NotebookLM’s AI podcasts go multilingual in Google’s latest update

While Google’s AI-powered notetaking tool, NotebookLM, is nowhere near Google’s other services like Gmail and Google Drive, or other productivity tools like Notion and Obsidian in terms of popularity, it’s still very much in its development stage. NotebookLM has won the hearts of students and researchers worldwide thanks to its features and the fact that it stays grounded within the sources you provide it with. Ultimately, this means the chances of the AI tool fabricating information or simply telling you what you want to hear are extremely slim.

What began NotebookLM’s boom was the Audio Overviews feature, which can convert your sources into an engaging and lively podcast where two virtual hosts discuss the content from your material. I’m a college student, and I’ve found that Audio Overviews are excellent for those times when I need to quickly listen to a summary of my sources while commuting, doing everyday chores, or simply want a low-effort way to revise without spending hours reading through my notes.

Google announced Audio Overviews in NotebookLM toward the end of 2024, and since its launch, the AI-generated podcasts have only been available in English. While Google has continuously upgraded the feature by adding an interactive tool that lets you jump into the podcast, and extending Audio Overview capability to Google Gemini and even Google Docs, the podcasts could only be understood by English-speaking users. That’s finally changing today, with NotebookLM’s iconic Audio Overviews finally going multilingual.

NotebookLM now supports over 50 languages

Today, Google announced through a blog post on The Keyword that NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews can now be generated in over 50 languages, including Hindi, Turkish, Afrikaans, Spanish, and more. For your reference, here’s a list of all the languages NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews now supports:

You can select your preferred language by heading to the NotebookLM website and clicking the Settings button in the top-right corner. Then, select Output Language from the menu and expand the dropdown under Choose your language override header. All you need to do at this point is select the language of your choice.

If you choose not to change the Output Language, NotebookLM will default to your Google Account’s language. You can check this by heading to the Google Account page, switching to the Personal info tab, and then scrolling all the way down to the General preferences for the web section. Here, your account’s default language will be displayed next to Language.

Non-English language support is still in beta and began rolling out today, so it may take a couple of days before it’s available on your end.