Study in English. Revise in your own language.

Record the lecture in the language it is taught in, and read your notes in the language you think in. NoteMate keeps the transcript word-for-word in the language the lecture was actually delivered in, and writes your summaries, flashcards and quizzes in whichever language you choose.

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Translating in your head is not the same as listening

If you are studying abroad, the difficulty usually isn't understanding the material. It's that you are doing two jobs at once: following an argument in your second language while translating it into your first, and writing notes at the same time. The lecturer doesn't slow down for any of it.

NoteMate takes the note-taking away entirely and splits the two languages apart. The recording is transcribed in the language it was spoken in, and the notes are written in yours — so you can spend the hour listening rather than transcribing and translating simultaneously.

One recording, two languages

1. Record the lecture

In the browser or the iOS app, or upload a recording afterwards. Transcription covers 99 languages and detects the spoken one for you — there is nothing to set before you start.

2. Transcript in the spoken language

Timestamped and word-for-word, with the lecturer separated from student questions. This is your record of what was actually said, so it is never translated.

3. Notes in your language

Structured notes, written in the language you picked. An English lecture can become Chinese revision notes without you translating a line of it.

It works in both directions

Lecture in English, revise in your first language

The common case. You follow the lecture well enough in the room, but revising from second-language notes months later — under exam pressure — is where the time goes. Read them in the language you think in instead.

Lecture in your first language, write in English

The setting names an output language, not a direction of travel. If you are taught in Spanish, Japanese or Arabic but submit coursework in English, set your notes to English and work from those.

Everything downstream follows it

Summaries, note titles, flashcards and quizzes all read the same setting, so a deck built from an English lecture comes out in your language rather than switching halfway through a revision session.

Which languages

Two different numbers, and they are worth keeping apart. Transcription understands 99 languages — that is what NoteMate can listen to. Notes can be written in 11 of them:

English
Chinese
Spanish
Hindi
Arabic
French
Portuguese
German
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese

The shorter list is deliberate: writing academic material in a language is a higher bar than recognising speech in it, and these are the ones we have checked rather than every language the transcription models handle. Choose yours once under Summary Language in Settings and every recording after that follows it.

What this doesn't do

It doesn't translate the transcript. The transcript stays in the language that was spoken, on purpose. It is the thing you check your notes against when a translated term looks off — a translated transcript could not do that job.
Translation is done by the summariser. There is no separate translation step, so specialist terminology may read differently from the words used in the lecture. For technical vocabulary, the transcript is always there to check against.
The app itself is in English. Menus and buttons stay in English whichever language your notes are written in. This setting changes what NoteMate writes, not the interface around it.

Free tier — 300 minutes per month

Cross-language notes are not a paid add-on. The free tier includes 300 minutes of transcription each month — roughly 5 lectures — and notes in your language come with it. If you record more than that, paid plans are available at a student-friendly price.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. The language your notes are written in is a separate setting from the language you record in, so an English lecture can become Chinese revision notes. Transcription covers 99 languages and detects the spoken one automatically; notes can be written in 11 languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, French, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Set it once under Summary Language in Settings and every recording after that follows it.

Always the language that was actually spoken. NoteMate never translates the transcript, because it is your record of what the lecturer said — when a translated term in your notes looks wrong, the transcript is what you check it against, and a translated transcript could not do that job.

Yes. The setting names the output language, not a direction of travel. If you study in your first language but write assignments in English, record the lecture as normal and set your notes to English.

Yes. Summaries, titles, flashcards and quizzes all follow the same language setting, so a deck generated from an English lecture comes out in the language you chose rather than switching halfway through your revision.

The translation is done by the summariser rather than by a separate translation step, so specialist and technical terminology may read differently from the words used in the lecture. This is why the transcript stays in the spoken language: you can always check a term against exactly what was said. The app's own menus and buttons stay in English.

If note-taking itself is the barrier rather than the language — dysgraphia, dyslexia, ADHD — NoteMate was built for that too. For how the notes themselves are put together, see the guide.