How does live translation work during a church service?
A laptop in the church receives the preacher’s voice through a microphone or the sound desk. SermonBridge turns the spoken message into captions and translates them while the service is happening. Each person opens the service link on their own phone or tablet and chooses the language they want to read.
What does our church need?
A laptop or desktop with a modern browser, a microphone or sound-desk audio input, and a stable internet connection. People follow on their own phones or tablets. For a shared view, connect a TV or projector. The setup guide explains the sound options.
Do people need an app or an account?
No. Viewers open the service link or scan the QR code, choose a caption language and read along in their browser. Only the people who set up and run the service need an account.
Which languages can people read?
Captions are available in 47 languages, and the preacher can speak any of them. Each viewer picks a caption language when they open the service, and one service can run up to six translation languages at the same time. See all caption languages.
Can we show the translation on a projector?
Yes. Presentation mode shows large, full-screen captions on a tablet, TV or projector. The screen can show one language, or the spoken language together with a translation. Everyone following on their own device can still pick a different language.
How accurate is the translation?
Captions and translations are generated automatically and can contain mistakes, especially with names, Bible references, accents or unclear audio. A clear audio feed and a short rehearsal with your own sermon material help. Treat the captions as an aid to follow along.
How long is the delay?
Captions appear after a short delay, which depends on the internet connection and the speech. The newest sentence can still change slightly until it is final. A short rehearsal shows how it works with your own sound setup.
What happens if our internet connection drops?
New captions pause while the computer running the service is offline. When the connection returns, the host page reconnects by itself and captions continue. During a short outage the service stays open with the same join code, and viewers reconnect on their own. If the host page does not reconnect, reload it. If nobody is connected for more than 30 minutes, the service ends; start it again and share the new link.
What does it cost?
New churches get a free 30-day trial with 20 translation hours, and no payment card is needed. After the trial, monthly plans start at €9 excluding VAT. Plans are priced by translation hours: one hour of service in one translation language uses one hour, however many people are reading. See pricing for all plans.
What happens when the trial ends or the hours run out?
When the trial ends, choose a monthly plan to keep running services. A service that has started always runs to the end, even when the hours run out during it. Translation hours reset at the start of each calendar month, and the church settings show how many have been used. Once the 20 trial hours are used up, choose a plan with more included hours to start your next service straight away. Paid plans leave room for a busy month beyond the included hours, and extra use is not charged during early access. If you often need more, choose a plan with more hours.
Can we keep the sermon text?
Yes. When you end the service, the summary screen lets you download the text as a text file, in the spoken language and in each translation language that is still active when the service ends. Later, church owners and admins can download the text of any past service, in the spoken language and every translation language, under Past services in church settings.
What happens to the audio?
Live audio is streamed to our speech and translation provider, which processes it in its EU region. SermonBridge does not save the audio. Caption text is kept for up to 12 months and then deleted automatically. Church owners and admins can download a service's text, or delete it sooner, under Past services in church settings. The privacy policy has the details.