Google Meet has launched a new real-time voice translation feature, now available in Ecuador for subscribers of the Google AI Pro and Ultra plans. Powered by artificial intelligence, this technology allows conversations to be translated while preserving the tone, rhythm, and emotions of the speaker’s original voice, representing a major breakthrough in digital communication.
The tool is currently available for translations between English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. To activate it, users simply need to go to “Settings” during a meeting, navigate to the captions section, and select the voice translation option, choosing the target language.
This feature can be especially useful for international meetings, virtual classes, trainings, and interviews with participants who do not share the same language. It reduces the need to rely exclusively on subtitles or human interpreters in simple or repetitive contexts.
However, this type of technological advancement raises questions about the future of interpretation work. In the short term, there may be a decrease in the demand for human interpreters in basic scenarios, where absolute accuracy is not essential, and cost is a key factor.
In the medium term, simultaneous interpreters may need to adapt, focusing on specialized areas such as medicine, law, or diplomacy—fields where machine translations still cannot match the required levels of accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and contextual understanding.
In conclusion, while automatic voice translation is a powerful tool, the human role remains essential in many settings. The key will be to combine the potential of technology with the expertise and judgment of language professionals.
