Google Meet translated captions are the first thing to check when a call isn't in your language, because they're already inside the product. Whether you can use them depends on the account you're signed in with, and that's where most people get stuck: the setting they read about isn't in their menu.
What Google Meet offers out of the box
Meet has two related features, and it helps to keep them apart.
Live captions turn speech into text in the language being spoken. They're widely available and you switch them on from the captions button during the call.
Translated captions go one step further and show that text in another language. Google offers them on certain Workspace editions, for a set list of language pairs, and an admin can control whether they're available in the organisation.
When you have them, they're the simplest option there is. Nothing to install, nothing extra to pay if the edition already includes them, and the recognition is tuned to Meet's own audio.
How to turn on translated captions in Meet
If your account supports them, the switch lives in the call itself:
- Open the captions settings during the call (the settings or captions menu, depending on your Meet version).
- Pick the spoken language, which is the language the meeting is held in.
- Turn on translation and choose the language you want to read.
If there's no translation option in that menu at all, the feature isn't available on your account. A personal Gmail account, an edition that doesn't include it, or an admin setting are the usual reasons. You can't fix any of those from inside the call.
Where the built-in option runs out
Three situations come up again and again.
You're a guest in a Meet call hosted by another company, and your own account doesn't have translated captions. The host can't switch them on for you.
Your language pair isn't on the list. Meet covers the major pairs; less common combinations are more likely to be missing.
The call isn't on Meet. The client sends a Zoom link, the conference streams on YouTube, the training is a recorded video. The captions you configured in Meet don't follow you there.
An alternative that works on any tab
A browser extension can do the same job from your side of the call. It reads the sound the Meet tab is already playing, sends it for recognition and translation, and shows the translation in a window above the call. SubLive works this way, and the setup takes a couple of minutes:
- Install the extension from the install page and sign in. The first 30 minutes are free after you confirm your email.
- Open the Meet call in Chrome and pick the language you read.
- Press start. The subtitle window can float above every other window, so you can keep notes open next to it.
The spoken language is detected on its own for ten languages, including when a call switches between two of them. For the rest you name it once. Subtitles are available in 60 languages.
Nobody joins the meeting. The participant list stays as it was, and nothing changes on anyone else's screen.
Dialog and glossary
Meet's captions show a speaker's name above their text. In SubLive the same idea is dialog mode: a running transcript where each speaker gets a label and a colour, live, which keeps a four-person discussion readable.
Company calls have their own vocabulary. Product names, client names and internal shorthand are exactly what generic translation gets wrong, and a glossary lets you set how each one should come out.
What it doesn't do
It hears Chrome tabs only, so the Meet app on a phone or a desktop meeting app elsewhere won't work. It isn't a certified translation, and it runs a second behind the speaker. Whether the other participants need to agree before their speech is processed depends on the law where you are, and that decision stays with you.
Built-in captions or an extension
| Meet translated captions | Browser extension | |
|---|---|---|
| Works outside Meet | No | Any Chrome tab with sound |
| Depends on your Workspace edition | Yes | No |
| Anything added to the call | No | No |
| Cost | Included where available | Paid by the hour after the free minutes |
| Languages | Google's list of pairs | Subtitles in 60 languages |
If Meet already gives you translated captions in the pair you need, you probably don't need anything else. If it doesn't, or half your calls happen somewhere else, an extension covers both cases with one setup. Hour packs and monthly plans are on the pricing page, and there's a wider comparison with note-takers and self-hosted models on how SubLive compares.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use both at the same time?
Yes. Meet's captions sit inside the call and SubLive's window sits above it. Most people keep one, but nothing stops you from comparing them on the same call.
Does SubLive need access to my Google account?
No. It reads the audio the tab plays and nothing else. You sign in to SubLive with its own account.
Is the Meet call recorded?
No recording is created and audio isn't stored. A text transcript is saved only if you turn that on before you start, and it expires automatically.
What if the speakers switch languages mid-call?
For the ten automatically detected languages, the switch is picked up on its own. If the spoken language is outside that set, name it in the dropdown and change it when the call does.