Tutorials Video

Live Subtitles and Dubbing in Other Languages: What Broadcasters State

By Infinite Creation · Professional · ~14 min

A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing a commentary box above a stadium, one person speaking into a microphone and another in headphones holding a card with a two-way arrow.

Overview

A live programme in one language can now be offered with subtitles or a voice in another, using software where an interpreter booth would once have been needed. This guide is for broadcasters, rights holders and sports producers who are weighing it. It sets out what a European broadcasting body, a language technology company and an encoder maker state, which parts they leave without a figure, and how to run a trial. We did not test any tool on this page. Each statement about a tool comes from the maker's own page as read on 8 October 2026, or from a trade source named in the Sources section.

You will need:

A recording of live commentary in your own language, with fast talk, names and idiom in it
A native reader of each target language who can judge the output
The rights position on the voice, the commentators and any voice synthesis you intend
A way to cut to the original programme if the translation fails

Steps

Separate subtitling from dubbing

Subtitles are text and the viewer can compare them with the picture. A dubbed voice replaces what is heard. The two carry different risks. A wrong subtitle is read and can be doubted. A wrong dubbed voice is simply believed. Decide which one you are trialling.

Read what the EBU release states

The EBU published a release on 6 March 2026. It says Eurovision Sport, its free-to-air streaming service, and CAMB.AI would provide live and on-demand subtitling for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, using real-time speech-to-text transcription across all six sports, without altering the editorial content of broadcasts. The release names no subtitle languages, makes no accuracy claim and does not say whether humans review the subtitles. It does not say that translation was involved.

Read what CAMB.AI's page states

CAMB.AI's own page lists a Live Dubbing product described as dubbing live streams in real time, and refers to 150 or more languages. It gives no detail on how live dubbing works, which languages it covers, how long it takes, or whether it clones a voice. The page does not mention voice cloning or delay.

Read what AI-Media states about voice translation

Sports Video Group reports that AI-Media's LEXI Voice Encoder adds AI sound separation and background noise removal for voice translation workflows, and that LEXI Live Sync gives configurable timing for captions and translations. The article names no languages and no speech engine. AI-Media's own page was unreachable.

Trial with your own commentary and a native reader

Run your recording through each service. Have the reader mark wrong meanings, wrong names and idiom taken literally, and time the lag between speaker and output. Run it again at the pace of your fastest commentator, because no page we read says how a service copes with fast speech.

Settle voice rights and the fallback

If the output is a synthetic voice, settle in writing whose voice it is, who agreed to what, and whether viewers are told. Read the guide on voice cloning consent first. Keep the original audio available at all times so the producer can cut back to it.

Pro Tips

Treat each extra language as an extra place for error. A tool that is fine in two languages may not be in a third.
Ask a native reader, not a colleague who has studied the language.
Say in the programme that the subtitles or voice are machine-made, and read the labelling guide for the rules that apply to you.

Knowledge Base

What You'll Learn

The strongest source we found says only that live subtitles were provided. It does not say how good they were.

What the Paralympics example does and does not show

It shows that a public broadcasting body put a speech-to-text service in front of audiences for a major event, and said so. It does not show accuracy, languages, delay or complaints, because the release states none of them. Use it as evidence that the service is in use, and nothing more.

Vendor claims on language count

A count such as 150 languages describes a catalogue, not live performance. A service may list a language it handles well offline and poorly at commentary speed. Ask which languages the live product supports, and test those.

Voices and consent

When a service speaks in a voice that sounds like a person, the questions in our voice cloning guide apply. Neither the EBU release nor CAMB.AI's page we read addresses consent for a voice. Ask the vendor in writing.

Where This Fits

Live subtitles in another language are held to the same reading speed and line rules as the original, which Beyond Auto-Captions explains in full.

FAQ

Q: Does the EBU release say the Paralympic subtitles were translated?
A: No. It describes real-time speech-to-text subtitling, names no languages and does not say translation was included.

Q: Can live dubbing keep the original commentator's voice?
A: Neither CAMB.AI's page nor the AI-Media article we read says. Ask the vendor and settle consent in writing.

Q: How good are live translations?
A: We did not test any, and none of the pages we read gives an accuracy figure. Trial with a native reader.

Vocabulary

Speech-to-text Software that writes down speech as text as it is spoken. In the EBU example it produced the live subtitles for the Paralympic Winter Games, and the release says nothing about translating that text into another language.

Live dubbing Replacing the spoken language of a live stream with another language as it is broadcast, using a voice the viewer hears instead of text on screen. CAMB.AI lists it as a product and gives no further detail on how it works.

Free-to-air Broadcast that viewers can watch without paying a subscription fee or a pay-per-view charge. The EBU uses the term for Eurovision Sport, its streaming service, which carried the live subtitles for the Paralympic Winter Games.

Latency The delay between a person speaking and the translated text or voice reaching the viewer. Live work has no second take, so every extra second of delay is a second the audience sees one thing and reads another.

Sources

One broadcaster's release, one maker's page and one trade article were read on 8 October 2026. Nothing was tested. Checked 8 October 2026.

EBU, Eurovision Sport and CAMB.AI to provide live and on-demand subtitling (6 March 2026). The broadcaster's own release. Real-time speech-to-text subtitles for six sports. Names no languages, accuracy or human review.
CAMB.AI, the same announcement on its own site. Lists Live Dubbing and 150 or more languages with no detail. No mention of voice cloning or delay.
Sports Video Group, AI-Media launches LEXI Text Encoder and LEXI Voice Encoder (15 April 2026). A trade article. The Voice Encoder adds AI sound separation and noise removal for voice translation. Names no languages or engine.

The EBU release was read in full but is a short announcement. The CAMB.AI page was one product page and not its documentation. AI-Media's own page was unreachable. The design notes we started from said CAMB.AI supports voice cloning and named other customers, and none of that appeared on the pages we read, so this guide does not repeat it.