Real-Time Speech Translation Gets More Human: Now with Control Over Formality, Gender, and Custom Models in LILT Converse

Today, we are excited to announce major enhancements to LILT Converse, our real-time speech translation solution for Android phones and tablets, that brings its translations closer to how people actually talk.

Users can now choose whether Korean and Spanish translations sound formal or informal, set gender marking for Spanish, and run translation and speech recognition models trained on their own terminology instead of generic ones.

Why does this matter? Every conversation carries two messages: what you say, and how you say it. Get the words right but the tone wrong, and the listener hears something you never intended. With these enhancements, Converse produces real-time speech translations that are professionally appropriate for the tone and setting of every conversation.

Why tone is mission-critical

Defense and intelligence teams rely on conversation to gather information and build cooperation. A field interview, a liaison meeting, or a negotiation with a local partner all depend on the other person staying engaged and willing to talk.

Generic translation tools like Google Translate convey the words, but they ignore social register: the layer of language that signals respect, familiarity, and status. In languages like Korean and Spanish, register is built into grammar itself. Using the wrong level of formality can offend a counterpart, undermine your credibility, or derail a meeting before it gets going.

When a translation sounds robotic or rude, the listener stops focusing on the message and starts reacting to the delivery. Real-time translation in these settings needs to be human-grade, not a distraction.

What's new in LILT Converse

These enhancements give users control over how translations sound, and give organizations control over what their models know, ultimately delivering translations that sound less like a machine and more like a fluent human speaker.

• Formality control. Users can choose between two formality levels for translations into Korean and Spanish. In a formal Korean meeting, for example, Converse can produce the polite register your counterpart expects, rather than defaulting to casual speech. Support for more languages will follow.
• Gender marking. Spanish marks gender throughout a sentence, from adjectives to articles. Users can now set which gender markings Converse should use for the whole conversation, so translations stay accurate and appropriate for the people in the room.
• Adapted models. Every mission and every organization has its own vocabulary. Existing LILT customers can deploy their domain-adapted, custom translation and speech recognition models directly to Converse. New customers can have a custom model built quickly, so Converse understands their terminology from day one.
• Conversational speech speed and accuracy. People don't speak in tidy, complete sentences. They pause, restart, and interrupt themselves. Converse models are trained on such real spoken conversation, so they make sense of incomplete sentences and interrupted thoughts as they happen. An integrated pipeline of proprietary models, optimized and trained together, delivers in-progress translations with under 0.5 seconds of latency, keeping the conversations flowing naturally.

Beyond defense and intelligence

The same capabilities that matter in a liaison meeting matter in everyday business. Enterprises can use Converse to onboard and train staff who don't speak English, explaining safety procedures or company policies in a tone that feels respectful rather than mechanical.

Customer-facing teams benefit too. Whether it's a front-desk interaction, a service call, or a sales conversation across a language barrier, the right register helps customers feel understood. And with adapted models, Converse speaks your industry and mission language.

Available now

Formality control, gender marking, adapted models, and the rest of these enhancements are available in Converse starting today. If your team needs real-time speech translation that gets both the meaning and the tone right, whether in the field, on the shop floor, or across the counter, we would love to show you what Converse can do.

Reach out to learn more or request a demo.