Real-time captions and spoken translation for Google Meet calls, running directly in your Chrome browser tab—no bots to invite.
Google Meet's built-in captions work well if everyone speaks English clearly and at a moderate pace. They don't translate. If your colleague in Munich is presenting in German, or your vendor in São Paulo switches to Portuguese mid-sentence, Meet's native captions stay in the original language. You're left nodding along, planning to ask for a summary later, or interrupting to ask someone to repeat themselves.
Translext captures the audio playing in your Google Meet tab, transcribes what it hears, and displays captions translated into your language—overlaid right on the Meet window. You can read along silently or enable spoken translation to hear the speech in your language through your headphones. It works for any language spoken on the call, translating into whichever of the 70+ supported languages you choose. When the meeting ends, nothing is stored.
Translext is a Chrome extension, so it only works when you join Google Meet through a browser tab—not through a mobile app or the progressive web app installed as a desktop shortcut. Once installed, you'll see the Translext icon in your Chrome toolbar. Open your Meet call in a tab, click the icon, select your target language, and click start. The extension captures the tab's audio stream, transcribes it, translates it, and shows captions in a draggable overlay window. You can reposition that window anywhere on screen so it doesn't block faces or the chat panel. Google Meet's interface stays unchanged underneath; you're just adding a translation layer on top. Turn it off mid-call if you want, and the overlay disappears instantly.
You're in a weekly standup with teammates in three countries, and the product manager in Barcelona occasionally uses Spanish terms you don't recognize. You're interviewing a candidate who's more comfortable in their first language. You're sitting in on a partner call where half the participants speak Mandarin and the rest speak English, and the conversation keeps switching. Google Meet doesn't translate any of this. Asking people to repeat themselves constantly derails the meeting. Translext lets you follow along without interrupting. The transcription isn't flawless—live speech recognition stumbles over accents, background noise, and rapid cross-talk—but it's usually enough to catch the meaning and stay in the conversation instead of waiting for someone to paraphrase in your language five minutes later.
You get real-time captions in your chosen language, displayed in an overlay window you can drag anywhere on screen. You can enable text-to-speech to hear a spoken version through your audio output—useful if you're listening more than reading. The extension runs entirely in the browser tab; there's no bot joining your meeting, no recording saved to a server, and no transcript file when you're done. New accounts include free minutes to try it. After that, you buy credit packs for additional minutes. It's Chrome-only right now. No Firefox, Safari, Edge, or mobile versions exist. No offline mode. It translates speech happening live in the tab; it won't translate documents, chat messages, or recordings you upload later.
No. Translext is a Chrome browser extension that captures audio from a browser tab. If you join Meet through the Android or iOS app, there's no browser tab for the extension to capture. You need to join the meeting by opening meet.google.com in Chrome on a desktop or laptop. The progressive web app shortcut that installs Meet as a standalone window also won't work, because it doesn't run inside a standard Chrome tab.
Yes, but you probably don't want to. Meet's native captions appear at the bottom of the video grid. Translext shows its own captions in a separate draggable overlay. If both are on, you'll see two sets of captions—one in the original language from Meet, one translated from Translext—competing for space on your screen. Most people turn off Meet's captions and rely solely on Translext, or leave Meet's captions on just as a backup to check the original phrasing when translation seems unclear.
It translates everything the extension hears from the tab audio—it doesn't label individual speakers. Google Meet mixes all participants' audio into a single stream that plays in your browser. Translext captures that combined stream, so captions appear as a continuous flow without speaker names attached. If two people talk over each other, the transcription will try to capture both and the result is often garbled. This is a limitation of live speech recognition, not something specific to Meet.
Nothing is stored. Translext processes audio in real time within the browser tab. When you stop the extension or close the Meet tab, the session ends and the captions disappear. There's no transcript file, no recording, and no log of what was said. If you want to keep a record, you'd need to take your own notes during the call or use Meet's native recording feature separately—but that records only the original audio, not the translation.
It depends on audio quality, accents, speaking speed, and how much people talk over each other. Clear speech at a normal pace usually transcribes well. Heavy accents, background noise, or three people talking at once will produce partial or garbled captions. Translation adds another layer where mistakes can happen—technical jargon, idioms, and ambiguous phrases often come out awkward or wrong. It's a tool to help you follow along, not a substitute for a professional interpreter. Expect to miss some nuance.
Live captions and translated audio for anything playing in your browser tab. No bots to invite, nothing to upload.