Cantonese vs Mandarin Sermon Translation: What Changes for Your Church
Sermon Translate can listen to a sermon preached in Mandarin or in Cantonese, and write captions in written Chinese, in Cantonese or in Fuzhounese. The choice you make depends on what your preacher speaks and what your members read.
Pick the speaker language by what the pulpit speaks
Chinese as the speaker language means Mandarin preaching. Cantonese (粵語) is its own speaker language, so a Cantonese sermon is recognized as Cantonese instead of being forced through a Mandarin model. Fuzhounese cannot be preached into the app, but it can be read.
- Mandarin sermon: choose Chinese as the speaker language
- Cantonese sermon: choose Cantonese as the speaker language
- Fuzhounese-speaking elders: choose Fuzhounese as a reading language
What works in each language today
Taken from the app's own language settings, so it matches what the app does now. Verse popups can show Bible text in English, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Farsi / Persian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German and Filipino / Tagalog.
- Chinese: can be preached in and read; Bible book names and church vocabulary built in; verse popups show Chinese Bible text.
- Cantonese: can be preached in and read; the 66 Bible book names built in; no verse popup text in this language yet.
- Fuzhounese: reading language only, the app cannot yet listen to preaching in it; the 66 Bible book names built in; no verse popup text in this language yet.
Pick the reading language by what members read
Chinese captions are written in Traditional characters. A reader who prefers Simplified characters can choose the Simplified entry under Chinese in the language picker, and the finished line is converted on that device. Cantonese captions are written in Traditional characters too, and Fuzhounese captions use colloquial Fuzhou wording in Traditional characters.
Three Chinese groups, one English sermon
In a church where Mandarin, Cantonese and Fuzhounese speakers share an English service, the Subtitles screen can show several of these at once, up to 5 caption languages. Free and Basic include one reading language, Standard includes two and All Languages includes every language. Each language beyond that uses another hour of plan time for every hour of the service.
Bible text for every Chinese reader
Verse popups use the Chinese Bible 和合本 (CUV) for all three, in Traditional or Simplified characters to match the device. Cantonese and Fuzhounese readers read the Chinese Bible text, as their congregations do.
How to set it up for a service
One laptop, tablet or phone near the pulpit does the work. Give it clean sound from the sound desk or a microphone close to the preacher, sign in, choose the language being preached and the reading language or languages your members need, and start. The room reads the captions on the projector through the Subtitles screen, online viewers see them in the livestream through the OBS overlay, and members who prefer their own phone scan a QR code with QR Code Join, included in every plan, and read with no account.
- Before the service: add names, ministries and church terms to the glossary, and choose a Bible version for verse popups
- During the service: keep the device on power and online; captions follow the preaching sentence by sentence
- After the service: the transcript is saved to the account, and the Standard plan turns it into AI sermon notes
Can a Cantonese sermon be translated into English?
Yes. Choose Cantonese as the speaker language and English as the reading language.
Can a Mandarin sermon be shown as Cantonese captions?
Yes. Cantonese is also a reading language, written in Traditional characters.
Why can't the app listen to Fuzhounese?
No speech recognition engine we use supports Fuzhounese yet. Fuzhounese captions are written by an AI model instructed to use colloquial Fuzhou wording.
What does it cost to run this every Sunday?
Every account gets 1 free hour every month of live translation, enough to test a full service. Basic is $19.99 a month for 12 hours and Standard is $34 a month for 30 hours. Free and Basic include one reading language, Standard includes two and All Languages includes every language. Each language beyond that uses another hour of plan time for every hour of the service.