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Interpreters for Software and Technical Training

A new ERP, a point-of-sale system, a machine controller or a clinical application is only adopted if the people who use it every day learned it in a language they follow. Here is who arranges the interpreter, what screen-share training asks of one, what Zoom and Teams interpretation channels cannot do in a hands-on lab, and what a course costs.

Who arranges the interpreter for a training

Whoever is delivering the training to people who need the language: the software vendor or implementation partner whose contract includes end-user training, the employer rolling out a system to its own staff, or the equipment manufacturer commissioning a machine at a customer's plant. Trainees should not be expected to bring their own, and a bilingual "super user" asked to interpret for colleagues while also learning the system usually does neither job well. Who pays is a contract question between vendor and client; settle it when the training is scoped, not the week before go-live.

Safety training required by OSHA is different: there the employer has a duty to train in a language workers understand. See interpreters for workplace safety training.

What technical training asks of an interpreter

Most system training is a demonstration followed by practice. In a room with one language group, the trainer works consecutively: demonstrate a step, explain it in two or three sentences, pause for the interpreter, let trainees try it. When only a few people in an English class need the language, the interpreter sits with them and whispers simultaneously. Online, a session for a mixed group runs simultaneously on a Zoom or Teams interpretation channel, with trainees choosing their language.

The vocabulary has two layers. One is the software's own: screen names, menu items, field labels, statuses, error messages, report names. If the interface is in English, the interpreter says the label in English — "click Post" — and renders what it does, so trainees can find it on their screen; if trainees will use a localized interface, the interpreter needs the localized labels, which only the vendor can provide. The other layer is the process the software encodes — purchase orders, work orders, picking, lot tracking, charting — which has established terms in the trainees' trade that the interpreter should use instead of a word-for-word rendering of yours.

What breaks in screen-share training

• "Here", "this" and "that". The interpreter can see your screen but cannot render a pointer. Say the name of every button, tab and field you use.
• Clicking while talking. Trainees hear the interpreted explanation two or three seconds after you click; if you have already moved on, they are watching the wrong step. Click, explain, pause.
• Hands-on labs in breakout rooms. Zoom says language interpretation cannot be used in breakout rooms, only in the main session, and Microsoft says interpretation stops when breakout rooms start in Teams. If trainees practice in breakout rooms, move the interpreter into the room with the trainees who need the language as an ordinary participant, interpreting consecutively, or keep that group in the main session.
• Training videos with sound. On Zoom, computer audio shared with the screen plays to everyone at 100% over the interpreter. Send the videos in advance and play them without sound while the interpreter narrates, or use captioned versions.
• Command lines and code. Commands, file paths, part numbers and configuration values are not translated; the interpreter reads them exactly, character by character if needed. Put them in the chat as well.
• Quizzes and certification tests. If trainees must pass a test, decide in advance whether the interpreter may read questions aloud, and tell them.

Recordings of interpreted sessions

Many trainings are recorded so new hires can watch them later. On Zoom, cloud recordings record the original audio and the translations, while a local recording captures only what the person recording hears. On Teams, Microsoft says recordings capture only the main channel: the interpreter's audio is not in the recording. If an interpreted version of the course needs to exist afterwards, choose the platform and recording method with that in mind, or plan a separate recorded session in the trainees' language. User guides and job aids that trainees keep are a separate written translation service.

Booking a course

Virtual is $80 per interpreter per hour with a one-hour minimum, billed from the scheduled start: a six-week course of two-hour weekly sessions with one interpreter is 6 × 2 × $80 = $960. On site, $110 per interpreter per hour with a two-hour minimum: a go-live training week of three days from 9 to 5, where a full day may need two interpreters in relay, is 2 × 8 × $110 × 3 = $5,280, plus travel at $0.70 per mile from each interpreter's location, confirmed before you book. Floor support after go-live, where trainees ask questions at their workstations, is booked by the hour like the classes.

Send with the request the course outline, the slides, the list of screens and modules covered, a glossary of the software's terms, the interface language trainees will see, and how many trainees need each language. Each language is a separate interpreter.

By video, by phone or in person

Virtual interpreting runs on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, or over the telephone. It is quicker to arrange, costs less and carries no travel charge, and it suits appointments, calls and most meetings.

In person is what venues with their own rules tend to expect, and the right choice when documents are being signed or several people are speaking at once. Tell us the platform, or the city and the venue, when you send the request.

Languages

The standard-availability languages are: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Polish, Italian, German, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Tagalog, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Somali and Nepali. Every other language we offer carries the 25–30% limited-availability rate. If a language is not on that list it is not because we cannot do it — it is because the pool of qualified interpreters in the United States is small enough that we will not promise a date without checking.

Each language has its own page on what to watch for — dialects, names, dates, who the speakers usually are: see interpreters by language.

What it costs

Rates are per interpreter, per hour, and billed from the scheduled start time rather than from when everyone actually arrives.

• Virtual — $80 per hour, one-hour minimum. Zoom, Google Meet, Teams or telephone.
• In person — $110 per hour, two-hour minimum.
• Limited-availability languages — add 25–30%. Which languages those are is listed below rather than left vague.
• Travel for in-person work — $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location.

How the travel charge works out

Travel is charged at $0.70 per mile from the interpreter's location, which means you can work it out rather than wait for a quote: a 20-mile round trip is $14, a 60-mile round trip is $42, a 150-mile round trip is $105. There is no separate call-out fee on top.

We will not pretend to know in advance where the interpreter will be coming from — that depends on the language, the date and the venue. What we do is confirm the interpreter and the exact travel figure before you book, so it is never a surprise on the invoice. Virtual assignments carry no travel charge at all, which is one reason most of what we do is virtual.

How booking an interpreter works

• You send the request with the form below: the language, the setting, the format, the date and how long it should last.
• We confirm before you commit: the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one. We reply the same business day, and no payment is taken at this stage.
• You confirm, and the interpreter is booked for your date.

What to have ready

The more of this comes in the first message, the fewer exchanges before you have a price:

• The language, the date, the start time and how long it should run.
• Virtual or in person: the platform, or the city and the venue.
• The setting and the subject matter.
• How many people need interpreting for.
• Any credential the venue requires of the interpreter.

Request an interpreter

Tell us the date, the language and the setting and we will come back with the interpreter, the exact price and the travel figure if there is one — before you commit to anything.

Sources

What this page says about the rules was checked against these official sources on October 28, 2026. Rules change; the source is always the authority.

• Zoom Support — Using Language Interpretation in your meeting or webinar (KB0064768)
• Microsoft Support — Use language interpretation in Microsoft Teams meetings

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