Otter AI adds 27 languages and a feature that follows conversations when speakers switch languages

Otter.ai, the AI-powered note-taking tool, announced Tuesday that it's expanding its multilingual capabilities, including a new multilingual transcription feature that can follow conversations as speakers switch between languages during the same meeting.

The company is also adding support for 27 languages, its largest language expansion to date. Once the rollout is complete, Otter will support 31 languages in total, making the platform more accessible to international teams.

The upcoming feature will automatically detect language changes and continue transcribing without requiring users to adjust settings. For example, a call could move from English to Korean to Portuguese, with Otter following the conversation throughout.

The update aims to address a common challenge for global teams, where language differences can make meetings and collaboration more difficult.

“Otter is breaking down language barriers so any company, no matter where they're based, can build a system of record for the decisions for voice AI communication,” an Otter spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Thirteen of the new languages are available now: Mandarin Chinese, Korean, German, Italian, Cantonese, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Dutch, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Polish.

The remaining 14 languages are coming soon and include Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, Norwegian, Greek, Macedonian, Persian, Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian.

The newly added languages run on Otter's own speech models. The company told us it trained them using publicly available datasets and worked with native-speaking volunteers to review transcripts and check accuracy.

The announcement comes as Otter continues to expand beyond transcription and into other workplace AI tools, following its $320 million funding from General Catalyst.

It recently introduced Work Mode, which uses meeting history and connected apps to help users prepare for upcoming calls. For instance, the feature pulls information from previous customer conversations, outstanding action items, notes from teammates' similar calls, and recent Google Drive files.

Another recent addition is Live Assist, which provides real-time coaching during meetings. It analyzes the conversation and offers relevant suggestions based on what has already been talked about and what is happening in the moment.