Need an oral translator in the UK? We can help

121 Captions provide expert oral translators here in the UK for professional lipreading services.

What is an oral translator?

An oral translator is someone who can tell what a person is saying just by watching their lips move while they are talking. You probably know it as lipreading, but the term oral translation is also used in the USA.

It’s not just watching someone’s lips that makes a good oral translator; facial expressions, speech patterns, and hand gestures all play an important role.

The majority of our communication is non-verbal, so facial expressions are incredibly important when it comes to lip reading. Think about all those poker players wearing sunglasses at the table so as to not give away their hand – that’s how important facial expressions are in our communication.

Why is lipreading so difficult?

If lipreading was easy, then everyone would do it.

And it’s a myth all deaf people can lipread – give it a go yourself and see how difficult it is!

While it’s true that people with hearing loss are generally better at lipreading through necessity, it’s not a guaranteed way of understanding what’s being said.

There are many reasons why lipreading is difficult, the main one being that people simply don’t speak to be lipread, they speak to be heard.

It’s often the case that people mumble, and as such don’t move their lips in a way that makes it easy to read.

Others cover their mouths when speaking, usually unconsciously, and then add to that background noise, mustaches and language complexities, and it’s not hard to see why lip reading is so difficult.

How 121 Captions can help

If you are looking for an oral translator, no matter which side of the Atlantic you’re on, then your search is over.

An oral translator is a specialist occupation, with very few people around the world able to do it to an exceptional degree.

Luckily, here at 121 Captions, we have some of the very best oral translators in the world working for us, all across the world and in multiple languages.

Our founder and MD, Tina Lannin, is one of the world’s foremost experts in professional lip reading.

She has been the official oral translator for several public events, including the Royal Weddings of Prince William and Kate Middleton for Sky and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for the BBC.

On top of that, Tina is not only an expert lip reader, but she can also lip-read Arabic, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

Tina is listed on the Expert Witness Register and has won a prestigious award at the Expert Witness Awards.

So if you need an oral translator for any reason, you know who to contact.