Google Meet Interview in a Foreign Language: Follow Every Question

Why a video interview in another language is hard

A job interview in a language you are still learning combines three difficulties. You listen at speed, you can't ask for a written version, and you are being judged while you do it.

• Speed and accents. Interviewers speak naturally, not slowly. A recruiter, a hiring manager and a team lead may each have a different accent.
• Idioms and jargon. “Walk me through your background” or “where do you see yourself in five years?” are easy to misread if you know the words but not the expression.
• Divided attention. Following the question, planning your answer, and keeping eye contact with the camera all compete for the same attention.

Live translated captions take one of these off your plate: you can read what was said in your own language while you think about your answer. They do not answer for you, and they do not replace preparation.

How to prepare for a Google Meet interview in another language

1. Check Meet's caption language

Meet captions one spoken language at a time: the one chosen in Meet's caption settings. If the interview is in German but Meet's captions are set to English, the captions are gibberish, and so is any translation built on them. In the call, open More options > Settings > Captions and choose the language of the meeting. Clozo detects the spoken language from the caption text, so you only pick the language you want to read.

If you see nonsense, open the Clozo pill menu in the call and choose “Captions in the wrong language?” for a reminder of this fix.

2. Install Clozo and pick your language

Add Clozo from the Chrome Web Store. It runs in Google Chrome (version 116 or newer) on a computer, in calls on meet.google.com. By default it translates into your browser's language; there are 76 target languages. You can join as a guest in the company's meeting with a free Google account. Neither you nor the interviewer needs Google Workspace, and no bot joins the call.

3. Do a short test call

Ask a friend to start a Meet call and speak a few sentences in the interview language, ideally including some of the vocabulary of your field. Check:

• that the first-time consent button “Agree and translate” has been clicked (without it, Clozo shows captions but translates nothing),
• that original and translation both appear with the speaker's name,
• that the text size is comfortable at your normal seating distance.

Keep the test short. On the free plan you have 15 minutes of translation a day, and the minutes renew at midnight UTC. Only minutes in which something is translated count, so silence costs nothing, but a long test eats into the time you need for the real call. Do it the day before, or press Alt+Shift+T to switch translation off when you have seen enough.

4. Set up your screen

• Choose “Both” (original and translation) while you are learning the language, or “Translation only” if the original distracts you.
• Pick one of the four text sizes.
• Place the captions at the top of the window, closer to the camera, so reading them doesn't pull your eyes far from it. You can also drag them anywhere with the handle.

During the call: following a job interview in English or another language, step by step

1. Join early. Enter the call a few minutes before the start. Clozo turns on Meet's captions itself (the setting “Turn on captions automatically” is on by default).
2. Watch the first sentences. Original and translation appear one under the other, about a second after each sentence ends, not word by word. Expect a short delay and let the interviewer finish before you react.
3. Use the speaker names. Each caption carries the name of the person speaking. In a panel interview this tells you who asked which question, so you can answer the right person.
4. Read the original too. With “Both” on, you hear the sentence, see its original words and read the translation. This is how you pick up the vocabulary you will want to use in your answer.
5. Adjust on the fly. If the text is too small or covers something, change the size or position from the yellow pill menu without leaving the call.
6. Keep your own speech untranslated. Your own words appear but are not translated by default. That is what you want in an interview: it saves minutes, and your answer is yours. The setting “Translate my own speech” can turn it on, but you rarely need it here.
7. Open the live transcript if you lose the thread. “Open live transcript” in the pill menu opens Chrome's side panel with every entry: speaker, time, original and translation. You can use “Search” to find a word and “Copy” to take text away. A long question you only half caught is still there to reread.

If the interviewer switches language mid-call, for example to explain something in English, change the caption language in Meet's settings so the captions follow.

After the call: review the transcript and export it

The transcript is one of the most useful things you get from the interview. Right after the call, read through the questions you were asked. You can note which ones were hard to follow, which words you didn't know, and what you would answer differently next time. That is useful preparation for the next round, which often covers similar ground.

Two things to know:

• The transcript lives only in your browser's memory. It is gone when Chrome closes. The transcript of the last call stays available until the next call starts or Chrome closes, so don't close the browser before you have copied what you need.
• On the free plan you can search and copy it. Export as TXT or PDF is part of Pro (€6.99 a month or €59 a year, including VAT). Pro also gives you 50 hours of translation a month on up to 3 devices; see pricing.

A realistic note on minutes: a typical interview can run longer than 15 minutes. When the free minutes run out, translation stops in the middle of the call and Meet's captions stay visible in the original language. Clozo warns you with 2 minutes left. If the interview matters and is long, plan for that, either with Pro or by saving the minutes for the parts you find hardest.

Google Meet interview tips that work even without Clozo

• Turn on Meet's own captions. They are free and work for you alone; the shortcut to show or hide them is the c key. They show the original language, which helps your ear even without translation.
• Use a headset and a quiet room. Captions can only be as good as the audio. Background noise and echo hurt the captions, and with them any translation.
• Prepare names and jargon. Company, product and person names are what captions most often get wrong. Look at the job posting and the interviewers' names beforehand so you recognise them in garbled form.
• Learn a few rescue phrases in the interview language: “Could you repeat that, please?”, “Could you rephrase the question?”, “Let me make sure I understood: you're asking about…”. Restating the question also buys you time to think.
• Ask for the chat. If a name or number matters, ask the interviewer to type it in Meet's chat. Note that Clozo does not translate the chat.
• Practise out loud. Rehearse your core answers (background, strengths, a difficult situation, why this company) in the interview language, ideally with a friend on a Meet call.
• Pause before answering. A short pause reads as thoughtful. Interviewers also usually expect a delay on video calls.

Honest limits, and telling the interviewer

Clozo translates the text captions that Meet produces. That sets the limits:

• Caption quality (accents, people talking over each other, background noise, names, specialist terms) and machine translation limit accuracy. Translations can contain mistakes. If a sentence seems odd, read the original too, or ask the interviewer to say it differently.
• It is text, not voice. Clozo doesn't speak, record, or write summaries, and it translates neither Meet's chat nor, by default, your own speech.
• It works only in Google Meet in Chrome on a computer, not in Zoom, Teams, Webex, Meet's mobile apps, Firefox or Safari. If the company uses another platform, this guide's Clozo parts don't apply.
• The translation appears about a second after a sentence ends.

Tell the interviewer where appropriate. Only you see Clozo and the translation, but Clozo asks users to let the other participants know that their captions are translated. In a job interview this can be one calm sentence at the start, for example: “I'm using translated captions to follow the conversation more easily. I'll answer in English myself.” Most interviewers will understand; some employers may have rules about tools in interviews, so if you are unsure, ask the recruiter beforehand.

Also, Clozo is not meant for confidential meetings. If the interview involves confidential material, don't use it. For what is sent for translation, see privacy in short: only the caption text, with no audio, video, participant names or meeting links.

Lastly, remember the purpose: Clozo helps you understand the questions. The answers, and how you come across, are your own work.

Questions and answers