PinyinTranslator

Point your camera at Chinese or Japanese text to see pinyin and kana readings instantly. Tap any word for offline definitions. No account, no ads, no photos saved.

PinyinTranslator turns your camera into a reading aid for Chinese and Japanese for free. Point it at a book, comic, menu, sign, or screen, and it shows the pinyin (Chinese) or the kana reading (Japanese) right above each word, live.

Tap a word to see its dictionary definition. Tap more words to look up a whole phrase, with every selected word and its definitions listed together.

LIVE READINGS • Chinese: tone-marked pinyin above every word • Japanese: hiragana readings above every word • Switch between Chinese and Japanese in one tap

BUILT FOR LEARNERS • Tap any word for its definition, including alternate readings • Select several words to see all of their definitions stacked together • Tap a highlighted word again to remove it from the lookup • Expand the definition panel when you want more room to read

MADE FOR COMICS AND PRINTED PAGES • Reads vertical Japanese text in the order manga is read • Optional focus box lets you scan just one speech bubble or paragraph • Ignores stray numbers, symbols, and punctuation so you only see real text

PRIVATE AND OFFLINE • Text recognition and dictionary lookups happen on your device • No account, no ads, no tracking • Camera images are never saved or uploaded

Dictionary data comes from CC-CEDICT (Chinese) and EDICT2 (Japanese).

PinyinTranslator is a reading and dictionary tool. It shows readings and word definitions, not full sentence translations.