Client Calls in Another Language: How Freelancers Follow Every Word

Why client calls in another language are hard for freelancers

A client call is not a lecture. People interrupt, change topic and use shorthand. You are expected to react immediately, and often to agree on scope, deadlines and money while you are still working out a sentence.

For freelancers with international clients, a few things make it worse:

• You carry the whole call. There is no colleague to ask "what did she just say?"
• Details matter. A misheard number, date or deliverable becomes your problem later.
• First impressions count. If you keep asking people to repeat themselves, you can look less prepared than you are.
• Names and jargon. Client company names, product terms and industry vocabulary are the first things you lose.

The goal is not to pretend you understand everything. It is to follow well enough to answer sensibly, and to have something to check afterwards.

Prepare before you translate client meetings

Set Meet's caption language to what people actually speak

Meet captions one spoken language at a time. If your client speaks Portuguese but Meet's captions are set to English, the captions come out as nonsense, and so does any translation built on them. In a meeting, open More options > Settings > Captions > "Language of the meeting" and choose the client's language (Google's instructions). If the call switches between two languages, change this setting when the language changes.

Install Clozo and check your settings

Clozo is a Chrome extension that reads Meet's live captions and translates them into your language, so it works on a computer in Chrome, on meet.google.com. Add it from the Chrome Web Store, then look at how Clozo works if you want the details. By default it translates into your browser's language, and it detects the spoken language itself, so you only choose your target language.

Two things are worth checking in the settings: "Turn on captions automatically" (on by default) and the display mode, "Both" or "Translation only". For client calls, "Both" is usually better, for reasons explained below.

Do a short test call

Open a Meet call alone or with a friend before the real one. The first time, Clozo asks for your agreement before anything is sent: "Agree and translate". If you speak while nobody else has spoken, Clozo offers a button, "Translate me in this call", so you can see how it handles speech. Use the test to pick a text size (there are four) and a position: bottom, top, or dragged wherever it does not cover the client's video.

Does your client use Zoom or Teams? Clozo only works in Google Meet. Offering a Meet link is often easy, and it is a normal request.

During the call: follow along step by step

1. Join the Meet call. Clozo turns on Meet's captions for you. Only you see the captions and translation; the client sees nothing different.
2. Check the caption language early. If the text looks wrong in the first minute, use "Captions in the wrong language?" in Clozo's menu (the yellow pill) and fix Meet's setting.
3. Keep "Both" on. The original and the translation appear one under the other, with the speaker's name. You see the client's exact words, which helps you pick up names, numbers and terms you know, while the translation covers what you don't.
4. Watch the speaker names on calls with several people, such as a client with a manager and a developer. You can tell who made which commitment.
5. Adjust the text size if you are reading while also looking at a brief or a shared screen.
6. Expect a short delay. The final translation appears about a second or two after a sentence ends. While someone is still talking, a lighter preliminary translation is shown and updated about every second. Let a sentence finish before you react to it.
7. Open the live transcript from the pill menu ("Open live transcript") when you need to check something. It opens in Chrome's side panel with speaker, time, original and translation for each entry, and you can use "Search" and "Copy".

A practical habit: when the client states a number, date or deliverable, say it back. "So the first draft is due on the 14th, correct?" Reading the caption while you say it back makes the confirmation more reliable.

On the free plan you get 15 minutes of translation per day, and only minutes in which something is translated count. For a longer call, that can run out, and then translation stops while Meet's original captions stay. Clozo warns you with 2 minutes left. If you regularly have long calls, Pro gives 50 hours of translation a month. Your own speech is shown but not translated by default, which also saves minutes.

After the call: use the transcript to confirm what was agreed

The transcript is where a freelancer gets the most value. Right after the call, scroll through it and look for the things that carry risk: scope, prices, deadlines, who sends what, and any "we'll decide later".

• Use "Search" to jump to words like the project name, a currency, or a month.
• Compare the original with the translation when something looks odd. If a sentence matters, trust the original and check it with the client.
• Use "Copy" to paste the key parts into your notes.

With Pro, you can export the transcript as TXT or PDF. That is useful for an email like "Here is my summary of what we agreed. Please tell me if I misunderstood anything." Writing a follow-up in the client's language, or simply in clear, simple English, closes most gaps.

One caution: the transcript only lives in your browser's memory. It is gone when Chrome closes, and the last call's transcript stays only until the next call starts or Chrome closes. Copy or export it before you shut the browser. Clozo does not record the call and does not create summaries or meeting notes; the transcript is the text of the captions, nothing more.

Tips for international client calls that work without any tool

• Ask for an agenda. Even three bullet points sent the day before help you prepare vocabulary.
• Learn ten key words for the project, such as "deadline", "invoice" or "revision" in the client's language. It shows effort and reduces surprises.
• Slow things down politely. "Could you say that a bit more slowly? I want to get it right" sounds professional, not weak.
• Summarise out loud every ten minutes or so: "Let me check I have this right."
• Put numbers in writing. Ask the client to type prices and dates in the Meet chat, or repeat them in your follow-up email. Note that Clozo does not translate Meet's chat.
• Send a written recap within a day. It protects both sides.

Honest limits, and telling your client about the translation

Clozo can only translate what Meet captions. Strong accents, people talking over each other, background noise, names and jargon all reduce caption quality, and machine translation can contain mistakes. It translates text; it does not speak, and it does not translate audio. For anything legally or financially important, confirm in writing.

Google also offers translated captions inside Meet, but they are only available in certain Workspace editions, and for meetings organised by a user with an eligible edition (see Google's list). Clozo works with a free Google account, and neither you nor the client needs Google Workspace.

On etiquette: Clozo asks you to let the other participants know that you are using translated captions. It costs one sentence, such as "I'm using live translated captions to follow along, so I may take a second to respond." Most clients take it as care, not weakness. Also, do not use Clozo in confidential meetings. Only the caption text is sent for translation, with the previous sentence or two as context, and nothing is stored on Clozo's servers. The privacy summary has the details, and you can withdraw your agreement in the settings at any time.

Questions and answers