Otter.ai, the artificial intelligence-driven meeting assistant, has announced a significant expansion of its language capabilities, including a new feature that can track conversations in real time as participants switch between different languages within the same meeting session.

As part of the update, the platform is adding support for 27 new languages - the largest single language expansion the company has undertaken. When the rollout is fully complete, Otter.ai will support a total of 31 languages, broadening its reach for international and multilingual teams that rely on the tool for workplace communication.

The centerpiece of the announcement is an automatic language detection capability. Rather than requiring users to manually change settings mid-meeting, the system will identify shifts in language on its own and continue transcribing without interruption. A conversation that moves from English to Korean and then to Portuguese, for instance, would be followed throughout without any manual input from participants.

Addressing a Real Challenge for Global Teams

The expansion is positioned as a direct response to the friction that language differences can create in multinational organizations. Meetings that involve speakers of multiple languages have historically been difficult to document accurately using automated tools, which typically require a single consistent language to function reliably.

"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," a spokesperson for the company stated.

The practical implication is that distributed teams operating across different regions can now maintain a consistent and searchable record of their conversations, regardless of which languages are spoken during a given call.

Languages Available Now and Coming Soon

Thirteen of the newly supported languages have already been made available to users. These include:

• Mandarin Chinese
• Korean
• German
• Italian
• Cantonese
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Indonesian
• Malay
• Dutch
• Turkish
• Vietnamese
• Polish

An additional 14 languages are scheduled to follow in the near future. That group includes Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, Norwegian, Greek, Macedonian, Persian, Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian.

How the Speech Models Were Built

All of the newly added languages are powered by Otter.ai's proprietary speech recognition models. According to the company, these models were developed using publicly available datasets, and the training process involved native-speaking volunteers who reviewed transcripts and evaluated transcription accuracy. That approach is intended to ensure that the output reflects natural, real-world usage of each language rather than relying solely on automated data processing.

Part of a Broader Expansion Beyond Transcription

The language update arrives as Otter.ai continues to broaden its product scope well beyond its original function as a transcription service. The company secured $320 million in funding from General Catalyst, and has since been rolling out a series of features aimed at deeper integration into workplace workflows.

One recent addition is a feature called Work Mode, which draws on a user's meeting history and connected applications to help them prepare before upcoming calls. The tool surfaces relevant context automatically - pulling in highlights from previous customer conversations, outstanding action items, notes from colleagues who have attended similar meetings, and recently modified files from connected services such as Google Drive.

Another new capability, called Live Assist, is designed to provide guidance to users while a meeting is actively in progress. The feature monitors the conversation as it unfolds and surfaces contextually relevant suggestions based on what has already been discussed as well as what is currently being talked about. The intent is to give participants real-time support without requiring them to step away from the conversation to search for information manually.

Together, these additions reflect a strategic shift at Otter.ai toward becoming a broader workplace intelligence platform - one that not only records and transcribes meetings but actively assists users before, during, and after those conversations take place.