Understand a call: subtitles

Subtitles need no setup. You can use them in two ways.

With your phone next to your laptop. Open Dolmi on your phone and put it next to the computer. Dolmi listens to the call through the phone’s microphone and shows the translation as subtitles. This works with any call app, including the Zoom or Teams desktop app. The call has to play through the speakers: if you’re wearing a headset, the phone hears nothing.

On a computer. Open Dolmi in Chrome or Edge and share the call’s audio. The browser asks whether you want to share a tab, a window or the whole screen. The translation appears in a small window that floats above the call app. You can move it and resize it.

Start subtitles

Speak in a call: your voice in German

Dolmi picks up your microphone, translates with AI and speaks the translation. So that the others hear it in the call, Dolmi sends the sound to a virtual microphone: a small audio driver that shows up in the microphone list in Zoom, Teams or Meet like any other. You speak English, and the others hear German. This is real-time voice translation in Zoom, Teams or any other call app that lets you choose a microphone.

You set this up once, and the app guides you step by step: it shows you the right download, sends its output to the virtual cable and checks with a test tone that the sound arrives.

Windows: VB-Cable by VB-Audio, free, donation optional
Mac: BlackHole 2ch by Existential Audio, free

The others hear an AI voice, not your own. As long as the cable is selected as the microphone in the call app, your original voice doesn’t go into the call. The voice in a call only works on a computer, with Chrome or Edge.

Set up the voice

Guides for your call app

What you need to set in Zoom, Teams or Google Meet so the call app uses the virtual cable as its microphone:

On your phone

On a phone, Dolmi runs in the browser, without an app. Two things work well there, and one doesn’t.

Works: a face-to-face conversation, with the phone on the table between you. And subtitles for a call that plays through the speakers of another device, for example the laptop next to it.
Doesn’t work: sending your translated voice into another app, such as the Zoom app, Teams or a WhatsApp call. A phone browser can’t use a virtual microphone. For the same reason, there are no subtitles for a call on the same phone either: the browser can’t access the audio of other apps.

So for your voice in a call, you need a computer. For everything else, your phone is enough.

What you need

For subtitles: a phone with an up-to-date browser, or a PC or Mac with an up-to-date version of Chrome or Edge.
For the voice: a PC or Mac with Chrome or Edge, a headset and, once, VB-Cable (Windows) or BlackHole (Mac). With speakers, your microphone also picks up the others, and Dolmi translates their sentences too.
Voice and subtitles together: with a headset on, a phone next to you can’t hear the call any more. In that case, use screen or tab sharing on the computer for the subtitles.
Balance: the first 60 seconds are free. After that, one live minute costs 2 credits; depending on the subscription or pack, CHF 0.20 to CHF 0.33 per minute.

How fast is the translation?

There are about 1 to 3 seconds between your sentence and the spoken translation. That’s enough for a normal conversation if everyone pauses briefly after making a point. When everyone talks over each other, any live translator reaches its limits. For negotiations with legal consequences or medical consultations, a professional interpreter is the safer choice.

What it costs

You only pay for the minutes in which Dolmi translates speech, and the first minute to try it out is free. Subscriptions start at CHF 9.90 per month, credit packs without a subscription at CHF 4.90. All options, and what exactly a credit is, are on the pricing page.

Live translator for video calls