InterpretBank ASR going offline

by Magda Lindner-Juhnke and Anja Rütten

InterpretBank by Claudio Fantinouli has been around since the 2000s and has already been the topic of three posts on this blog (The Artificial Boothmate in Action, New Term Extraction Features in InterpretBank and InterpretersHelp, InterpretBank 4 review). When it was launched, it was one of the pioneers of booth-friendly terminology databases. It became a pioneer once again in the late 2010s when an ASR (automatic speech recognition) module was added to the wide range of features of InterpretBank.

In October 2025, InterpretBank launched its new ASR version v3.0 fine-tuning and expanding its ASR feature. Shortly after, in early November, a two-tier system was launched:

a) the Standard version included in any InterpretBank subscription and

b) the new credit-based Premium version.

The Standard version runs on the Google API, meaning that the audio may be processed by third-parties, and is subject to server availability. According to InterpretBank it is “ideal for testing, experimentation, and training”. Whereas the Premium version – hosted on the Europe-based InterpretBank server – offers better reliability, accuracy and data privacy (promised to be fully GDPR-compliant).

Based on interpreters’ feedback, the 2025 update enabled automatic highlighting of numbers within live AI transcription to improve contextual understanding. Term matching was extended to inflected and derived forms (when working from English, French or Spanish). The update also made the interface more user-friendly by allowing for a customisable layout of the different windows as well as adjustable font size and line spacing.

In addition to the default CAI features, users may now also choose to show an AI translation of the transcript – either inline or in a separate window – or add a digital notepad for quick handwritten notes on the side (both as a beta version).

This is the list of supported source languages in the cloud-based Premium ASR: Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese.

What’s special about InterpretBank is that, as a subscriber, you can  create a master session uploading a team glossary and then share a link to your session with your team mates, who do not need a subscription nor do they need to connect to the session audio.

So, what’s new in 2026? At the end of February, InterpretBank joined the market trend and launched its first Offline ASR. Given that no audio leaves the interpreter’s computer, on-device speech recognition offers maximum confidentiality. There is no time limit or credit system for its use and you don’t need to be connected to the internet in order to use it.  Another benefit of Offline ASR is that users can choose the order in which upcoming glossary terms are being displayed: newest term first or last.

However, there is a trade-off in quality (according to InterpretBank the average word error rate is 8% vs. 4%) and availability is limited to the following languages: English, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Japanese.

What we like about InterpretBank ASR

• Customisable interface and wide range of options
• Intuitive look up of AI translations of single terms by double clicking on the transcript or typing the word
• Sharing the Cloud ASR session and glossary with team mates
• Having the option to work completely offline
• Term recognition of inflected and derived forms
• One-stop-shop approach which combines a reliable professional terminology management tool with a state-of-the-art AI application

What to bear in mind

• Highest transcription quality requires Cloud ASR, and thus an internet connection as well as purchased credits
• While fun to experiment with, not all features are particularly useful in a professional setting
• Some beta-version features do not run smoothly just yet
• Source language needs to be selected manually
• ASR reliability varies by language and ASR version
• In Cloud ASR, glossary terms are shown in a separate window, repeated each time they come up and added bottom-up (while the transcript progresses top-down); the order of appearance can be adjusted in Offline ASR.

Provider: InterpretBank, Dr. Claudio Fantinuoli, Germany

Website: https://www.interpretbank.com/

Technicalities: Runs on Windows or Mac; InterpretBank Cloud ASR is browser-based requiring Chrome. You may also download a (smaller) model to use the Offline ASR.

Privacy & Data Protection: Cloud ASR Standard uses Google API services for transcription and is not GDPR-compliant. Cloud ASR Premium is hosted on a European server and is fully GDPR-compliant. Maximum data privacy is ensured through ASR Offline.

Cost (as of March 2026): €9.99-€15.99/month for the freelance subscription including Basic ASR (free trial available); Perpetual license (one time payment of €349.00) in combination with a Pro Pack subscription at €99.00/year; For monthly subscribers or owners of a perpetual license: high-quality and GDPR-compliant Premium Cloud ASR at €3.00-€4.00/hour or Offline ASR with unlimited use.