Windows 11 includes a new feature called Live Captions which when enabled provides automatic transcription to the currently playing audio on your computer. I’ve already written a detailed tutorial on enabling Live Captions on Windows 11. The good thing is that the Live Captions feature works surprisingly well. This is an accessibility feature and very helpful to people with hearing problems. With the recent update, Microsoft added support for additional languages for Live Captions along with English. That means you can add new languages to Live Captions and change the default Live Captions language with just a few clicks.
In this tutorial, let me show you how to add new languages and change to your favorite language in Live Captions. Let’s get started.
Add new language to Live Captions on Windows 11
To add a new language for Live Captions, follow the steps provided below:
Step 1: Press the Live Captions keyboard shortcut Win + Ctrl + L to open it.
Note: You can also open it from Settings > Accessibility > Captions page.
Step 2: Click on the Gear icon in the captions panel and choose Caption Language > Add a Language option.
Step 3: In the Settings window, click on the Add Language button.
Step 4: Search for the language you want to add, select the language, and click Next.
Step 5: Ensure all the options under Optional Features are ticked and click on Install.
Step 6: Wait for Windows 11 to install the new language.
Step 7: Once the language has been installed, close the Settings app.
That’s it. With that, a new language has been installed and added for Live Captions on Windows 11.
Languages supported by Live Captions:
These are the languages currently supported by the Windows 11 Live Captions feature:
- English (Australia, Canada, India, United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, France)
- Danish
- Chinese (Simplified, China)
- Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong SAR)
- Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
- Japanese
- Korean
- French (Canada)
- French (France)
- Spanish (Mexico)
- Spanish (Spain)
- German (Germany)
- Italian (Italy)
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Portuguese (Portugal)
Change Live Captions language on Windows 11
Ensure you’ve installed the language and follow the steps provided below to change the Live Captions language:
Step 1: Use the Win + Ctrl + L shortcut to open Live Captions on Windows 11.
Step 2: Press the Gear icon and then click on the Caption Language option.
Step 3: Choose the language of your choice from the list of available languages.
That’s it. With that, you’ve changed the Live Captions language. From now on, Windows 11 will automatically transcribe when you are hearing that language.
Do keep in mind that the Live Captions accessibility feature is not a translator, it just transcribes whatever’s playing on your computer. The audio should match the selected Live Captions language. So, if what you are listening to is in English and the language is set to Japanese in Live Captions, you will not see the transcript.
I hope this small tutorial helped you in customizing Live Captions to the language you like and use.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
Related accessibility tutorials:
- How to change text cursor indicator on Windows 11
- How to enable and use magnifier on Windows 11
- How to change VLC subtitle text size
- How to switch left and right mouse buttons
- How to disable sticky keys on Windows
- How to share mouse and keyboard between two computers
- How to highlight mouse cursor with yellow circle
