    Listeners who asked for it receive the transcript by e-mail in their language. The church keeps the text transcripts of each service in its own archive.

Choosing which languages to offer

ChurchTranslate translates into eleven languages: English, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic and Dutch. In the church settings you choose which of these visitors may pick. A church in Brussels might offer French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese; a church in Oslo might offer Norwegian, Ukrainian and Polish.

You do not pay for languages nobody is using. A language only uses credits while someone is listening to it. So it is reasonable to switch on a language for the two Romanian families who come most weeks, because on the Sundays they are away it costs nothing.

When the pastor and the congregation switch languages

In many international churches the service itself is bilingual: notices in the local language, the sermon in English, a prayer in Spanish. The AI recognises the spoken language, and the technician sets the main speaker language and can switch it with one tap during the service. If you know a section will be in another language, switching is the cleanest option. Our guide to running a multilingual church goes deeper into structuring bilingual services.

Quality, and what to expect

The translation follows the line of the sermon well and keeps pace with normal preaching. Bible names, theological terms and quotations are the hardest part. ChurchTranslate keeps Bible names and church terms in mind and corrects known terms in the captions, but it is not perfect. A pastor who speaks clearly, finishes sentences and avoids speaking over the music helps a great deal. The page on Bible names and terms explains how this works.

What it costs an international church

A two-hour service translated into four languages, with listeners on all four, is 4 × 120 = 480 credits. Four such Sundays a month is 1,920 credits, which fits within the Standaard plan (2,400 credits a month, up to five languages, with a team of technicians and transcripts by e-mail). In practice not every language has listeners for the whole service, so usage is often lower. See pricing and the cost guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can different listeners hear different languages at the same time?

Yes. Each listener picks their own language on their phone. Four people can listen in four different languages during the same sermon, and there is no limit on listeners per language.

Our service is partly in English and partly in the local language. Does that work?

Yes. The technician sets the speaker language and can switch it with one tap during the service. Short switches, like a quoted sentence, are often handled, but switching the speaker language by hand gives the best result. The speaker language is chosen from the same 11 languages.

Do members need to install an app?

No. The listening page runs in the browser on any smartphone. There is also an iOS app in the App Store for those who prefer it, and on Android the browser works fine.

Can more than one volunteer run the broadcast?

Yes. You can invite several team members, so the rota does not depend on one person. Each can start the broadcast from a laptop or phone.

Is the sermon recorded?

No audio is stored. The church keeps text transcripts in its own archive and can correct them afterwards.

Multilingual churchWelcome, worship and leadership beyond the technology.Read more SpanishFor Latin American and Spanish members and neighbours.Read more Audio setupFrom the mixing desk to the laptop, with levels and testing.Read more