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Guide · Churches and schools

Korean–English sermon translation for Korean churches: live options for the English Ministry and for Korean-speaking members (2026)

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

A Korean church can serve both generations in the same service with live AI translation: the pastor's microphone goes from the sound desk into a translation service, and members scan a QR code to read the sermon in English, or Korean, on their own phones. Glossa charges $5 an hour per language; Sotonis, built for Korean churches, has paid plans from $59 a month and, as a limited-time promotion, a free plan of 3 hours a month. The other routes are a separate English Ministry (EM) service or a bilingual interpreter. For hard-of-hearing elders, Korean captions on the main screen are free in Chrome or Edge.

Short answer

  • English for the second generation: a QR-code translation service, Korean in and English out.
  • Both directions in one service: one that switches by itself, such as Sotonis from its Basic plan ($149 a month).
  • Korean captions for elders: the free Live Captions tool in Chrome, on the projector.
  • Before the first Sunday: a bilingual member checks names, church titles, and verses on last week's sermon.

How Korean churches handle two languages: EM service, interpreter, printed transcript

Pew Research Center's survey of Asian Americans (July 2022 to January 2023) found that "59% of Korean Americans are Christian, mostly Protestant". MultiAsian.Church's 2016 estimates put the number of Korean churches in the United States at 4,653. This page is for those with members who follow Korean best and others, often their children, who follow English best.

Setup How it works Trade-off
A separate English Ministry service An English-speaking pastor preaches to the second generation in its own service No translation, but families worship apart, and joint services still need it
An interpreter A bilingual pastor or member interprets on stage sentence by sentence, or into headsets Sentence by sentence roughly doubles the sermon's length; headsets need a skilled interpreter every week
A translated transcript The sermon manuscript is translated before Sunday, printed or shown on screen Anything the pastor adds or changes in the pulpit is missing
AI translation on phones The sermon as it is preached, in each member's language, through a QR code Names, titles, and verses need checking; costs per hour or per month

Interpreters, headset systems, and the wiring from the sound desk are covered in the church translation guide, which also has a section on ProPresenter captions for a Korean sermon.

Korean to English on each phone: how it works and what it costs

A computer at the sound desk takes the pastor's microphone and sends it to the service, which transcribes the Korean and translates it. Members scan the QR code and read English in the phone's browser, or listen to a synthetic voice through earphones on services that offer one. Choose a service that lists Korean as a language it hears, not only as a language it shows. Glossa lists Korean without the mark it gives languages "Only available as a target language".

Plan Price Hours Direction
Glossa Pay As You Go$5 per hour per language; 4 hours freeAs used; "Silence, songs & music don't count"Not stated
Sotonis Free$0, no card; a "Limited-time promotion", one free account per computer and per network3 a month, up to 1 a dayOne way, fixed
Sotonis Starter$59 a month6 a monthOne way, chosen before the service
Sotonis Basic$149 a month12 a monthBoth ways, switching on its own

Prices in US dollars, read on each vendor's page on 3 November 2026. Sotonis charges $15 for each hour over the plan and gives churches 20% off on a 12-month plan (Starter $42 a month, Basic $107) once it confirms the church is eligible. More services, with their languages, are in church translation apps compared.

Example: a 40-minute Korean sermon every Sunday, into English, is under 3 hours in a four-Sunday month. That is about $13 at $5 an hour, if only the sermon is counted, or Sotonis Starter's 6 hours for $59. Sotonis's Basic plan is the one to look at when joint services need both directions.

Our product · in development

Blink Captions: members scan one QR code and read the sermon in English, or any language they pick, on their own phone. Planned price $5 per hour per language, or $99 a month.

Join the early list

English to Korean for first-generation members

The other direction matters when the EM pastor or a guest preaches in English at a joint service, or when an English-language church has Korean-speaking members. The setup is the same with the languages reversed: English in, Korean out.

  • Two preachers in one service: when Korean and English alternate, the service has to follow the switch. Sotonis says "the direction follows on its own" from its Basic plan; "on Free and Starter you pick one direction before the service". With other services, ask whether someone must change the spoken language by hand.
  • Members without smartphones: show the Korean on a second screen near their seats. Sotonis's advice: "Two screens? Give one to captions." Most QR-code services give you a caption page for ProPresenter or OBS.
  • Members who would rather listen: a synthetic Korean voice through earphones, where the plan includes it.

Korean captions on the screen for hard-of-hearing elders, free

Captions in the same language need no translation service. The free Live Captions tool lists Korean (한국어): choose it, press Start captions, and put the page in full screen on the projector. It works in Chrome and Edge, with no sign-up. It shows the pastor's Korean as Korean text and doesn't translate.

We tested it on 3 November 2026 in Chrome 156 on a Mac, choosing Korean and feeding a recorded reading (a synthetic voice) in as the microphone: "오늘 말씀은 요한복음 3장 16절입니다", John 3:16 in the 개역개정 wording, and a greeting to the congregation. Every word came out right, including 요한복음, 독생자, and 영생. The captions had no punctuation, and ran "주셨으니, 이는" together as "주셨으니이는". That was a clean recording fed straight in; a microphone in a sanctuary with echo loses more words, so rehearse with last week's sermon through the sound desk.

The browser may send the audio to Google (Chrome) or Microsoft (Edge) to turn it into text, so the laptop needs the internet. Blink Brief never receives the audio or the captions, and the captions disappear when you close the page.

Built-in options also hear Korean: Windows 11 Live Captions lists Korean, and so does Mac Live Captions (Korean, South Korea). PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 lists Korean as a preview spoken language for its subtitles, which Microsoft says "generally will have somewhat lower accuracy". The step-by-step settings are in live captions on a projector or TV from a laptop.

Names, honorifics, and Bible terms: what to test before Sunday

Ask a bilingual member to read last week's sermon through the service and mark these:

  • Names: the pastors', the church's, and its ministries'. Sotonis says "Lock in the pastor's name, biblical names, and ministry names once, and the spelling stays put." Glossa lets you "Add your pastors' names, your ministries and locations, plus any abbreviations your church uses".
  • Church titles: 목사, 전도사, 장로, 권사, and 집사 have no single English match; Sotonis says it won't turn 권사 into "Elder". Agree with your EM how each title should read in English, and check the translation keeps it.
  • Honorifics: English has no grammatical honorific levels, so the respect in a Korean sermon's verb endings, and in forms of address such as 성도 여러분, comes out plain. Check that the English reads as warm rather than flat.
  • Bible verses: a translated Korean verse won't match the wording of the English Bible your EM reads. Put key verses on the slides in both Bibles.

A first-Sunday checklist

  1. Ask both generations what they would use: English on their phone, Korean on a screen, or earphones.
  2. Decide the direction: Korean to English only, or both ways for joint services.
  3. Enter the word list of names and titles, then test with last week's sermon.
  4. Print the QR code in the bulletin with a line in each language: "Scan for the sermon in English" and "이 QR 코드를 스캔하시면 설교를 한국어로 보실 수 있습니다."
  5. Post the Wi-Fi name and password beside the code.
  6. After the service, ask a few members from each generation what they couldn't follow.

The full timeline is in the church translation guide. For Spanish-speaking members, see Spanish translation for church services.

Questions

How can our Korean church translate the sermon into English live?

Run the pastor's microphone from the sound desk into a translation service, and members scan a QR code to read the English on their phones. A bilingual interpreter, or a separate English Ministry service, are the alternatives that don't use AI.

Is there an app that translates Korean sermons into English?

Yes. Sotonis is built for Korean churches and, from its Basic plan, switches between Korean and English on its own. General services such as Glossa also list Korean. On both, members read in the phone's browser, so they don't install anything.

How much does Korean–English church translation cost?

Glossa charges $5 per hour per language, with 4 hours free. Sotonis has a free plan of 3 hours a month in one direction, which it calls a limited-time promotion, with one free account per computer and per network; Starter at $59 a month for 6 hours, and Basic at $149 a month for 12 hours with automatic two-way translation; churches get 20% off on a 12-month plan. Prices checked on 3 November 2026.

Can AI translate Korean honorifics and Bible terms correctly?

Not reliably without help. English has no grammatical honorific levels, church titles such as 권사 and 집사 have no single English match, and a translated verse won't match the English Bible your English Ministry reads. Add names and titles to the service's word list where it has one, and put key verses on the slides in both Bibles.

Can members read the translation on their phones without an app?

With most services, yes. Sotonis says members "scan a QR once and their own-language captions appear in their hand — no app, no login", and Glossa says "No app download required!"

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