FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS & TUTORS
Captions in their language, generated on your device.
On-device caption translation into 19 languages on iOS 18 or later, so a lesson clip reaches learners who are not there yet.
THE PAIN
- Subtitling a lesson twice is the whole evening gone
- Translation services charge per minute and per language
- Learners need to read and hear the same phrase together
THE WORKFLOW
Record the explanation or the dialogue
Transcribe and correct the terms
Translate the captions and export
FROM YOUR PHONE
On iPhone, captions translate into 19 languages entirely on-device on iOS 18 or later.
Zella for iPhone →WHEN THIS OUTGROWS THE FREE TIER
A full lesson runs past 2 minutes long before a short does, which is the honest point at which Pro is worth $89 once.
Everything else here is free forever: the complete editor, all the AI, unlimited recording, and watermark-free export up to 2 minutes at 1080p. Pro is $89 once and covers Mac and iPhone on a single purchase. See pricing →
Language teaching has a subtitling problem that is genuinely different from other teaching: the same clip often needs to exist in two languages at once, and the learner needs to read and hear the phrase together for it to stick.
On iPhone, Zella translates captions into 19 languages entirely on-device on iOS 18 or later. That is not a translation service with a per-minute charge and an upload - it uses Apple's on-device translation, so a lesson clip never leaves the device and there is no cost per language.
The rest is the ordinary teaching workflow: record the explanation, correct the terms in the word-level transcript, and export burned-in captions or a separate SRT for whichever platform you use.
WHAT YOU ACTUALLY SHIP
A lesson clip with translated captions
On-device translation into 19 languages on iOS 18 or later, with nothing uploaded.
A pronunciation or dialogue clip
Slow the phrase, caption the sounds, and let the learner read and hear together.
A subtitle file for your platform
SRT, VTT or CSV export alongside burned-in captions.
A vocabulary short for the feed
Vertical, captioned, and built from a lesson you already recorded.
THE HONEST ANSWERS
How good is machine translation for teaching?
Good enough to be a starting point and not good enough to publish unchecked, which is true of every machine translation. You are the corrector: the transcript is word-level and editable, and for a language teacher that review is the job rather than an inconvenience.
Which languages, and does it work on Mac?
Nineteen, and translation is iPhone only, on iOS 18 or later. The Mac does not have it. The first use of a language pair may need a one-time offline model from Settings, Translate, and if a pair is unsupported on your device Zella says so rather than failing quietly.
Is student or lesson audio uploaded for transcription?
No. Transcription and translation both run on-device, which for anyone teaching minors or working under a school policy is usually the deciding detail.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Can Zella translate video captions?
Yes, on iPhone, into 19 languages entirely on-device, on iOS 18 or later. The Mac does not have caption translation.
Is translation charged per minute?
No. It runs on-device using Apple translation, so there is no per-minute or per-language cost and nothing is uploaded.
Can I export subtitles separately?
Yes, as SRT, VTT or CSV, alongside captions burned into the video.
Can I correct a mistranscribed word?
Yes. The transcript is word-level: tap a line, fix the text, and the change appears in the preview, the burned-in captions and the exported file.
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