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Getting started with Translate@Home

Translate@Home (T@H) is Clevercast's solution for multilingual live streams with Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI). Interpreters can do the simultaneous translation at any location. They just need a good internet connection and a browser.

This tutorial explains how to manage T@H events as admin in Clevercast. If you hire the interpreters yourself, provide them with the interpreter manual and let them check the requirements and best practices for using T@H.

Interpreters can test their internet connection in advance by doing a T@H connection test. The test lets you find out whether an interpreter’s internet connection is suited for remote simultaneous interpretation.

This tutorial applies to enterprise and webinar plans. Skip step 1 for webinars, since an event is automatically created when you create a webinar.

1 Creating an event

Select the Live > Events menu. On the events page, press the Create Multilingual Event button in the sidebar. In the popup dialog, enter the following info and press Create:

  • an event name (for your own information only)
  • select one of the broadcast protocols that support T@H
  • select the origin of your broadcast
  • select the Default Language. This is the language being broadcasted to Clevercast. If the floor audio contains multiple languages, you can select 'Original'
  • Optionally, select the Streaming Resolutions. Clevercast does cloud transcoding for adaptive bitrate streaming. Make sure the highest resolution doesn’t exceed the resolution in which you are broadcasting.

Note: if you want to send an RTMP broadcast from a continent other than Europe and North America, ask for a custom RTMP ingest hub or use SRT instead.

2 Configuring the event

When you press the Create button, Clevercast creates the event and redirects you to its detail page. The event page allows you to do the following:

  • Copy the event’s embed code from the Management tab to your website or 3rd party platform.
  • On the Audio Languages tab, copy the link to each interpreter room and send it to your interpreters.
  • On the Appearance tab, you can upload a poster image and show a countdown timer in the embedded player (among others)

Depending on your plan, you may also be able to:

  • add closed captions to your live stream on the Caption Languages tab. If the event also contains AI closed captions or speech translations, you should also read this tutorial.
  • add per-language simulcast targets on the Simulcasting tab

See the manual for more details about the different tabs and their functionality.

3 Test broadcast and translation

Configure your encoder by using the settings on the Broadcast tab and our broadcast guidelines.

When you are ready to test, go to the Management tab and set the event status to Preview by pressing the Set to preview button. This is required for your broadcast to be processed, and for your interpreters to connect to their interpreter rooms.

Start your broadcast. After about 18 seconds (due to HLS latency, unless you are also using speech-to-text conversion) you should be able to see the live stream in the Preview Player on the Management tab.

Your interpreters can now connect to their interpreter rooms, see and hear the live stream and start to translate (see the interpreter manual for more info).

Even if the T@H connection test result was good, we strongly recommend testing the audio quality and volume of your interpreters. To do this, go to the Audio Languages tab and press the Real-time Management button. Use the player in the Real-time Management room to listen to each interpreter in real-time. Use the text chat to communicate with your interpreters.

If interpreters need to work together, you may want to let them test the handover procedure. It is also best to communicate in advance about the moments at which a translator should mute herself, so all translators are muted when the floor audio should be audible (Clevercast automatically maximizes the floor audio volume if all interpreters are muted).

Notes:

  • If you encounter an issue while testing, check our troubleshooting guides for streaming and T@H. If you can't resolve it, contact us while you are still broadcasting (and interpreter is connected, if applicable).
  • We can also provide interpreters or offer premium support.

4 Starting the live stream

When the event is about to start, go the Management tab and press the Start event button. At this point, make sure all interpreters are muted until they are about to start translating. We recommend to start the event at least two minutes before the live stream begins. This allows the player to start buffering and ensures that nobody misses the start.

When you start the event, Clevercast also starts recording the live stream. So, starting the event in time also ensures that the cloud recording is complete.

The embedded player automatically detects the status change and makes the live stream visible to your participants. You can also see the live stream in the Public Player on the Management tab. If you want to display a message in the embedded player, use the Service Message on the Management tab.

5 Pausing the live stream (optional)

You can set the event status to Paused during breaks. The embedded player automatically detects this, and shows a poster image or message (see the Appearance tab). While the event status is Paused, you can continue to broadcast and your interpreters will stay connected.

Of course, you can also leave the status to Started during breaks. The advantage of using Paused is that Clevercast stops recording when the event is paused, and starts a new recording when the event is restarted. This way, you have separate recordings for each session.

Note: make sure to also respect the two minute grace period for HLS latency when changing your event status from and to Paused.

6 Stopping the live stream

After the live action has ended, wait at least two minutes before setting the event status to Ended, by pressing the Change Event Status button and selecting End event. The embedded player automatically detects this and shows a poster image or message to your viewers (see the Appearance tab) instead of the live stream.

Clevercast automatically completes the cloud recording and converts it to an MP4 file. You can download it via the Events > Recording menu. If your plan includes VoD, you can publish the recording to Video on-Demand.