Interpretation Costs
How Much Does Simultaneous Interpretation Cost in 2026?
Simultaneous interpretation can be valuable, but the cost structure is heavy for most churches. You are not just paying for language skill. You are paying for staffing, equipment, setup, and often a model that fits conferences better than weekly ministry.
Cost breakdown
What churches actually pay for traditional simultaneous interpretation.
Human interpreters commonly sit in the £80–£200 per hour range depending on language pair, experience, and booking minimums. Day rates can climb much higher for larger events or specialist contexts. On top of that, simultaneous interpretation equipment hire can add roughly £500–£2,000 depending on room size and the number of receivers required.
Then come the hidden costs: sound checks, operator time, volunteer coordination, and the fact that even a short service still needs the full setup done properly.
Why it hurts
Why traditional interpretation is too expensive for most churches.
Most churches are not running trade shows or enterprise conferences. They need a repeatable weekly solution, not a per-event budget shock. Traditional simultaneous interpretation becomes hard to justify when the church only needs one or two languages most Sundays but still carries the full staffing and equipment burden.
Alternative
AI-powered church translation changes the economics.
Voco replaces the interpreter-plus-hardware stack with a browser-based workflow built for church use. The church pays a subscription, not a per-seat or per-receiver fee. Attendees use their own phones. The result is not a conference setup cut down for church. It is a church-native model from the start.
Comparison
| Option | Typical cost | What that usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Human interpreter | £80–£200/hour | Live language professional, usually with booking minimums |
| Equipment hire | £500–£2,000/event | Receivers, transmitters, setup, and collection |
| Voco | From £6/week | Live text translation via QR code, no dedicated equipment |
Related pages
FAQ
How much does a church interpreter cost?
Rates vary, but churches often see hourly interpreter pricing in the £80–£200 range before equipment and setup are added.
Is simultaneous interpretation worth it for churches?
It can be, especially in high-stakes or high-volume settings, but many weekly church use cases are better served by a lower-cost browser-based approach.
What is the cheapest way to translate church services?
For most churches, a browser-based translation workflow is the cheapest practical way to offer live multilingual support without buying equipment.
Ready this Sunday
See what church translation costs when you remove the hardware stack.
Compare a weekly subscription to the normal interpreter and equipment model before you budget another event-style setup.