Live Kaiwa
real-time Japanese conversation support
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What is Live Kaiwa?
Live Kaiwa is a real-time Japanese conversation assistant that helps users understand complex Japanese conversations as they happen. It transcribes Japanese speech in real time and provides English translations, running summaries of what's being discussed, and suggested responses you can say back. The tool was built by someone living in rural Japan who struggled to follow fast-paced neighborhood meetings with local dialect and cultural references.
The assistant works by streaming audio from your browser microphone via WebRTC to a server running Kotoba Whisper for speech-to-text transcription. It uses multi-pass correction where buffered audio is re-transcribed with higher accuracy and replaces earlier text. Each batch of transcript is sent to an LLM that generates English translations, summary bullets, and suggested replies with text-to-speech. Everything streams back to the browser UI in real time.
Live Kaiwa is designed for Japanese learners and foreigners living in Japan who can handle day-to-day Japanese but struggle with fast speech, local dialects, multi-person discussions, and conversations with cultural references. It's particularly useful for neighborhood meetings, business discussions, group conversations, and any situation where rapid Japanese speech makes comprehension difficult.
Session data stays entirely in the browser with nothing stored server-side, providing privacy for conversations. The tool uses a simple pay-as-you-go pricing model with no subscriptions required.
Live Kaiwa pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Simple pay-as-you-go pricing with no subscriptions. Free trial includes $2.00 in credits (approximately 15 minutes of conversation). Credits are used as you talk, and you pay only for what you use. No monthly recurring charges.
Live Kaiwa pros
- Real-time Japanese speech transcription
- Instant English translation of Japanese speech
- Running summary of conversation topics
- Suggested responses with text-to-speech
- Multi-pass transcription for higher accuracy
- Works directly in browser with microphone
- No server-side data storage for privacy
- Pay-as-you-go pricing with no subscriptions
- $2 free credits (~15 minutes) to start
- Helps with fast speech comprehension
- Handles local Japanese dialects
- Useful for multi-person conversations
- Good for neighborhood meetings and business
- Kotoba Whisper optimized for Japanese
- Live UI updates stream back in real time
Live Kaiwa cons
- Only supports Japanese language
- Requires browser microphone access
- Needs stable internet connection for streaming
- Pay-as-you-go may cost more than subscription for heavy users
- Initial transcription has lower accuracy before correction
- Limited to ~15 minutes on free trial
- May have latency in real-time updates
- Not available as mobile app
Frequently asked questions about Live Kaiwa
What is Live Kaiwa?
Live Kaiwa is a real-time Japanese conversation assistant that transcribes Japanese speech as it happens and provides English translations, running summaries, and suggested responses to help you stay oriented in complex conversations.
How does Live Kaiwa work?
When you start a session, your browser microphone captures audio and streams it via WebRTC to a server. Kotoba Whisper performs fast first-pass transcription, then multi-pass correction improves accuracy. An LLM generates English translations, summary bullets, and suggested replies with TTS, all streaming back to your browser in real time.
What languages does Live Kaiwa support?
Live Kaiwa only supports Japanese speech-to-text with English translations. It is specifically designed for Japanese conversation assistance.
Is Live Kaiwa free to use?
Yes, you can start for free with $2.00 in credits (approximately 15 minutes). After using the free credits, it uses pay-as-you-go pricing where you pay only for what you use with no subscriptions required.
Does Live Kaiwa store my conversation data?
No, session data stays entirely in your browser. Nothing is stored server-side, which provides privacy for your conversations.
What kind of conversations is Live Kaiwa best for?
Live Kaiwa is ideal for fast-paced multi-person conversations, neighborhood meetings, business discussions, and situations with local dialects or cultural references that are difficult to follow even if you speak Japanese reasonably well.
Do I need to install anything to use Live Kaiwa?
No installation required. Live Kaiwa works directly in your browser. You just need to allow microphone access when you visit the site.
What is Kotoba Whisper?
Kotoba Whisper is the speech-to-text engine Live Kaiwa uses for Japanese transcription. It runs a fast first pass and then performs higher-accuracy multi-pass correction on buffered audio.
Can I use Live Kaiwa on my phone?
Live Kaiwa works in a browser with microphone access. While it may work on mobile browsers, it was designed primarily for desktop browser use with headphones to prevent echo.
Why was Live Kaiwa built?
The creator built Live Kaiwa because they live in rural Japan and struggled to follow neighborhood meetings with fast speech, local dialect, and references to people/events from decades ago. They would only understand about 5% of these conversations before using the tool.