Church Captions for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Members: An Honest Guide
Sermon Translate is a translation app, not an ASL service. It can put the preacher's words on a screen as they are recognized, next to a translation, which helps some hard of hearing members; it does not replace an American Sign Language interpreter for people whose language is ASL.
ASL is a language, captions are text
For many Deaf people, American Sign Language is their first language and English is a second, written language. Captions in English are not the same as the sermon in ASL, and no app we know of turns speech into sign language well. If members of your church sign, an ASL interpreter is still the right answer.
Where captions do help
Members who lost hearing later in life, or who read English comfortably, can benefit from seeing the words. The Subtitles screen has an option to show the preacher's own words, as recognized, on a line of their own beside the translated line, in large adjustable text.
- The preacher's own line on the projector, TV or livestream
- Font, size, color, background and width adjustable for readability
- A saved transcript of every session to reread afterwards
Limits to know before you rely on it
Sermon Translate is built around translation, so it runs with a reading language, and it has not been designed or tested as a dedicated same-language captioning product. Accuracy depends on the sound feed, names can be misheard, and sung lyrics caption poorly. Try it with the members who would use it and ask what they think.
Is Sermon Translate a replacement for an ASL interpreter?
No. It produces written text, not sign language.
Is there an English only captioning mode?
Not as a dedicated mode. The preacher's own words can be shown as a line beside a translation on the Subtitles screen.
Can members reread the sermon later?
Yes. Every session is transcribed in the language spoken and saved to the account; full transcripts are part of the Standard and Pro plans.