Online Lectures in English: Follow Every Word on Google Meet

Why online lectures in English are hard for international students

A lecture is harder to follow than a conversation. The lecturer speaks for a long time, uses subject vocabulary you may have only read, and rarely pauses. In a seminar, several people talk, interrupt each other and joke in ways that are hard to catch.

Online, new problems appear: audio quality, accents through a laptop microphone, and no chance to read the lecturer's lips or the room. You also want to take notes and, in a seminar, think of a good question, all while still decoding the language.

Captions help because you can read what you just missed. A translation next to the original helps more, because you can check a hard sentence in your own language and still learn the English terms your course expects you to use.

Before class: set up captions and translation

Ten minutes of preparation saves you from fighting settings while the lecture has already started.

1. Add Clozo to Chrome. Install it from the Chrome Web Store. It runs in Chrome on a computer (Windows, macOS, Linux or ChromeOS), Chrome 116 or newer, in calls on meet.google.com.
2. Check the translation language. By default Clozo translates into the language of your browser. You can change it to any of 76 target languages.
3. Set Meet's caption language to the spoken language. This is the most important step. Meet captions one spoken language at a time. If the lecture is in English but Meet's captions are set to another language, the captions make no sense, and neither does the translation. In a meeting, open More options > Settings > Captions > “Language of the meeting” and pick the language people actually speak (Google's instructions).
4. Leave “Turn on captions automatically” on. It is on by default, so Clozo switches Meet's captions on when you join.

You don't need a paid Google plan, and your university does not need Google Workspace for this. Clozo works in your own meetings and as a guest in other people's meetings, with a free Google account. No bot joins the call, and only you see the translation.

Do a short test call

Open a call on meet.google.com on your own, a few minutes before the first class. This is your rehearsal:

• When asked, click “Agree and translate”. Until you agree, Clozo shows captions but translates nothing, and nothing is sent anywhere.
• Speak a few sentences. Your own speech is shown but not translated by default, to save minutes. If nobody else has spoken yet, Clozo offers a card with the button “Translate me in this call” so you can see the translation work.
• Try the text size, the position of the captions and the pill menu (see below), so you know where everything is.

During the lecture: translate lectures live, step by step

Join the call as usual. Original and translation appear one under the other where Meet shows its captions, with the name of the person speaking, about a second after each sentence ends. Here is how to get the most out of it.

1. Keep original and translation together. In the yellow pill's menu, the display option “Both” shows the English and your language. Reading both lets you connect new terms to meanings you already know. If you find the double text distracting, switch to “Translation only”.
2. Watch the speaker names. In a seminar with several voices, the name above each line shows who said what, which helps when a classmate answers the lecturer.
3. Set a comfortable text size. There are four sizes. Put the captions at the bottom, at the top, or drag them anywhere with the handle, so they don't cover the slides.
4. Expect preliminary text. While a sentence is still being spoken, a lighter preliminary translation appears and updates about every second. The final translation replaces it when the sentence ends. Long sentences are translated in parts, so the text keeps up with a lecturer who rarely stops.
5. Open the live transcript. Choose “Open live transcript” in the pill menu. The transcript opens in Chrome's side panel with the speaker, the time, the original and the translation of every entry. If you drift off for a moment, scroll up and catch up without interrupting anyone. You can use “Search” to find a term and “Copy” to take a passage into your notes.
6. Fix wrong-language captions fast. If the captions look like nonsense, open “Captions in the wrong language?” in the pill menu. It explains how to change Meet's caption language.

Alt+Shift+T turns translation on or off. That is useful because the free plan gives you 15 minutes of translation a day, and only minutes in which something is translated count. A lecture will usually be longer than that. Pro (€6.99 a month or €59 a year) includes 50 hours of translation a month. See pricing for details.

After class: review the transcript and export notes

The live transcript is the part many students value most. Right after the lecture, while it is still fresh:

• Scroll through the original and translation and mark the sentences you only half understood.
• Use “Search” to find the terms the lecturer repeated, and add them to a glossary with the translation next to them.
• Use “Copy” to move key passages into your notes.

Pro adds transcript export as TXT and PDF, which is handy for a study folder.

One thing to know: the transcript is kept only in your browser's memory. It is gone when Chrome closes. The transcript of the last call stays available until the next call or until Chrome closes, so copy what you need before you quit the browser. Clozo does not record the call and does not create summaries or meeting notes.

Tips that help even without Clozo

Tools are only one part of following online classes in another language. These habits work in any meeting.

• Get the material first. If the lecturer shares slides or a reading list, skim the key terms the evening before.
• Use Meet's own captions. Click “Turn on captions” at the bottom of the meeting, or press c (Google's help page). You can customize font, size and colors under More options > Settings > Captions > “Customize your captions”.
• Check whether your university has Google's translated captions. They are available only in certain Google Workspace editions, and the meeting must be organized by a user with an eligible edition (Google's help page). Ask your IT office. If they are on, you can turn them on under Settings > Captions.
• Ask for repetition politely. “Could you repeat the last point, please?” or “Could you type that term in the chat?” are normal requests, and lecturers usually welcome them.
• Prepare one question. Write it in your own language, translate it, and read it out slowly. A short, clear question makes a better impression than a perfect long one.
• Confirm what you understood. “So, if I understand correctly, …” lets the lecturer correct you and shows you are following.

Honest limits and good etiquette

Clozo is a reading aid, and it has real limits:

• Google Meet in Chrome on a computer only. It does not work in Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Webex, in Meet's mobile apps, or in Firefox or Safari. If your university uses another platform, this guide does not apply.
• It translates captions, not audio. There is no voice translation, no recording and no summaries. Meet's chat is not translated.
• Quality depends on the captions. Accents, crosstalk, background noise, names and subject jargon affect what Meet captures, and machine translation can contain mistakes. For a formula, a date or a deadline, double-check with the original or ask.
• The translation is a second or two behind. It appears after each sentence ends.
• One spoken language at a time. In a language class or seminar that switches languages, change Meet's caption language when the speaker switches.

Be open about it. Clozo asks you to let the other participants know that your captions are translated, so tell the lecturer in a short message: “I'm using a translation of the captions to follow better.” Only you see the translation, and the rest of the class sees nothing.

Also, translation is for understanding. Check your course and exam rules before using any tool in exams or graded work, and ask the lecturer if you are unsure. Clozo asks users not to use it in confidential meetings. Details are on the privacy section: only caption text is sent for translation, never audio, video, names or meeting links.

Questions and answers