Through our work with enterprises and many clients, we've observed a phenomenon: even highly digitalized organizations still see employees facing information gaps and comprehension challenges in cross-language meetings when instant translation isn't available. This not only reduces meeting efficiency but also increases the cost of decision-making.

For example, when using tools like Google Meet or Teams, the built-in live captions or real-time speech translation often lack flexibility, leading to decreased efficiency and delays in decisions.

Common application scenarios include:

• Cross-border project meetings that require real-time translation among Chinese, English, Japanese, and more
• Situations where the native captioning/recognition in Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet is insufficient for practical use
• Remote training or seminar/forum settings that need real-time caption support to enhance information uptake
• Client presentations that call for near professional-grade AI real-time translation assistance

This article looks at three aspects—market demand trends, an introduction to Meeting Ink's features, and a comparison of plan pros/cons with hands-on results—to help you find the most suitable meeting communication solution.

Remote collaboration has become the "new normal", and real-time caption translation is steadily becoming a standard feature.

As remote work becomes widespread, real-time translation in video conferences has shifted from a "nice-to-have" to a "basic requirement." According to a 2024 survey by Taiwan's Ministry of Labor, 18.1% of workers are partially or fully able to work remotely, and 6.4% actually worked remotely in the past three months—showing that remote collaboration remains persistent even after the pandemic.

In this steady state of remote work, cross-border/cross-language collaboration is no longer limited to a few multinational firms and is more frequent than before. Language barriers have become one of the biggest challenges to meeting efficiency:

• Frequent cross-language collaboration: Cross-border project meetings often involve multiple languages simultaneously (in Taiwan, Chinese, English, and Japanese are the most common).
• Limitations of native captions: Although Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet provide built-in captions, common issues include the inability to freely adjust fonts and display modes, recognition challenges in multilingual contexts, and the lack of export/save options for verbatim transcripts for post-meeting use.
• Information gaps drive costs: Delayed understanding and inaccurate translation can require extra follow-up after meetings, increasing labor and time costs.

Therefore, what enterprises need is not merely a tool that "has captions", but a cross-platform, flexible real-time translation solution for meetings.

Meeting Ink was designed for these needs: beyond real-time speech-to-text and translation, it offers three caption modes (Standard / Full-Screen / Captions-Only), adjustable font size, and cross-platform support (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, etc.).

Native Captions vs. Meeting Ink: Feature Comparison at a Glance

Further reading: Meeting Ink vs Teams | Meeting Ink’s Advantages & Highlights

How to turn on / switch real-time captions in video conferencing software (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet guide)

✦ How to enable live captions in Zoom?

Step 1｜Click the toolbar

After opening the meeting window, go to the bottom toolbar of the Zoom meeting screen, click the "More" (…) icon on the right, and select "Subtitles".

Step 2｜Choose the caption language

Click "Show Captions" to open the caption controls, then choose the language you want to display, e.g., English, Japanese.

Step 3｜Adjust caption style and position

If you need further adjustments, click "Caption Settings" to customize the typeface, font size, caption color, and display position (e.g., pin to the bottom of the screen).

✦ How to enable live captions in Teams?

Step 1｜Open the "More" menu

On the top toolbar of the meeting window, click the More (More actions) button (…) to expand additional options.

Step 2｜Turn on captions

Click Language and speech, then select Show live captions to enable caption display.

Step 3｜Choose a language

After enabling captions, Teams will show the current recognition language. Click the language setting to choose from many options—for example, English (UK), English (India), Danish (Denmark), etc.

Step 4｜Adjust caption styles

If you need to tweak the look, click the gear icon (⚙️) at the bottom right to open Caption styles, where you can customize font color, background color, size, and display position (e.g., pin to the bottom of the screen).

✦ How to enable live captions in Google Meet?

Step 1｜Click the "Captions" icon on the bottom toolbar

On the meeting toolbar at the bottom, click the CC captions button to open the captions menu.

Step 2｜Choose the spoken language

Click the globe icon on the left and select the meeting’s spoken language (e.g., English, Japanese, Chinese).

Step 3｜Choose the caption type

Open the captions dropdown and choose “Live captions” or “Translated captions.”

• Live captions display text in the original spoken language.
• Translated captions translate the speech into the selected language and display it.

Step 4｜Open detailed caption settings to customize style and language mode

If you want further customization, click the ⚙️ Settings icon at the bottom right, go to Settings → Captions, and adjust options such as font size, font family, text color/background color, and caption position.

How does Meeting Ink break through native caption limitations? Three core advantages

★ Advantage 1: Flexible display modes—say goodbye to rigid formats

• Three caption modes (Standard / Full-screen / Captions-only) with seamless switching
• Font size can be adjusted in real time to fit different scenarios

★ Advantage 2: Cross-platform support—one tool for everywhere

• Works with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Webex, and other major platforms
• No repeated learning required, reducing enterprise rollout costs

★ Advantage 3: Complete meeting records—no more lost information

• Auto-generated transcripts with multi-format export (DOCX, ODT, TXT, SRT)
• One click to create a short link so teammates can view anytime

💡 How to pair Meeting Ink for real-time translation in video meetings?

No matter whether you use Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or other platforms, Meeting Ink integrates seamlessly. In just a few steps, you can enable live caption translation so every meeting runs smoothly:

Step1｜Open your meeting app and enter the room

Start or join a meeting using your preferred tool (e.g., Zoom, Teams, Google Meet).

Step2｜Open Meeting Ink, turn on live captions, and choose a language

Go to the web version of Meeting Ink and sign in:
・Click “Record meeting notes” to enter the workspace
・Turn on “Live captions” and choose the target translation language
・Turn on “Record online meeting tab” and select the meeting window to share
(Currently supported browsers: Chrome, Edge)

Step3｜Return to the meeting and confirm audio is recognized

Make sure the meeting window is being shared and your device is capturing audio clearly. Meeting Ink will automatically transcribe, translate, and display captions in real time.

Practical Use Cases: How AI Real-Time Translation Solves Enterprise Pain Points

We can use concrete cases to show how Meeting Ink's three core advantages deliver results in real work:

• Cross-border project meetings
  Meetings often involve multiple languages at once—Chinese, English, Japanese, etc. Using Meeting Ink's full-screen caption mode lets members in different languages understand simultaneously, avoiding repeated confirmations caused by comprehension gaps.

• Internal employee training
  When overseas instructors are teaching, employees can use the Captions-only mode to follow along in real time—staying focused on the slides without missing translations—thereby improving learning efficiency.

• External client presentations
  After the meeting, use the transcript & translation export feature to generate a short link with one click. Clients can quickly review the key points, reducing the need for extra follow-up explanations.

Tailored to fit every enterprise need

For teams and organizations that value communication quality and complete records, Meeting Ink offers more than live captions and translation—it’s a cross-platform, flexible, and instantly exportable meeting-communication solution. We also provide customized deployment models and trial plans based on your requirements. Contact us to get an enterprise trial.