Korean Sermon Translation for Korean Ministry and English Ministry in One Church

Why do Korean churches need translation in both directions?

Many Korean-American churches run two congregations under one roof. The Korean Ministry (KM) worships in Korean, often led by the senior pastor, and the English Ministry (EM) serves second-generation members who grew up speaking English at school and Korean at home, if at all. Most Sundays the two groups meet separately, and that works.

The hard days are the ones that matter most: Easter and Christmas joint services, a baptism where parents and children sit together, a wedding with an English-speaking spouse's family, a funeral where elders who read Korean sit next to grandchildren who read English. On those days one sermon has to reach both groups. A Korean sermon needs English captions, and when the EM pastor preaches, the 장로 and 권사 in the front rows need Korean.

Sermon Translate handles both directions. You choose the speaker language (Korean or English) and the caption language, so the same setup works whichever pastor is at the pulpit.

What does good Korean sermon translation sound like?

Generic translation apps often write Korean in a casual register that sounds wrong in a sanctuary. For Korean captions, Sermon Translate asks for the formal preaching register a Korean pulpit uses (합쇼체) and applies honorifics for God, for elders and for the congregation. The goal is that a 권사 reading the captions feels she is reading a sermon, not a chat message.

Scripture references follow Korean church habits. When the preacher names a passage, the caption uses Korean book names such as 요한복음, 요한일서 and 로마서, and the 장/절 format, so John 3:16 appears as 요한복음 3장 16절.

In the other direction, English captions let EM members, spouses and visitors follow a Korean sermon in natural English. The Korean to English page and the English to Korean page describe each direction in more detail.

Which Bible versions appear in verse popups?

When the preacher clearly names a passage or clearly quotes a known verse, the verse appears in the reader's language and chosen Bible version. The feature is conservative on purpose: a vague allusion or a loose paraphrase does not trigger a popup, and it does not invent references.

For Bible study or a family devotion, the bilingual Bible reader shows any passage side by side in two languages, which helps a parent and a teenager read the same chapter together. More on how popups work is on the Bible verse detection page.

How do you keep 장로, 권사 and 집사 titles and member names right?

Titles and names are where a sermon translation most often goes wrong. A Korean congregation uses 장로, 권사 and 집사 with care, and an English reader needs a consistent rendering of each one every week. Names are harder still: a speech engine does not know how your elder spells his English name or how a guest missionary's name should be written in Hangul.

The church glossary solves this. Add the names of speakers, elders, deacons, ministries, places, hymn titles and doctrinal terms, with the wording you require in each language, and the glossary is applied to every translation. Useful entries include:

• Titles: 장로, 권사 and 집사, with the English form your EM already uses
• Pastors' names in both Korean and English spelling
• Ministry names such as the EM, youth group, 구역 or small groups
• Your church's name and the names of sister churches or mission fields

How do you set up a bilingual screen for a joint service?

For a joint service, the simplest start is one shared screen. The Subtitles screen shows up to 5 caption languages at once with adjustable font, size, weight, colors, width and alignment, so Korean and English lines can sit together on the projector. Float or Pop out puts the captions on the congregation-facing display, and Copy OBS URL gives a Browser Source with a transparent background for a livestream in OBS or Streamlabs.

1. Get a clean audio feed from the sound desk to the translating laptop.
2. Set the speaker language to match the pastor at the pulpit, Korean or English.
3. Choose the caption languages for the screen and style them large enough for the back rows.
4. Change the speaker language when a different pastor stands up to preach.

Everyone reading the projector needs no account. One stream covers all languages, so you pay for the audio transcribed, not per language.

Can visitors and family members read on their own phones?

Yes, in two ways. With the QR Code Join add-on ($10 a month on top of a paid plan), you press Share with congregation and project the QR code. A visiting in-law or a friend from school scans it with the phone camera and reads the live captions in the phone browser, with no account and no app. Listeners choose from the languages the screen is translating, and scanning uses no extra translation hours. The QR code page explains the details.

Without the add-on, each person who uses Sermon Translate on their own phone needs their own account, and a subscription after the free trial. That suits a member who wants saved transcripts or AI sermon notes, but it is not a practical way to serve a room full of guests.

Honest limits for Korean churches

• Captions are text only. Elders who do not read comfortably or who prefer listening may still be better served by a human interpreter with headsets.
• It needs internet on the translating device, and on every phone reading captions. It does not work offline.
• Speed: in our recorded demo, words reached the caption in about 1.5 seconds, and translations typically followed 3 to 4 seconds after each sentence. Readers will be a sentence behind the preacher.
• Accuracy depends on audio quality, how clearly the preacher speaks, and unusual vocabulary. Add names and titles to the glossary before the service.
• Sung lyrics are harder to recognize than speech, so expect fewer captions during 찬양 and hymns.
• The app supports 11 languages. If your church also has members who need a language outside that list, check the languages page first.

Next step

Try the free 15-minute trial on the laptop your media team will use, once with a Korean recording and once with an English one, and read the captions from the back of the sanctuary. If it fits, the Korean church page and the pricing page will help you choose a plan before your next joint service.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Korean sermon be translated into English live for second-generation members?

Yes. Set Korean as the speaker language and English as the caption language. English captions appear on the shared screen, or on phones through QR Code Join or members' own accounts.

Does the Korean translation use honorifics and formal preaching language?

Korean captions ask for the formal preaching register (합쇼체) and apply honorifics for God, elders and the congregation. Bible references use Korean book names and 장/절, such as 요한복음 3장 16절.

Which Korean Bible versions are available?

Verse popups for Korean readers can use 개역한글 (KRV) or 새번역 (RNKSV). English readers can choose NASB, KJV, NKJV, ESV or NIV.

Can Korean and English captions show on the same projector screen?

Yes. The Subtitles screen shows up to 5 caption languages at once, so Korean and English lines can share the congregation-facing display.

Is there a free plan for Korean churches?

There is a free 15-minute trial, one time, with no credit card. After that a paid plan is needed; Basic is $19.99 a month and Standard, which includes custom vocabulary, is $34 a month.

Try Sermon Translate at your next service

Start with a free 15-minute trial, no credit card needed. Plans start at $19.99 a month.