Translate a face-to-face conversation

A face-to-face conversation is the quickest way to use Dolmi: phone on the table, choose the language pair, tap “I’ll speak” and talk. It works as a real-time voice translator for conversations with people in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, between English and German in both directions. Dolmi also translates German with Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and French.

How it works

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the conversation and choose the language pair

   Open Face-to-face conversation in your phone’s browser and choose the language pair, for example English and German. The first time, the browser asks whether Dolmi may use the microphone. Allow it.

2. 2

   Step 2: Put the phone between you

   Lay the phone flat on the table, with the top edge facing the other person. The top half of the screen is turned 180 degrees so they can read it from their side. Turn the volume up so you can both hear the translation clearly.

3. 3

   Step 3: Take turns to speak

   Tap “I’ll speak” on your half, say one thing and then pause briefly. Dolmi says the translation out loud and shows it in large text on the other person’s half. Then they tap “Ich spreche” on their half and answer. While Dolmi is speaking, it doesn’t listen.

4. 4

   Step 4: End the conversation

   When you’re done, end the conversation in Dolmi. Only the time in which Dolmi translates speech counts; pauses cost nothing.

Where it helps

• Finding a flat and settling in: the viewing, the handover of the keys, the laundry room rota, a chat with the caretaker or the neighbours.
• Offices and appointments: the counter at the residents’ office, the reception at the doctor’s, the questions at the bank or the insurance office.
• School, nursery, clubs: the parents’ evening, the talk with the nursery teacher, the football club sign-up. Short conversations nobody books an interpreter for.
• Tradespeople and garages: what’s broken, what it costs and when it’ll be ready.
• Family: your partner’s parents speak German, and nobody at the kitchen table has to translate for everyone any more.

What you need

• A phone with an up-to-date browser. You don’t install an app.
• Internet: an AI online does the translating, so it won’t work without a connection.
• A quiet spot. In a noisy restaurant or next to a building site, Dolmi understands less well, like any speech recognition.

Limits, honestly

There are about 1 to 3 seconds between a sentence and its translation. That’s enough for a calm conversation if you speak one after the other. If you both talk at once, the translation gets mixed up.

The voice is an AI voice, not your own. At the start, tell the other person that a translator is listening: the audio goes to Google to be translated.

For a medical diagnosis, appointments with legal consequences or contract negotiations, a professional interpreter is the safer choice.

What it costs

The first 60 seconds are free, with no payment. After that, one minute of conversation costs 2 credits, the same as one live minute in a video call. Depending on the subscription or pack, that’s CHF 0.20 to CHF 0.33 per minute. All options are on the pricing page.

Is the conversation on a video call?

If the other person isn’t sitting with you but is in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, use the live translator for video calls: with subtitles for what the others say and, if you like, with your words spoken in German. Everything Dolmi does with German and English is on one page.