Translate a parent-teacher meeting, bank or council visit

Good for the everyday appointment

Official conversations follow a pattern: someone explains a rule or a situation, you ask a question, they tell you what happens next. A translation session fits that pattern well. Everything said — and anything you type into “Ask AI or paste context…” — is translated from the From language into the To language and appears as two bubbles, the original and its translation. The picker has hundreds of languages, with a search field.

It spares a family something too. Often the child who speaks the language best ends up interpreting at their own parent-teacher meeting, or at the bank, and hearing things a child should not have to carry. A phone on the table lets the adults speak to each other directly.

When to ask for a professional interpreter

The app is not a certified interpreter, and a translation nobody in the room can check is the wrong basis for a decision with legal or financial consequences. Many councils, schools and public offices can arrange an interpreter, sometimes by phone. Ask whether one is available when you book — it is not guaranteed, and it is easier to arrange in advance. Ask in particular for:

• Anything legal: a court hearing, a police interview, immigration or residence matters, an eviction or a dispute with a landlord.
• Anything you are asked to sign: a tenancy agreement, a loan, account terms, an official form.
• Decisions about a child that go on record: special educational needs, exclusions, safeguarding.
• Benefits, taxes and fines, where a misunderstood deadline costs money.

Setting it up

Do it before you are called to the desk. The Translate button switches translation on; choosing the Translation template alone does not.

1. Tap Translate, the globe button, and turn on “Translate chat and live session” in the Translation sheet.
2. Set From to the other person's language, or Auto Detect, and To to your own.
3. Tap Start (Start Session on iPad and Mac) as the conversation begins. Keep the app open and the screen on: the session ends if the app goes to the background or the screen locks, so for a long appointment set Auto-Lock to a longer time in the iPhone's Settings, under Display & Brightness.
4. To reply, open Translate and exchange From and To; with From on Auto Detect, only To needs to change. Change it back when they answer.
5. Tap End when you leave.

Prepare before you go

Write your questions down at home, in your own language. When it is your turn, with From set to your language, type or paste each one into “Ask AI or paste context…”: typed text is translated like speech, and the other person reads it without waiting for you to find the words. A parent might ask how their child is doing in reading, whether homework is being handed in, and whom to contact about a problem; a tenant might list the repair, when it started and when it was first reported.

Bring the letter or form the appointment is about, and show the original rather than your translation of it: the person behind the desk needs to see the reference number and the wording they sent. To understand a letter before you go, switch translation off, tap Attach, choose Camera, photograph it and ask the assistant what it says — then check anything with a deadline or legal effect with whoever sent it.

At the desk: where the phone goes, and what to say first

Say first that you are using an AI translation app, and ask whether that is all right. Some offices have rules about recording conversations, and a live transcript deserves the same question; the guide on recording and transcribing other people explains why. Then ask the other person to speak in short sentences and to pause, so the translation keeps up.

At a school table, put the phone flat between you and the teacher with the screen where both can read it. At a counter behind glass, hold it near the speaker's side of the window, and turn the screen towards them when you reply. In a busy office, stand closer rather than raising your voice: the session translates what the microphone hears clearly, one voice at a time.

Write down what matters, and check it back

Official appointments turn on details: a reference number, a deadline, an amount, the name of the person you spoke to, the documents to bring next time. These are exactly where live translation slips — a number said quickly can be misheard before it is translated at all, and school or office terms can come out literally. Ask for anything important in writing, and ask what an unfamiliar term means rather than trusting its translation.

Before you leave, say back what you understood — “So I bring proof of address to this desk by the fourteenth?” — and let them read the translation and confirm. To keep a line, select the text in its bubble and copy it with the system menu into your own notes; the app has no export button.

Personal details and privacy

Banks and offices ask for personal information. Do not say account, card or identity numbers out loud for the session to translate; show the document or card to the person directly, since a number needs no translation.

During a cloud session the audio goes from your device straight to OpenAI's Realtime API, and typed text is sent the same way. The session is stored on your device, with no cloud sync, and Arte Soft's servers never receive the audio, the transcripts or the translations. Tell the teacher, landlord or official that an AI is translating; it also explains the pauses.