SayLens: Language Camera

Point your camera at a Chinese menu or sign and see how to say every line: tone-coloured Pinyin or Cantonese Jyutping, a translation, and a voice to hear it.

Point your camera at Chinese text and SayLens shows you how to say it. Tone-coloured Pinyin for Mandarin, or Jyutping or Yale for Cantonese, appears over every line of a menu, sign or brochure, live in the camera and on the photo you take. Tap a line for its meaning, hear it spoken, or show it full screen to the person you're talking to.

SayLens is a language camera for saying things out loud, not just understanding them. It reads Chinese text in Simplified and Traditional characters, with Mandarin and Cantonese readings.

SEE HOW TO SAY IT • Readings appear over each line as you point the camera, sized to the printed text • Mandarin: Pinyin with tone marks (gōng bǎo jī dīng) • Cantonese: Jyutping (gung1 bou2 gai1 ding1) or Yale (gūng bóu gāi dīng) • Switch between Mandarin and Cantonese at the top of the screen • Tap the shutter to keep the photo: the readings stay on it, and you can pinch to zoom • Or choose a photo from your library

TAP A LINE • A small card opens with the original, its reading and its meaning • Hear it in a Mandarin or Cantonese voice, at a slow or natural speed • Show it full screen for a waiter or shopkeeper: big characters with the reading underneath, swipe between lines, and the screen stays on • Copy it, or step through every line of the photo • Tap any word for its dictionary entry, with Mandarin and Cantonese readings and its meanings

MADE FOR BUSY MENUS • Turn readings off with the button at the bottom right to see just a box around each line, then tap a box for its reading • All lines shows every line of a photo as a card, stacked or with each syllable above its character • Copy or share all the lines at once

TRANSLATION • Lines are translated on your iPhone by Apple's on-device Translation, into English or another language it supports • The first time, iOS may ask to download a language; dictionary meanings are shown until then

LEARN THE TONES • Tone colours give each tone its own colour, and the tone marks or numbers are always there too • Show tone changes to see Mandarin as it's spoken: 你好 is written nǐ hǎo but said ní hǎo • The tone guide explains the Mandarin and Cantonese tones

HISTORY • Photos you scan and samples you try are kept in History on your iPhone • Swipe to delete one, or clear them all

PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account and no sign-in • No data collected: no analytics, no ads, no tracking • The camera is used only to read text, and the text is read on your iPhone • Photos, scans and translations stay on your iPhone • Reading, romanization and the dictionary work offline; translations work offline too once the languages are downloaded

No Chinese text nearby? Tap the Photos button and choose Try a Sample to see SayLens on a bundled menu or sign.

SayLens is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases.