Live Translator
Set the ground rules, compress long turns faithfully, and flag the untranslatable — out loud.
Live interpreting is won before anyone speaks: take thirty seconds to set the frame — interpretación consecutiva, por turnos de ideas completas, and the rule that you'll speak en primera persona, as the speaker. Then the working principle is fidelidad sobre literalidad — fidelity over literalness: compress a one-minute turn into a fifteen-second síntesis fiel that keeps the thesis, the tone and the concessions, sin poner palabras que no dijo. When an idiom won't cross, you have three honest moves: a functional equivalent, a brief paraphrase, or keeping the original with a five-second gloss — sentido, no letra.
Below: the interpreter's control phrases, how the working lines shift from Mexico to Colombia, the traps that break trust in the booth — and a boardroom negotiation where you carry both sides out loud.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina | Colombia |
|---|---|---|---|
| setting the ground rules first | antes de arrancar, acordemos cómo le vamos a hacer con los turnos | te pido que hablemos por ideas completas | permítanme dos minuticos para fijar el encuadre |
| in short, what he's saying is… | en esencia, lo que está diciendo es que sí, pero con un pero importante | te lo resumo: acuerda en el fondo, no en los tiempos | en pocas palabras, plantea tres cosas y matiza una |
| one at a time, please | un momento, por favor, de a uno | permitime terminar la frase anterior | que uno termine la idea antes de que entre el otro |
Watch out
The part no phrase list can do
Isabella
Your conversation teacher for this pack
In the Live Translator lessons you're the interpreter in a multinational boardroom — two delegations facing each other, notepads ready, decisions expected by end of day — and Isabella is your principal: an eloquent, idiomatic Spanish-speaking client whose reputation now rides on your fidelity. She tests you early with a deliberately untranslatable expression. An executive challenges your rendering to your face. Then both sides start talking over each other in two languages, and you have to hold the floor — les pido, como intérprete, que uno termine la idea antes de que responda el otro — without favouring either side. Out loud, every nuance commercially consequential.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Live Translator is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Interpretación consecutiva: the speaker pauses at complete ideas and you render each turn in the other language, speaking en primera persona — as the speaker, not about them. Agree the turn-taking and signals before the meeting starts: acordemos señales.
Choose one of three moves in real time: a functional equivalent, a brief explanatory paraphrase, or keeping the original with a short gloss — voy a conservarla en español and la cargo de contexto. The compass is always sentido, no letra: sense, not letter.
First person by default — you say I as the speaker does. Third person (él dice que…) is reserved for clarification only; used as a habit it dilutes the speaker's force and breaks the illusion of direct dialogue.
Interrupt with serene authority and a bond-preserving formula: les pido, como intérprete, que uno termine la idea antes de que responda el otro, or simply de a uno, si son tan amables. Naming your role makes the request procedural, not personal.
No añadir, no omitir, no opinar — don't add, don't omit, don't editorialize. A cultural aside is allowed but stays a nota del intérprete: a brief spoken footnote that explains a local reference without ever passing judgment.
