Let people listen to the translation on their own phones.

Set up listening on phones in six steps

Most of it is deciding what to tell people.

1. 1

   Switch spoken translation on for the venue

   In the portal, open the venue, go to Settings and, under Spoken translation, check that Available at this venue is on. It is on by default. Until it is on, the listening buttons do not appear on anyone’s phone.

   Then decide about Already on when someone arrives. Leave it off for a mixed room, where most people read and a few listen: each listener taps the button themselves, and a language nobody listens to costs nothing in spoken translation, though captions in it are charged separately. Turn it on for a room where most people will listen, such as an audience that cannot easily read a screen. Depending on their browser, listeners may still need to tap to start the sound.

   SpanVoice spoken translation on

   Their own phone Hear the translation

   Their own earphones

2. 2

   Tell people to bring earphones

   The sound plays from the phone, and a phone speaker next to someone who is reading is a distraction. Ask listeners to bring earphones or headphones that work with their phone, and say so in the invitation, on the programme and on the sign. They need them to listen in the room without playing the translation through the phone speaker. People without earphones can read the captions instead.

   If it matters to your event, keep a few spare pairs at the door. Check the connectors before buying spares: some phones need compatible USB-C or Lightning earphones, or an audio adaptor.

3. 3

   Put the link where people already look

   Listeners use the same audience link as readers: spanvoice.com/v/<venue code>. Show it as a QR code on the screen before you begin, and on signs and seat cards. The QR signs guide covers where to put them.

   Add one line on the sign: Open the link, choose your language, then tap Hear the translation. Nothing is installed and nobody needs an account.

4. 4

   Explain the listening button

   With spoken translation on, the top bar of the reading page has a Hear the translation button. It plays the translation in the language the person has chosen. Changing language changes the voice. Tap it again to stop. Volume is the phone’s own.

   Playback with the screen locked varies by phone, browser and settings. For people who want to put the phone away, there are two routes. The simple one needs nothing extra: turn on Keep screen on in the page settings and leave the phone face down. The other hands the sound to a free media player app, VLC. It is off by default because most people do not have VLC; you switch it on under Listening with the screen off on the venue’s Viewer tab, and tell your people to install VLC first. It then appears in the page settings as Open in VLC. The page switches its own sound off when it is tapped, so nobody hears the translation twice. You can also hand people the venue’s Audio link to paste into any player.

   The panel that appears says which kind of link it is. Some links follow the page: change language on the page and the player switches on its own, as long as the page stays open. Others keep playing the language they started in, and you open the button again to get a new link. Once the player is connected, the button turns green and reads “Playing in VLC”. To stop that sound, stop it in the player. People who only listen for a few minutes do not need any of this.

5. 5

   Check the connection

   Each listener streams audio on top of the text, so the room’s Wi-Fi or mobile signal matters more than for reading alone. The page reconnects the sound by itself if it drops out. The internet guide covers how to check the room.

6. 6

   Try it as a listener, from the back

   Start a short session, then on your own phone open the audience link, choose a language, tap Hear the translation and listen with earphones from the back of the room. Check that the translation arrives with a delay that is acceptable for your event.

   Lock the screen and check what happens. Then try Keep screen on in the page settings, and Open in VLC if you have switched that on. Playback depends on the phone and its settings, so test the phones people are likely to have, and use what you learn in what you tell the audience. The ten-minute rehearsal goes through the rest.