Zoom is a versatile video conferencing tool that unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, group messaging, and a software-defined conference room solution into one easy-to-use platform. You can host and join Zoom video conferences from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. 

The Zoom Help Center has full instructions on using Zoom. The instructions below are specific to Virginia Tech. To see other Zoom topics, please see Video Conferencing - Holding Zoom Conferences on a PC or Mobile Device.

This article details how to use Zoom Translated Captions. Other features that you can request are Zoom Webinars and Zoom Events.

The host of a Zoom meeting or webinar can use the translated captions feature to allow users to enable spoken content during their session to be automatically translated in real-time to captions in another language. For instance, when a meeting participant is speaking in English, other participants can choose to view the captions in German, Italian, Japanese, etc. For a full list of languages available, see list of supported languages for translated captioning.

Please keep in mind:

• The caption languages that are available for participants to choose from are determined by the host in their Zoom web settings before the live session.
• During the session, participants will be able to self-enable captions and switch languages without intervention from the host.
• Zoom translated captions cannot be generated during events where third-party vendors will be providing professional (human-generated) live captioning services.

How do translated captions work?

1. The Zoom captioning automatic speech recognition (ASR) caption track is generated in the spoken, native language.
2. The ASR caption track is then translated into the alternative language selected by each meeting participant. 

It is important to note that the accuracy of the translated captions is directly correlated to the accuracy of the ASR caption track in the spoken, native language. Accuracy is dependent on many factors, such as the quality of the microphone, clarity of the speaker, complexity of the vocabulary, etc.

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Requesting Zoom Translated Captions

Virginia Tech has a limited number of Zoom Translated Captions licenses. To request Zoom Translated Captions for your account for a period of time, go to Zoom - Feature Request. When filling out the form, check the box for Translated Captions. A Zoom admin will be in touch to enable the feature on your account. Once the feature has been enabled:

1. Go to the Virginia Tech Zoom Portal and sign in with your Virginia Tech PID and password.
2. Go to Settings and make sure you're on the Meetings tab.
3. Click on In Meeting (Advanced) and scroll down to Translated Captions and make sure it is toggled on.
   

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Resources

• Enabling and configuring translated captions at the user level
• How to configure language pairs

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Getting Help

For instructions on resolving common issues with Zoom, see: Video Conferencing - Troubleshooting Zoom.

• Go to 4Help, log in with your Virginia Tech Username (PID) and password, and click Get Help.
• Call 540-231-4357.

For problems using Zoom, contact Zoom Support:

• Search Zoom documentation in the Zoom Help Center.
• Chat live (24-7) with Zoom support. Go to Zoom Video Communications Technical Support and click Chatbot.
• Call Zoom support (24-7) at 888-799-9666 ext 2.
• Check the status of Zoom services.

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