Improve your English on your work calls

Practise on the calls you already have. The useful feedback is about what you really said on Tuesday's standup, not a textbook dialogue: the sentences that came out stiff, and the words you reached for and didn't find. To get that, you need the call written down, and someone to point at a few lines.

A Mac can't do that on its own. It can caption a call so you follow fast speakers. A recorder with a speaking coach, like Koi, can do the rest. We make Koi, so read the Koi parts with that in mind.

macOS has Live Captions: a live transcript of the sound your Mac plays, on screen. When a colleague talks fast or the line is bad, reading along helps. From Apple's guide, checked October 21, 2026:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Accessibility in the sidebar.
2. Click Live Captions and turn it on.
3. Pick the language in its Language setting. By default it captions audio from all apps; Live Captions in FaceTime limits it to FaceTime.

Apple says it works only on Macs with Apple silicon, isn't available in every language or region, and that its accuracy may vary. It helps you follow a call. It doesn't keep a record of what you said or tell you how to say it better.

Koi records calls on your Mac, Zoom, Meet, Teams or any other, with no bot joining. Turn on its speaking coach once, and after each call you say yes to, the call's document gets a short coaching section:

• A few things you said, quoted from the call, each put the way a native speaker would naturally say it.
• Words and phrases from the call worth practising: the ones you reached for or stumbled on.

It only looks at your side of the call. Koi keeps your microphone apart from what the Mac plays, so it knows which lines were yours. If you spoke naturally, the section can come back empty rather than inventing fixes.

1. Open Koi's Settings, then Koi. Under Calls and meetings, keep “Offer to summarize recordings” on and turn on “Coach how I speak”.
2. Join your call. Tell people you're recording, then tap Fn + ⌃ and pick Online call, then Audio only or Audio and video.
3. When the call ends, tap Fn + ⌃ again, or the dock's stop button. The call's document opens.
4. Say yes to “Summarize this call?”. The notes go at the top: a title, a short summary, your to-dos, and the coaching.

The coach is for recorded online calls; a recording made in the room doesn't get one. The full recording steps are in our guide to recording a Zoom meeting, and on the Record calls page.

• It reads the transcript, not your voice. Pronunciation, accent and speed aren't judged; word choice and phrasing are.
• The transcript is made on your Mac by Koi's speech model. If the model misheard you, the coach works from what it heard, so a line it quotes can be a little off.
• Only the transcript's words go to Koi's AI, once you say yes, never the audio or the video. Nothing of it is kept on our server; the notes live in the document on your Mac.
• Only you see it. The follow-up email Koi can draft doesn't include it.
• It works for whatever language the call is in. English is the common case, but a German call gets German coaching.
• Summaries count toward your plan's Koi usage. The recording and transcript don't.

With “Live captions in my language” on (Settings, Koi, macOS 26 and later), what the others say on a recorded call shows at the bottom of the screen in the language you pick, with the words as they were said under it. You follow the meaning in your language and see the English at the same time, which is a quiet way to pick up how your colleagues phrase things.

Apple's Translation does it on your Mac. What the others say is sent nowhere for it, and the captions never show in a screen you share. More on the live captions page and in our guide to live translated captions.

Reading the notes once won't stick. Three habits that do:

• Make flashcards from it. Open the call's document, tap Fn + ⌘ and say “make flashcards from this page”. Koi writes real cards onto the page, and a Study pill opens them one at a time, each coming back when it's due. See Study.
• Rehearse out loud. Before a call that matters, tap Fn + ⌘ and talk it through in English: “I need to explain why the launch slipped, help me say it simply.” Koi answers out loud, in the language you speak to it. It's a general assistant, not an English course, and calls use your plan's Koi time.
• Fix your writing in place. Select an email or a Slack message, tap Fn + ⌘ and say “fix the grammar” or “make it sound more natural”. The changed words are highlighted, and ⌘Z takes it back. More on the assistant page.

A recorder on your Mac, Koi included, doesn't announce itself to the call. In many places, recording a call needs everyone's agreement. A simple “mind if I record this so I can review my English afterwards?” is honest, and most colleagues are glad to help. If anyone says no, don't record; Live Captions still helps you follow.

• You mostly struggle to follow fast speakers: Apple's Live Captions, free on Apple silicon.
• You want to hear how to say things better, from your own calls: Koi's speaking coach on recorded calls.
• You want both, plus your to-dos and a follow-up email after every call: Koi.

Koi needs a paid plan. Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. Recorded calls are unlimited on every plan. See pricing. Writing in English is the other half; our guide to speaking your language and typing English covers that.