Speaking Your Language

Gannon Schram, an economics major at Northwestern, and his friend Shrikar Lekkala co-founded MetaFrazo, a video-dubbing service that uses artificial intelligence to translate educational videos with both voice and lip synchronization. 

Named for the Greek word for translator, metafrázo, the service can translate anything from short lectures to professional presentations. Users upload their content, and MetaFrazo generates a new, dubbed video in as little as five minutes, depending on the project’s size. 

“Imagine how difficult it would be to learn something in another language,” says Schram, now a junior. “We want to make educational materials more accessible.” 

Schram decided to focus the startup’s offerings on education because of the increase in remote learning in the wake of the pandemic. So far, MetaFrazo can translate video content into more than 60 languages, he says. The team is working with the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to translate some of the school’s online courses. 

Joyce Anderson, an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern’s Farley Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, used MetaFrazo to translate video content from English to Spanish. As co-founder and chief operating officer of Honest Game, an educational software that tracks academic eligibility for aspiring college athletes, Anderson works with students who speak different languages at home. She was “very impressed” with MetaFrazo’s translation and is excited to see the service enter the education field.  

“When you have a language barrier, it’s difficult to access school resources,” Anderson says. “Providing resources in a student’s home language allows them to feel a sense of belonging, so they’re more likely to engage. When you have better engagement, you have better student outcomes.”  

Last spring, MetaFrazo advanced to the semifinals of VentureCat 2024, Northwestern’s annual student startup competition. Schram also tapped into the Northwestern Network Mentorship Program, which connects students with alumni across many industries.  

“The Northwestern alumni network has been incredibly helpful,” he says. “I’ve connected with people who could potentially use the MetaFrazo technology almost every day.” 

Schram hopes MetaFrazo can become a one-stop shop for translation and “compete with the Google Translates of the world.”