Is there an app that translates what people around me are saying?
Yes. The category is usually called live translation or live captions, and the useful version for a group is a phone lying on the table that subtitles everyone, not an app you have to hold up to one person. This page explains how that works, what to expect, and where it still fails.
An app that translates what people around you are saying listens through your phone's microphone, recognises the language being spoken, and shows a translated subtitle for each sentence within a couple of seconds. GotThat does this for two to five people at once, labels who said what, and keeps a catch-up and reply helper one tap away. Nobody else installs anything.
Three kinds of apps that look similar
- Conversation translators (Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, iTranslate): you and one other person speak into the phone in turns. Great for transactions, poor for a table. Why conversation mode struggles with three people.
- Earbud translation (AirPods Live Translation, Timekettle): translation in your ear, built for a single conversation partner, sometimes needing the other person to wear something. AirPods for a group · Earbuds vs app.
- Phone-on-the-table subtitles (GotThat): the phone listens to the whole conversation and labels speakers. Built for dinners, seminars, club rooms, family gatherings, hostels.
What a session looks like
You open the app, choose the language you want to read, and press start. The phone lies on the table within earshot. Each sentence appears as a card: who said it (A, B, C), the original, and your translation. When someone asks you something, you tap Reply and get a few things you could say, in their language, to read out. If you zoned out, Missed brings back the last minute; Topic tells you in one line what everyone is talking about. When you stop, you get a recap; the audio is not kept unless you choose to save.
What to expect, honestly
- Delay: about two seconds from speech to subtitle under normal conditions. Fast enough to follow, not fast enough to interrupt.
- Speaker labels: most reliable with two or three people taking turns. With many people, a loud bar or similar voices it will sometimes mislabel a line; tap the name to fix it.
- Accuracy: good enough to know what is being discussed and whether a question is for you; not a court transcript. Slang and jokes are translated, and you can tap a line to ask what tone it had.
- Needs internet. Nothing runs offline.
- Languages: subtitles in Chinese, English, Japanese, Thai or Turkish; the spoken language is detected automatically, and a table mixing Turkish and English is fine.
Etiquette
Tell the table you are using subtitles to keep up. In our experience people are relieved, not offended, and they stop slowing down for you, which is the point. Audio is not stored unless you save the session, and you can say so.
10 free minutes a day, no sign-up. Put the phone on the table and press start.
Questions people ask
Does it work on a computer?
Yes. The web app runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers; a laptop on a seminar table works well.
Will the other people know?
Only if you tell them; there is no sound. We suggest you do tell them.
What if everyone speaks at once?
Subtitles keep coming, but labels get less reliable and some overlapping words are lost. It recovers as soon as people take turns again.
Does it keep my recordings?
Not by default. You get a recap when you stop; only if you tap “Save” are the audio and text kept, in your own account.