a method of communicating speech across a communication link using very low digital data bandwidth is disclosed , having the steps of : translating speech into text at a source terminal ; communicating the text across the communication link to a destination terminal ; and translating the text into reproduced speech at the destination terminal . in a preferred embodiment , a speech profile corresponding to the speaker is used to reproduce the speech at the destination terminal so that the reproduced speech more closely approximates the original speech of the speaker . a default voice profile is used to recreate speech when a user profile is unavailable . user specific profiles can be created during training prior to communication or can be created during communication from actual speech . the user profiles can be updated to improve accuracy of recognition and to enhance reproduction of speech . the updated user profiles are transmitted to the destination terminals as needed .