Many councils and boards now run hybrid meetings with remote attendees on Zoom, and clerks are asking how to translate a Zoom meeting for residents who speak other languages. Here is a plain-language look at what works, what doesn't, and how to set it up with SentraCaptions.
Translation and interpretation are different
It helps to start with two terms that often get mixed up.
- Translation is written or text. Captions are text, so translated captions are translation.
- Interpretation is spoken, usually by a human interpreter, either simultaneous or consecutive.
SentraCaptions provides text: English captions and translated captions. It does not provide spoken (audio) interpretation or an AI voice. If a resident wants to hear the meeting in another language, that is interpretation, and it is a separate service.
What goes into Zoom, and what doesn't
SentraCaptions can send English live captions into a Zoom meeting's closed captions (CC). One caption language goes into Zoom: English.
Translations are delivered another way. They appear on the chamber screen and on residents' phones through a QR code or link. A remote attendee can open that link in a browser next to Zoom, choose their language and read along at their own text size. No app, no sign-in.
So a multilingual Zoom meeting with SentraCaptions looks like this:
- Zoom attendees see English captions in Zoom CC and can open the translation link alongside Zoom.
- People in the chamber read the chamber screen, which can show one or more languages side by side, or scan the QR code on it with their phones.
- Everyone reads from the same captioning session. Captions typically appear about a second after speech in our own tests, and the sentence in progress updates live.
The audio still comes from your chamber's encoder over RTMP or SRT, as with any SentraCaptions meeting. Zoom is an output, not the audio source. For the Zoom setup itself, see How to add live captions to Zoom public meetings.
Choosing languages
SentraCaptions offers captions and live translation in 75 languages: English captions plus translation into 74 languages and regional variants. You can run up to 8 per meeting. Options include Spanish (and Mexican Spanish), Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Persian (Farsi), Dari, Pashto, Arabic, Punjabi, Hindi, Russian, Ukrainian and many more. The full list is on our features page.
A few things to know before you pick:
- Hmong and Khmer are not supported. If those communities are significant in your area, plan other outreach for them.
- Speech recognition is English, with Spanish speakers at public comment recognized too.
- Translation quality varies by language. Have a fluent speaker review the languages that matter most to your residents before you rely on them.
If your body is covered by SB 707, the agenda translation rule gives you a starting point. Agendas must be translated into "applicable languages" determined from American Community Survey data on residents who speak English less than "very well," at most three languages. Offering live captions in those same languages keeps the experience consistent from agenda to meeting.
The legal picture, briefly
This is general information, not legal advice. Check with your city attorney or county counsel about what applies to your agency.
SB 707
SB 707 (Durazo), signed October 3, 2025, starts most new requirements for eligible legislative bodies on July 1, 2026. Eligible bodies include city councils of cities with 30,000 or more residents (or cities in counties of 600,000+) and boards of supervisors of counties over 30,000. Among other things, eligible bodies must:
- Offer a two-way telephonic or two-way audiovisual way for the public to attend and comment remotely.
- Post agendas in applicable languages with the English agenda, including instructions in that language for joining by phone or internet. Digital translation tools are allowed.
- "Reasonably assist" members of the public who want to translate a meeting or receive interpretation, as long as it doesn't disrupt the meeting. Bodies are not required to provide interpretation themselves.
- Make reasonable efforts to reach communities that don't traditionally participate.
SB 707 does not itself require live captions or live translation. They are a practical way to support the bill's language-access and participation goals.
Title VI and California law
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits national-origin discrimination by programs that receive federal funds, and courts and federal agencies have long treated meaningful access for people with limited English proficiency as part of that. On March 1, 2025, Executive Order 14224 revoked the 2000 LEP order, and DOJ's LEP guidance was withdrawn. Title VI itself did not change, and state law, grant conditions and local policy still apply.
California's Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act (Government Code §7290 and following) applies to state and local agencies that serve a substantial number of non-English-speaking people. Local agencies have discretion over what "substantial" means and how far services go.
Practical tips for the meeting
- Share the link early. Put the translation link on the agenda, on your public meetings page and in the Zoom chat at the start of the meeting.
- Say it out loud. Have the chair or clerk mention at the start that translated captions are available, and where.
- Load the glossary. Add council members, streets, neighborhoods and programs so names come out right before they are translated.
- Pause for recess and closed session. While paused, nothing is captioned, translated, stored or billed, and screens show "Paused".
- Keep the transcripts. Transcripts are available after the meeting in every language as TXT or SRT files. They are not official minutes.
Every screen labels captions as automatic and says they may contain errors, so residents know what they are reading.