Why You Should be Running Internal Meetings with Speech Translation and Captions

Fact: if your company has an international footprint either through your employee or partner base, productivity and inclusion take a hit each time you expect individuals to communicate with you in any language other than their mother tongue.

Countless studies have shown the cost of efficiency and poor employee retention when you restrict internal meetings to ‘Business English’. And with the quality, flexibility, and affordability of speech translation and captioning today, there’s no excuse not to explore what a multilingual internal communication strategy could do for your organization.

From company townhalls to training sessions and board meetings, here’s a data-driven guide to why you should be providing language accessibility for employees and partners. We’ll also share the benefits of using both AI and human-powered interpretation solutions depending on the use case, to help you make a more informed decision.

Why Language-Accessible Internal Communication Matters

Providing real-time speech translation during your internal meetings offers numerous, data-backed benefits:

• Expanded Business Opportunities: According to a study by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 25% of employees lose business due to a lack of foreign language skills. Empowering teammates to communicate with overseas partners in the language of everyone’s choice can significantly increase revenue.
• Enhanced Employee Productivity: 80% of workers report being more productive when communicated with in their native language in the workplace. Running your townhalls, onboarding, and training sessions in the language of your employees’ choice makes cross-team collaboration more reliable and efficient.
• Higher Engagement and Retention: Encouraging multilingual communication among employees promotes a more inclusive and cohesive work environment. In fact, effective team communication has been shown to increase employee retention by 4.5 times, reducing costs associated with employee turnover and disengagement.
• Legal Compliance: The European Accessibility Act is coming into play on 28 June 2025. If you are a European company then you may need to adopt a live speech translation and captioning solution for employees who experience a disability, to avoid penalties.

AI vs. Human Interpretation: How to Choose

Selecting between AI speech translation and human interpretation depends entirely on the specific needs of your meeting.

AI Speech Translation

Advantages: 

• Cost-Effective: AI speech translation and captions are a more affordable option for large-scale meetings.
• Scalability: Easily accommodates a high number of participants, and a high number of languages being covered by the same tool.
• On-Demand: Can be implemented very quickly for a set-up where you can get live speech translation in the click of a button.

Considerations: 

• Accuracy: While AI has come on massively in recent years, it may still struggle with complex language nuances and specialized terminology.
• Contextual Understanding: AI may lack the ability to fully grasp context, potentially leading to misinterpretations in high-stakes situations.

Professional Human Interpretation

Advantages: 

• High Accuracy: Human interpreters excel in understanding context and specialized language, ensuring precise communication.
• Cultural Sensitivity: They can also navigate cultural nuances, enhancing the quality of communication.

Considerations:

• Cost: Generally more expensive due to the need for skilled professionals.
• Scalability: For every new language that you need in a meeting or event, you will need to add the corresponding number of interpreters.

For end-to-end coverage of your internal communication, we suggest a hybrid language accessibility approach that takes into account the range in regularity, importance, and on-demand nature of your company meetings. For example, you might use AI speech translation and captions for virtual townhalls and on-site training for frontline workers, but (remote) human interpretation for board meetings and Sales kick-offs between overseas departments.

Case Studies: Real-Time Speech Translation in Internal Meetings

At KUDO, our clients use our language accessibility solutions—human and AI powered—for diverse use cases within their internal communications strategy. Here are some examples:

Training and Webinars: Candela Asia Pacific.

As a medical device company with local partners and employees in the APAC region, Candela Asia Pacific uses KUDO Marketplace to book professional interpreters on-demand to provide interpretation in Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean for their internal training. They run this training using KUDO’s native integration with Microsoft Teams, to keep their tech stack lean.

Cross-Company Events: Microsoft Asia.

For their annual Asia Tech Summit, Microsoft chose a combination of KUDO’s human and AI-powered language technology to make the internal conference accessible in four languages in real time. Professional interpreters enabled employees to follow the audio in English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, while KUDO AI projected instant captions across shared screens at the front of the stage.

One-to-One Employee Meetings: Hyosung HICO.

At its Power Transformer Manufacturing facility in Memphis, the Hyosung team implemented KUDO AI to make one-to-one employee meetings in their offices and warehouses instantly accessible in multiple languages. This has proven game-changing for boosting productivity and understanding among their diverse Spanish and Korean employee base.

Townhalls and All Hands: Leading Pharmaceutical Brand.

Operating in over 150 countries, this pharma giant sources professional interpreters on-demand from KUDO Marketplace to run their quarterly townhalls in all the languages of their employees. Meetings alternate between being hosted on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Webex, using KUDO’s integrations.

Quarterly Sales Meetings: Major Beverage Company.

For its quarterly virtual broadcasts across sales departments, the EMEA team in one of the world’s biggest beverage companies uses KUDO Marketplace to ensure global employees can follow the content in nine languages, from anywhere in the world.

Team-Building or Community Events: ACCA Child Development Center.

Based in Virginia, the ACCA CDC is a nonprofit organization that uses KUDO AI to run their recurring community events and workshops in multiple languages simultaneously in-person. Using KUDO AI’s scan-to-access feature, captions and audio in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese ensure that everyone can participate fully.

Awards Ceremonies: Canadian Federal Research Agency.

Being based in Canada, this government body needs to comply with the Official Languages Act by ensuring their communication is accessible in both English and French. For their in-person company events and awards ceremonies, they use KUDO AI’s scan-to-access feature to allow attendees to follow in the language of their choice from their smartphone on-site.

Implementing Speech Translation for Your Internal Meetings: Best Practices

To effectively incorporate multilingual support into your internal meetings, here’s a quick checklist of what you’ll want to consider:

1. Assess Meeting Requirements: Determine the complexity and size of your various meetings and events to decide between AI, human interpretation, or a hybrid approach. The KUDO team can help advise you and answer any questions you have to this end.
2. Choose the Appropriate Technology: Again, depending on whether your internal communication is done remotely or in-person, decide whether you’d like to use your existing videoconferencing platform or a new, standalone one. If the former, you’ll need a solution that offers integrations for third-party platforms.
3. Provide Training: Once your speech translation solution is in place, you’ll then need to ensure that all participants are familiar with the multilingual tools and platform to maximize engagement.
4. Monitor and Evaluate: Continuously assess the effectiveness of your speech translation solution by collecting employee and partner feedback, and make adjustments as needed. This could include increasing coverage from one meeting type to another, or experimenting with a different type of language technology (human or AI).

Key Takeaways

Effective communication across language barriers is essential in international organizations. Implementing speech translation and captioning in internal meetings ensures that all participants can engage fully, regardless of their native language. This inclusivity not only enhances understanding and productivity, but also a greater sense of belonging among employees and partners.

By leveraging both AI and human-powered interpretation solutions, businesses can tailor their approach to meet specific needs, balancing cost, accuracy, and scalability. This strategic adoption of multilingual communication tools positions companies to thrive in diverse markets and reinforces their commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.