Farsi Translator for Church: Which Kind Do You Actually Need?

What does a church mean by a Farsi translator?

People searching for a Farsi translator are usually looking for one of three different things, and mixing them up leads to the wrong purchase. A dictionary or text translator turns a typed sentence into Farsi. A human interpreter speaks the message in Farsi while the pastor preaches. A live captioning app listens to the preacher and writes the sermon in Farsi on a screen or a phone, sentence by sentence.

For a Sunday service, the second and third options are the ones that matter. A typed-text translator cannot follow a sermon as it is preached, so it is a tool for emails and announcements, not for the pulpit.

Which Farsi translator option fits which church?

Our comparison with interpreters goes through the trade-offs in more detail. Many churches end up using an app for every Sunday and keeping a human interpreter for pastoral counseling, weddings or funerals.

How does a Farsi captioning app handle right-to-left text?

Farsi is read from right to left, so captions that are simply English layout with Persian letters dropped in look wrong. Sermon Translate lays Farsi captions out right to left and writes them in Persian script only. Arabic letter forms that translation engines sometimes mix in are converted to the Persian ی and ک before a line is shown.

The same right-to-left layout carries over to phones. When a church shares its QR code, members scan it with the phone camera and read the live Farsi captions in the browser, with no account and no app to install. The QR code page explains how sharing works.

Does it use proper Persian church vocabulary?

Farsi is one of 7 languages with the full built-in church vocabulary, which means Bible book names, doctrinal terms and church titles. Wording follows the Persian Old Version Bible, and a formal register is requested for every sermon line.

When the preacher clearly names a passage, a verse popup shows it from the Persian Old Version, which is in the public domain. Vague allusions do not trigger a popup. For words like sermon itself, see our note on what sermon means in Farsi, because the plain dictionary word is not the one most Persian churches use.

Can the preacher speak Farsi and the room read English?

Yes. Farsi is one of the languages a preacher can speak, so a Persian-language fellowship can preach in Farsi and show English captions for spouses, children or guests. The English to Farsi page covers the most common direction, and the Persian church page summarizes the setup for a Persian-speaking congregation.

Sermon Translate has 123 caption languages in total, so a mixed room can read Farsi, English and others at the same time. Each language beyond what a plan includes uses another hour of plan time for every hour recorded.

What does a Farsi translator app cost a church?

• Free: 1 hour of live translation every calendar month, no credit card, resetting on the 1st.
• Basic: $19.99 a month, 12 hours a month, 1 reading language at a time.
• Standard: $34 a month, 30 hours a month, 2 languages included, custom vocabulary and AI sermon notes.
• Extra hours can be bought in packs, from $3.00 for 1 hour, and unused hours carry over.

The free hour is enough to run one recorded sermon through Farsi and have a Persian-speaking member judge it before you commit. The pricing page lists every plan.

Where is a Farsi translator app not enough?

Machine translation can still miss nuance, and a regional expression or a family joke may not carry over. For counseling, legal or medical conversations, or anything where one wrong word matters, bring in a person who speaks Farsi.

How do you test a Farsi translator before Sunday?

1. Record or play a recent sermon from your phone or laptop during the free monthly hour.
2. Set the spoken language and choose Farsi as the caption language.
3. Ask a Persian-speaking member to read the captions and verse popups.
4. Note any name or term that comes out wrong and add it to the church glossary on a plan that includes custom vocabulary.

If the member says the captions read naturally, share the QR code on the next Sunday and ask for feedback. Our longer guide to Farsi church translation covers phones, projectors and privacy.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Farsi translator for church sermons?

Yes. Sermon Translate listens to the sermon and shows live Farsi captions, right to left in Persian script, with Persian Old Version Bible verse popups. It is an app, not a human interpreter.

Can a Farsi translator work for a sermon preached in Farsi?

Yes. Farsi is a speaker language, so a Farsi sermon can be shown as English captions, or as captions in any of the other supported languages.

Do Persian-speaking members need an account to read the captions?

Not when they scan the church's QR code, which is included in every plan. A shared projector screen also needs no accounts. Members who use the app on their own phone need their own account.

Is there a free way to try it?

Yes. Every account without a paid plan gets 1 free hour of live translation each calendar month, with no credit card.

Should we still keep a human Farsi interpreter?

For rare dialects, counseling, or high-stakes conversations a human interpreter may still be the right choice. Many churches use the app every Sunday and a person for those moments.

Try Sermon Translate at your next service

Start with 1 free hour every month, no credit card needed. Plans start at $19.99 a month.