Your teams are global, diverse, and multilingual. Is your webcast, too? If you offer Town Halls or important updates in only one language, you are unconsciously excluding a part of your audience. Inclusion in the virtual space is no longer a niche topic, but a decisive factor for modern corporate culture.
Technology makes it easier than ever to overcome language barriers today. It's no longer about expensive on-site interpreter booths, but intelligent AI solutions that can be activated with a click.
Here you will find out why multilingualism is a strategic must, where the limits of AI lie, and how to complete the setup in the MEETYOO Show Webcast in just a few seconds.
1. Why Multilingualism is No Longer a "Nice-to-have"
In the past, the rule often was: "Business English is the corporate language, that has to be enough." Today we know that this is not sufficient to truly reach and engage people.
Inclusion through language and subtitles offers tangible benefits:
- Ensuring Understanding: Not all employees speak fluent business English. When complex strategies are presented, understanding in the native language (or through supporting subtitles) is significantly higher. You avoid misunderstandings on critical topics.
- Cultural Appreciation: When you offer content in local languages, you send a strong signal of appreciation to international locations. It strengthens the "we-feeling" and the bond with headquarters.
- Accessibility: Subtitles are essential for hearing-impaired participants. But they also help everyone else - for example in an open-plan office without headphones, on mobile devices on the train, or with poor audio connections.
2. Strategy: Which Languages Should You Offer?
Technology allows for a lot, but you don't have to translate everything. A smart strategy saves resources.
Ask yourself the following questions for selection:
- Where are the largest teams located? Analyze your registration data. If 30% of your employees are in France and 20% in Spain, these languages are mandatory.
- How complex is the topic? For a small, simple update, German or English might suffice. For compliance training or restructuring news, the native language is essential to create legal certainty and clarity and to reach participants in the best possible way.
- Gather Feedback: Ask which language is preferred during registration. This provides you with data-based arguments for your language selection.
3. The Power of AI Subtitles (and Their Limits)
Subtitles (captions) are the fastest way to more inclusion. AI-based live subtitling (Speech-to-Text) is so powerful today that it forms the new standard for most live scenarios.
💡 MEETYOO Insight: We rely on leading AI models to keep the so-called "Word Error Rate" (WER) as low as possible. In our tests, modern AI works surprisingly precisely even with technical terms.
👉 Click here for our case study: Accuracy (WER) and latency in German-language live transcription
Reality Check: Where AI Can Stumble To keep your expectations (and those of your viewers) realistic, you should know when automatic subtitles reach their limits:
- The "One" Source Language: In the MEETYOO Show Webcast, you technically set a fixed transcription language (e.g., German). The system then expects German input. If a speaker spontaneously switches to English, the AI desperately tries to interpret these English sounds as German words. The result is usually unintelligible. Tip: Brief your speakers to stick to the defined main language.
- Unclear Pronunciation & Dialects: Strong mumbling or very strong regional accents make recognition difficult.
- Proper Names & Internal Acronyms: If your new product is called "Xylo-7", the AI will probably write "Xylophone" or something similar.
- Audio Quality: A poor microphone on the speaker's end can automatically lead to worse subtitles. "Garbage in, garbage out" applies here too.
Tip: Briefly point out to your audience at the beginning that these are automatically generated live subtitles. This creates understanding for minor errors.
4. Practice Guide: Technical Setup in MEETYOO Show Webcast
You don't have to be a tech pro to make your webcast multilingual. The setup takes place directly in the backend of your event configuration.
Here is how easy it is to activate AI transcription and translation:
- Navigate in your event dashboard to Event Configuration and then to Settings.
- Click on the Transcription tab.
- Select Transcription Language: Choose the language here that the speaker will speak in the live stream (the "source language", e.g., German). This is the basis for all translations.
- Select Translation Languages: Select up to 3 additional languages into which the AI should translate live (e.g., English, French, Spanish).
The system now automatically generates subtitles during the live stream based on your chosen source language and offers participants a menu in the player to switch on the desired translation as a text overlay.
Conclusion: Small Setting, Big Impact
Activating AI subtitles and translations in the MEETYOO Show Webcast takes just a few clicks. Yet, the impact on your corporate culture is enormous. You show that understandable communication is important to you and that every participant is welcome – regardless of location or language skills.
Make inclusion the standard for your next Town Halls!