AI Sermon Translation vs Human Interpreters
Human interpreters are excellent, and also expensive, tiring and hard to scale beyond one language at a time. Here is how AI translation compares.
Cost
Interpreter rates vary by language, region and length of service, and we could not verify a published rate to quote here. Each interpreter also serves one language at a time. Sermon Translate starts at $19.99/month total with no second subscription per language: translating into one language uses plan time at normal speed, and each extra language in Multiple mode uses another hour of your plan for every hour you record.
Latency
A human interpreter speaks a few seconds behind the preacher. Sermon Translate puts the preacher's words on screen as a caption about half a second after they are spoken, and the translation follows within a few seconds, usually about two to three, then is tidied up as the sentence completes. Measured from our recorded sessions, September 2026.
Accuracy
Humans still handle rare theological nuance better. Sermon Translate is stronger on instant Bible reference lookup and consistency across a long sermon because it does not tire.
Every language at once
One interpreter serves one language in one direction. Sermon Translate serves every supported target language at the same time from one source.
- English
- Traditional Chinese (繁體中文)
- Cantonese (粵語)
- Fuzhounese (福州話)
- Korean (한국어)
- Japanese (日本語)
- Spanish (Español)
- Brazilian Portuguese (Português do Brasil)
- Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)
- Filipino / Tagalog
- Farsi / Persian (فارسی)
- Afrikaans
- Albanian (Shqip)
- Arabic (العربية)
- Azerbaijani (Azərbaycan dili)
- Basque (Euskara)
- Belarusian (Беларуская)
- Bengali (বাংলা)
- Bosnian (Bosanski)
- Bulgarian (Български)
- Catalan (Català)
- Croatian (Hrvatski)
- Czech (Čeština)
- Danish (Dansk)
- Dutch (Nederlands)
- Estonian (Eesti)
- Finnish (Suomi)
- French (Français)
- Galician (Galego)
- German (Deutsch)
- Greek (Ελληνικά)
- Gujarati (ગુજરાતી)
- Hebrew (עברית)
- Hindi (हिन्दी)
- Hungarian (Magyar)
- Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia)
- Italian (Italiano)
- Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ)
- Kazakh (Қазақ тілі)
- Latvian (Latviešu)
- Lithuanian (Lietuvių)
- Macedonian (Македонски)
- Malay (Bahasa Melayu)
- Malayalam (മലയാളം)
- Marathi (मराठी)
- Norwegian (Norsk)
- Polish (Polski)
- Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ)
- Romanian (Română)
- Russian (Русский)
- Serbian (Српски)
- Slovak (Slovenčina)
- Slovenian (Slovenščina)
- Swahili (Kiswahili)
- Swedish (Svenska)
- Tamil (தமிழ்)
- Telugu (తెలుగు)
- Thai (ไทย)
- Turkish (Türkçe)
- Ukrainian (Українська)
- Urdu (اردو)
- Welsh (Cymraeg)
- Nepali (नेपाली)
- Sinhala (සිංහල)
- Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ)
- Assamese (অসমীয়া)
- Sindhi (سنڌي)
- Pashto (پښتو)
- Mizo (Mizo ṭawng)
- Hakha Chin (Laiholh)
- Khmer (ខ្មែរ)
- Burmese (မြန်မာ)
- Lao (ລາວ)
- Javanese (Basa Jawa)
- Sundanese (Basa Sunda)
- Hmong (Hmoob)
- Tetum (Tetun)
- Cebuano
- Ilocano (Ilokano)
- Hiligaynon
- Kapampangan
- Pangasinan
- Bikol
- Samoan (Gagana Samoa)
- Fijian (Na Vosa Vakaviti)
- Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi)
- Maori (Te Reo Māori)
- Amharic (አማርኛ)
- Tigrinya (ትግርኛ)
- Oromo (Afaan Oromoo)
- Somali (Soomaali)
- Yoruba (Yorùbá)
- Igbo
- Hausa
- Zulu (isiZulu)
- Xhosa (isiXhosa)
- Sesotho
- Shona (chiShona)
- Chichewa
- Kinyarwanda (Ikinyarwanda)
- Malagasy
- Luganda
- Twi
- Haitian Creole (Kreyòl Ayisyen)
- Quechua (Runasimi)
- Guarani (Avañe'ẽ)
- Aymara (Aymar aru)
- Papiamento (Papiamentu)
- Armenian (Հայերեն)
- Georgian (ქართული)
- Icelandic (Íslenska)
- Irish (Gaeilge)
- Maltese (Malti)
- Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch)
- Yiddish (ייִדיש)
- Uzbek (Oʻzbekcha)
- Kyrgyz (Кыргызча)
- Tajik (Тоҷикӣ)
- Turkmen (Türkmençe)
- Mongolian (Монгол)
- Tatar (Татарча)
- Sorani Kurdish (کوردیی ناوەندی)
- Kurmanji Kurdish (Kurdî)
Your church's own glossary and Bible references
A visiting interpreter has to be briefed every week. Sermon Translate remembers. Each church account defines its own glossary and preferred Bible version per language.
- Custom terms per language, saved to your account
- Preferred Bible version per language for verse popups
- Consistent translation across every service
How do churches translate sermons live with this app?
The speaker opens Sermon Translate on a phone, tablet or laptop, selects the spoken language and the translation language, and starts listening. Transcripts and translations appear on that device, and the whole room can read them as captions on a projector or livestream. No headsets, no interpreter booth, no extra hardware.
Which languages are supported?
Sermon Translate supports 123 languages. 61 of them can be spoken from the pulpit, including English, Traditional Chinese, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Vietnamese and 53 more, and all 123 can be read as captions. Every listener can pick their own reading language. The full list is on the languages page.
How is this different from Google Translate or generic AI translation apps?
Google Translate is a powerful general-purpose translator. Sermon Translate is designed around the workflow of a Christian service: church vocabulary, hymn titles, proper names, Bible book names, and verse-reference popups that appear when the speaker clearly references a passage.
Do we need to install anything?
No. It runs in a modern browser on iPhone, Android and desktop. The speaker opens it on one device, and the congregation reads the captions on the projector or livestream. Anyone who wants captions on their own phone opens Sermon Translate there and signs in; each listener needs their own account or trial after the free period.
Can it replace a human interpreter?
Sermon Translate works as a sermon interpreter app for live services and handles common preaching vocabulary well. A church can use it as the main translation for weekly services, or alongside a human interpreter for rare languages or high-stakes events. It is a tool, not a person.