Follow a Japanese or Korean Speech Live: Free Translation Tools for Events

When the father of the bride gives his toast in Japanese, half the room smiles politely and waits for someone to explain. When a Korean partner company visits your Toronto office, the small talk at the reception stalls. Live translation turns those moments from awkward to inclusive.

LUNO Language Labs offers two free browser tools built for exactly that. Kaiwa Translator writes a Japanese or Korean conversation or speech into a notebook as people talk, translating each line while it's still being spoken, and Kana Reader adds romaji to the kana in any photo and reads it aloud.

Quick answer: price, area and booking

The basic versions of both tools are free on the LUNO Labs site and run in your browser on your own device. A better paid version, with more accurate reading, kanji readings and more natural translations, is available for events and businesses. LUNO is based in Brampton and serves events across the GTA.

1. How Kaiwa Translator works

Open Kaiwa Translator, choose Japanese ⇄ English or Korean ⇄ English and tap to start listening. As people speak, each line appears in a notebook with its translation underneath. Words are translated while they're still being spoken, so you follow along in real time rather than waiting for a sentence to finish.

Every conversation is kept, with a phrasebook and flashcards built from what you heard, and your corrections are remembered the next time.

2. How Kana Reader works

Point your camera at hiragana or katakana on a sign, a menu or a picture book. Hold still, and every word gets its romaji right on the photo. Tap to have it all read aloud, with each word lighting up as it's spoken. Quiz mode hides the romaji until you tap, which makes it a handy study tool.

3. Where live translation helps at events

At a bilingual wedding, a few guests with the translator open on their phones can follow every word of a heartfelt speech, then share the translation with the table.

4. Privacy and how it runs

Both tools run in your browser and keep everything on your device, which is why the basic versions can be free. There's no account to create and nothing to install. That matters when the conversation is personal, such as a family toast, or confidential, such as a business meeting.

5. Tips for clearer translation

• Sit or stand close to the speaker or the speaker's loudspeaker.
• Reduce background noise where you can; translation is best away from the dance floor.
• Correct a word once and the tool remembers it next time, which helps with names.
• Use the paid version for important speeches, where accuracy and natural phrasing matter most.

6. Learning between events

Language Labs isn't only for events. The phrasebook and flashcards from Kaiwa, and quiz mode in Kana Reader, make them useful for families raising bilingual kids, travellers preparing for a trip to Japan or Korea, and anyone learning to read kana. Many guests discover the tools at an event and keep using them at home.

7. How it fits with LUNO events

LUNO is best known for photo booths and party rentals, and Language Labs comes from the same idea: technology should help everyone at an event feel included. Families planning a bilingual wedding often pair it with a video guestbook, so relatives can leave messages in their own language, and a digital photo booth rental for the dance floor.

8. Free version vs paid version

Start with the free tools; upgrade when an important speech or meeting deserves the best possible translation.

Example: a Japanese-Canadian wedding in Toronto

Say the bride's family flies in from Osaka and her father plans a toast in Japanese. A few of the groom's relatives open Kaiwa Translator on their phones at the head tables. As he speaks, each line appears with its English translation, so the room laughs at the right moments and tears up at the end, together. Afterwards, the family keeps the translated notebook as a record of the speech.

When to bring in a LUNO Labs team

Try the free versions on the LUNO Labs page today. For a wedding, conference or corporate visit where accuracy matters, ask about the paid version a few weeks ahead, and tell us the languages, the event date and who will be speaking. Contact us to talk it through.