Otter.ai is adding 27 languages to its AI notetaking tool, using speech models it built itself. The company announced the update on Tuesday and called it its largest language expansion to date. The change gives users more options for meetings held outside English.
Once the rollout is finished, Otter will support 31 languages in total. That means the platform will grow from four supported languages to 31, based on the figures the company shared.
Otter is also planning a new multilingual transcription feature. It is designed to keep transcribing when speakers change languages during the same meeting.
How Otter Built Its New Language Models
The newly added languages run on Otter’s own speech models. The company told TechCrunch it trained these models using publicly available datasets.
Otter also worked with native-speaking volunteers to check the results. These volunteers reviewed transcripts to confirm their accuracy.
Thirteen of the new languages are live now. They are Mandarin Chinese, Korean, German, Italian, Cantonese, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Dutch, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Polish.
The first group includes two forms of Chinese, Mandarin and Cantonese. It also covers several European languages, such as German, Italian, Dutch, and Polish.
The upcoming multilingual feature will detect language changes on its own. Users will not need to adjust any settings when a speaker switches languages.
For example, a single call could move from English to Korean to Portuguese. Otter says its tool will follow the conversation the whole way through.
The company said the update targets a common problem for global teams. Language differences can make meetings and teamwork harder to manage. Otter said the changes will make the platform more accessible to international teams.
“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.
Funding and New Workplace Tools
The language update follows Otter’s $320 million funding round from General Catalyst’s growth fund. TechCrunch reported the raise in October.
Otter has been moving beyond basic transcription. The company has added several workplace AI tools to its platform.
One of these is Work Mode, which helps users prepare for upcoming calls. It draws on meeting history and connected apps to gather useful details.
Work Mode can pull information from past customer conversations and open action items. It can also surface notes from teammates’ similar calls and recent Google Drive files.
Another recent addition is Live Assist, which offers real-time coaching during meetings. It studies the conversation as it happens and suggests relevant points.
Those suggestions are based on what has already been discussed and what is taking place in the moment. The feature works while the meeting is still underway.
The final 14 languages in the expansion are listed as coming soon. They include Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, Norwegian, Greek, Macedonian, Persian, Czech, Hungarian, and Romanian.
