Every word was right. They still did not understand it.

Your speaker says a Bible reference, or an expression everybody in the room grew up with, or the name of a street two minutes away. The translation is perfect and the newcomer is still lost. Smart Hints notices those moments and puts a short note on their screen, in their own language, while the talk carries on.

Translation moves the words. It does not move what everybody already knows.

A room full of regulars shares a lot of unspoken background. Which book of the Bible that is. What that saying means. Which building the speaker is talking about. Why the joke about the coffee is funny.

Somebody who arrived in the country last month has none of it. They can read every word and still not know what just happened.

Smart Hints is for that gap. It is the friend who leans over and whispers one sentence of explanation, without interrupting the person at the front.

You do not tell it what to look for.

It notices these while the talk is happening, and it only speaks up when a note would actually help.

Scripture and readings

A reference thrown out in passing gets a line saying where it comes from, so somebody who did not grow up with the book is not left behind.

Sayings and idioms

Expressions that mean nothing when taken apart. The note says what the speaker meant by it, in the listener’s own language.

Things everyone local knows

A street, a holiday, a television programme, a national habit. One line of background and the newcomer is back in the room with everybody else.

People and places by name

A person the speaker assumes everybody has heard of, or a place that carries meaning locally. Who they are, in half a sentence.

Measurements and money

Miles, degrees in the other scale, a currency they have never held. A short note turns a number into something they can picture.

Words a community uses its own way

Ordinary words that mean something particular inside your community. The note explains the meaning being used here, not the dictionary one.

Nothing.

There is no list to fill in, no template to choose, no step before the gathering. It starts when your speaker starts.

It is one of three things guarding the meaning.

Each one covers something the others cannot. All three are included, and they work best together.

Keywords, the words it must not guess

You write down the names, places and terms that have to be exactly right. They come out the same way every time, in every language.

Keywords →

Context Enhancer, your notes read in advance

Paste in the outline or the agenda the day before. The whole session then knows where the talk is going.

Context Enhancer →

Smart Hints, the thing you did not plan for

Speakers go off the page. Smart Hints catches the reference nobody wrote down, including the one your speaker thought of thirty seconds ago.

If you only ever used one of the three, use this one. It needs nothing from you on the first day.

The rest of what keeps a gathering understandable.

Smart Translation

Whole sentences built from meaning. Hints explain the references; this gets the sentence itself right.

How it translates →

MulingDisplay

Put the words on the projector, the foyer monitor or the screen in the overflow room. Hints can have a zone of their own.

See the big screen →

Every language

Smart Hints writes its notes in whichever language the listener chose. Look up which ones your room needs.

Look yours up →

Questions we get about Smart Hints

Do I have to set anything up?

No. There is no list to write, no template to pick and nothing to do before the gathering. It works from the moment your speaker starts talking.

Which language are the notes written in?

The listener’s. Somebody following in Tagalog gets the note in Tagalog. Somebody following in Arabic gets it in Arabic, written right to left, on the same screen as the words.

Will it interrupt the words?

No. The note sits beside what is being said and the captions keep running. Nobody has to stop reading to look at it.

Will it explain things constantly?

No. It only speaks up when a reference would genuinely leave somebody behind. A talk with no references produces no notes at all.

Does it cost extra?

On a church pass it is included. If you pay as you go, it uses a little more per minute while it is on, and the rate is shown before you go live.

Can I turn it off?

Yes, in the room settings. Some gatherings would rather keep the screen completely plain, and that is a perfectly good choice.

Try it on a real gathering.

Open a room, and Smart Hints is on from the first sentence.

Home / Features / Smart Hints