Which private events is PONTAVOX suited to?
PONTAVOX suits celebrations where speeches are given and some guests do not understand the speaker’s language. That is the case at a wedding between families from two countries, a milestone birthday with relatives from abroad, a family celebration or the meeting of a club whose members come from several language regions.
What is spoken into the microphone is translated. Conversations at the table, music and singing are not. For club meetings, the page on the general assembly describes the process in more detail.
- WeddingThe welcome, speeches by the parents and by the best man or maid of honour, the couple’s own speech.
- Milestone birthday and family celebrationWords from the family, a look back, greetings from guests.
- Club meetingAnnual meeting or anniversary, with an agenda and contributions at the floor microphone.
Bilingual wedding: how every guest hears the speeches
The speaker talks into the microphone. The microphone is connected to the mixing desk, which passes the sound to a laptop running the PONTAVOX studio. There each language gets its own output and therefore its own channel on the system. Guests choose their language on the receiver and listen on headphones.
When someone on stage speaks a channel’s language, that channel goes quiet and guests hear the room. If the maid of honour gives her speech in English, English-speaking guests hear her directly.
No phone, no app and no Wi-Fi are needed. Each language speaks with one fixed voice, female or male, from the first sentence to the last. You can hear what it sounds like in the samples on the home page.
Licence, receivers and equipment: who provides what
Private events run on a licence for the duration of the event. The venue or an AV company provides the transmitters, receivers with headphones, mixing desk and microphones, and operates the equipment on the day. We do not travel with equipment and a technician.
Ask your venue or AV company whether they have transmitters and receivers. You need one channel per language and one receiver with headphones for every guest who wants to hear the translation. Terms, set-up and support are agreed in a conversation.
Information for venues is under PONTAVOX for venues. More about the guests’ equipment is under Translation headsets.
Speeches in English or standard German
PONTAVOX translates speeches given in English or standard German; these are the two stage languages that have been tested. Swiss German does not work. At a celebration with Swiss relatives this is the most important limit, so we state it clearly.
Anyone who would normally speak in dialect has two options. They speak standard German for the length of the speech, or they plan the speech in English. In both cases a script handed over in advance helps.
- Standard German for the momentAnyone who normally speaks Swiss German gives the speech in standard German, even if it feels unusual for a few minutes.
- A speech in EnglishAnyone comfortable in English gives the speech in English. PONTAVOX translates it into the languages of the other guests.
- Script in advanceFamily names, places and stories with proper names go into the glossary beforehand.
Swiss German on stage does not work.
Preparation: programme, names and microphones
Before the event, the programme, speaker list, names and abbreviations go into the glossary. At a wedding these are the names of the couple, the parents, the best man and maid of honour and the places mentioned in the speeches. You can hand over the scripts of the speeches in advance.
Everyone who gives a speech uses their own microphone, and the speeches follow one after another. If two people give a speech together, it works as long as each has a microphone. Where many people talk at once, for example during games with shouts from the room, PONTAVOX is not the right fit.
On the day: handing out receivers and labelling channels
The simplest approach is to place the receivers at each seat or hand them out at the drinks reception. A small card on each table shows which channel carries which language. Guests who do not need a translation simply leave the receiver where it is.
Before the first guests arrive, a short rehearsal with the venue or AV company is worth it. Someone says a few sentences into the microphone, and you listen to each language on a receiver. In the studio the technician sees every language with its output, level and distance to the speech.
Group the speeches into one block or place them between courses, and have each speech announced briefly, for example by the master of ceremonies. Guests then know when to put on their headphones.
What translation for your celebration costs
A team for simultaneous interpreting usually means two interpreters per language, plus a booth or equipment, preparation and travel. PONTAVOX costs a fraction of that; the equipment comes on top. The contract is made in Switzerland, in Swiss francs.
The comparison between interpreter team, smartphone app and receivers with AI is under Cost and comparison.