Study a lecture given in a language you are still learning

The short answer

Record or upload the lecture in SozAI: it detects the spoken language itself, from 99, and writes the transcript in that language. Then translate the transcript and its notes into your language, or have the notes written in your language while the transcript stays as spoken. Translation and notes don't use transcription minutes, and the first 30 minutes of transcription are free once. It works in the apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac and at web.sozai.app. Recognition quality differs a lot between languages, and SozAI works on the recording after class, not as live subtitles.

Read it slowly, then listen again

In a second language the hard part of a lecture is usually speed. You know most of the words. The lecturer doesn't wait while you place one, and by the time you have, the next sentence is gone.

A transcript removes the speed problem. You read at your own pace, look up the term that stopped you, and tap its timestamp to hear how the lecturer said it. The translation is for the sentences you still can't untangle, and it sits next to the original instead of replacing it. There is a longer method for this in our article on following a lecture in a language you're learning.

A routine that fits one lecture: read the original once at your own speed and note the lines you don't follow. Open the translation for those lines only. Then play each of them once more with the text in front of you, so the sound and the written word meet. Keep a short list of the terms that stopped you. They tend to come back in the next lecture, and they are the first flashcards worth making.

How to do it in SozAI

1. Record the lecture in the app with the Lecture mode, or at web.sozai.app with the microphone, or upload the file your university posted. There is no language to choose: SozAI detects the language of each recording.
2. Open the recording and read the original. Each passage carries a timestamp; tap it to play that moment again.
3. Tap Translate (on the web, Translate into…) and pick your language. The text and the notes are translated, usually in about a minute, and you can go back to the original at any time.
4. If you'd rather have notes written in your language from the start, change the Notes language. The notes are rebuilt in that language and the transcript stays as it was spoken.
5. Make the quiz after that step. The quiz and the examiner use the language of the notes, so notes in your language give you questions in your language.

Translate the notes, or write them in your language

Pick by the language of the exam.

If you will be examined in the lecture's language, keep the notes in that language and use the translation as a dictionary. Your answers need the original terms, and notes in your own language teach you words the examiner won't use. Read the original first and open the translation only for the passages that lose you.

If the exam is in your language, or the lecture is background for a course taught in your language, set the Notes language to yours. The notes are then written from the transcript directly, and the quiz you make afterwards follows them.

One practical difference: a translation is tied to the notes it was made from. When you rebuild the notes, SozAI marks the translation as out of date and offers Update.

How well each language is recognized

A translation can only be as good as the transcript under it. We measured recognition in October 2026 on 200 short public recordings, 20 per language, sent the way the app sends a recording (language detected automatically, speaker labels on). Lower is better.

These were read sentences in quiet rooms. A lecture hall adds distance, echo and the rustle of a few hundred people, so expect more errors than the table shows. The method and the per-file results are in the accuracy test.

Mixed languages and technical terms

SozAI detects one language per recording. If a lecturer moves between two languages, the part in the second one comes out weaker, and a translation can't repair a word that was misheard in the first place.

Terms are the other weak spot: an English term inside a German lecture, a researcher's name, a formula read aloud. The slides usually have the right spelling. Add the slide PDF to the recording and the notes are rebuilt from the transcript and the slides together; slides and lecture shows how. In the phone app you can also correct the transcript line by line.

When SozAI is not the right tool

• You need interpretation during the lecture. SozAI gives you text and a translation afterwards, not live subtitles in the hall.
• You need a certified or official translation. The translation is written by an AI model and can get terms wrong; it is for understanding, not for documents.
• Your lectures switch languages every few minutes. One language is detected per recording.
• Your lecture language is one where recognition is weak, such as Kazakh in our test. Check the transcript before you rely on its translation.

For everything else a student can do with a recording, see SozAI for students, or go straight to exam prep.