Translate Chinese from a photo or image to English

What this page does

It is made for reading menus, signs, tickets and labels while you travel. Take or choose a photo, and:

• Your photo comes back with numbered boxes around each line of Chinese it found.
• The lines are listed as text under the photo. Press "Go to this text on the image" under a line to find it on the photo, or tap a box on the photo to find its line.
• Listen (speaker button): hear a line read aloud in Mandarin, to say a dish or a station name yourself, or to play it to someone.
• Translate to English with Pinyin: one press puts each word's pinyin and English meaning under its line, from the same dictionary as our Pinyin Annotator. Tap a word to open its dictionary entry. With Enhance Translation with Microsoft Translator on (it is, unless you switch it off), each line is also read in context, so a word with many meanings gets the one that fits, marked with a cloud.
• Three photo views: connected labels, English over the photo, or English replacing the Chinese in the image. The overlay fills the photo area on every screen; zoom helps with dense menus. Replacement uses background-colored patches and keeps your original intact. Switch off Show English on photo to return to the original with numbered boxes.
• Translate with Study Guide: one button sends the text to our Chinese to English translator in a new tab, with the pinyin and the meaning of each word.
• Simplified and traditional characters, including vertical signs. A character it is not sure of is shown as ■, never guessed.

Need the text to copy, edit or add pinyin to? Chinese OCR puts it in a text box.

A free Chinese photo translator, online

You can translate Chinese text from an image to English for free, right here in your browser. There is no app to install, no account and no limit on how many photos you read. Take a picture with your camera, choose one from your phone, or on a computer drag and drop a PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP or iPhone HEIC (Safari) image onto the box at the top of the page.

A typical photo is read in a few seconds (a long menu takes longer), and it comes back with every line of Chinese outlined and numbered. Under it you get the same lines as text, with the pinyin and English meaning of each word one press away, the whole text ready for our full translator, and a speaker button to hear any line in Mandarin.

What makes it different from other image translators:

• You don't upload your photo. Most online image translators send your picture to a server. This one reads it on your own phone or computer, so a photo of a receipt, a ticket or a notice never leaves your device.
• It shows you what it could not read. A character it is not sure of is shown as ■ instead of a confident guess, so you know which word to check.
• You learn the words, not just the gist. Pinyin, dictionary meanings and a link to each word's entry, so the next menu is easier to read on your own.

How to translate Chinese from a photo to English

1. Take or choose a photo. Press Take a photo to use your phone's camera, or Choose a photo to pick an image. On a computer you can drag and drop a PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP or iPhone HEIC (Safari) image onto the box. The first time, the reader downloads once from this site, about 8.6 MB, and your browser keeps it.
2. See the Chinese it found. The photo is read on your device, in this browser tab. It comes back with each line of Chinese outlined and numbered, and the lines listed underneath as text. A character it is not sure of is shown as ■.
3. Translate it to English. Press Translate to English with Pinyin to see each word's pinyin and English meaning under its line, or Translate with Study Guide to open the text in our Chinese to English translator. Press the speaker beside a line to hear it in Mandarin.

Your photo stays on your device

The reader is a text-recognition model that runs in your browser. When you take or choose a photo, it is read inside this tab and nowhere else: it is not uploaded, not saved and not shared, and it is gone when you leave the page or read the next one. The site never asks for camera permission. The button opens your phone's own camera app, and you choose what to hand back.

The text it reads stays on your device too, until you press a button. Press Translate to English with Pinyin and that text, never the photo, goes to our server to be looked up in our dictionary, and is not stored; unless you switch off Enhance Translation with Microsoft Translator, our server also sends it to Microsoft to be translated. Press Translate with Study Guide and it goes to our Chinese to English translator, the same as typing it there. Either way, characters the reader was unsure of are left out. Want to copy or edit the text instead? Chinese OCR gives it to you in a text box. Details are in section 18.4 of our Privacy Policy.

What it cannot do

We tested it on 30 real photos of menus, signs, packaging and printed notices. It read 87.4% of the characters, showed 8.7% as ■ and did not find 3.9%. 0% were shown wrong. The gaps are where you would expect:

• Handwriting. Chalkboards and handwritten menus are often refused or missed. For one character, draw it instead.
• Curved, tiny or blurred print. Labels around a bottle, text far away and shaky photos lose characters.
• Poor photos. Low light, glare, shadows, a steep angle or text that is cut off or covered all make mistakes more likely.
• Decorative calligraphy on shop fronts and logos.
• Meaning in context. Translate to English with Pinyin gives each word's dictionary senses, not a translation of the line, and a dish name often means more than its words. Microsoft Translator's suggestions are machine translation and can be wrong too. A word with ■ in it is looked up in pieces. For a translation, press Translate with Study Guide.
• Safety. Do not rely on it for allergies or medicine. Ask, and use the pharmacy phrases.

A character it is not sure of is shown as ■, never as its best guess, because a wrong character looks exactly like a right one.

No guarantee. We do not guarantee that the text read from a photo or camera image, or any translation of it, is accurate or complete. Use it as a guide and check anything that matters with a person.

Getting a good reading

Get close enough that the text fills most of the photo, hold the phone level with the menu or sign, and tap the screen to focus before you shoot. Avoid glare from lamps and laminated menus by tilting slightly. A photo of one section reads faster and more accurately than a whole wall of text.

Reading a menu? Our guide to reading a Chinese menu explains the cooking words that come up again and again, and the restaurant phrases help you order once you know what you want.

Questions people ask

Is it free?

Yes. There is no account, no sign-up and no limit on how many photos you read.

How do I translate Chinese text from an image to English?

Take a photo of the Chinese or choose an image, wait a few seconds while it is read on your device, then press Translate to English with Pinyin. Each line of Chinese gets the pinyin and English meaning of its words underneath. For a translation of the whole text, press Translate with Study Guide. There is no app to install and nothing to sign up for.

What kind of images can I use?

A photo from your camera, or any image your browser opens, up to 25 MB: PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, and HEIC from an iPhone (in Safari). Screenshots work too. Photos over about 50 megapixels (a phone's 108- or 200-megapixel mode) are refused, because opening one can use more memory than a phone's browser has.

Is my photo uploaded or stored?

No. The photo is read on your own phone or computer, inside this browser tab, and is never sent to ThePureLanguage or anyone else. It is not saved, and it is gone when you leave the page or read another photo. The text it reads stays on your device too, unless you press a button: Pinyin & meaning sends the text (never the photo) to our server to be looked up in our dictionary, and to Microsoft Translator as well unless you switched that off, and Translate to English sends it to our Chinese translator.

Can it show the pinyin and what each word means?

Yes. Press Translate to English with Pinyin and each line gets its words underneath, with the pinyin and up to three English meanings from the same dictionary as our Pinyin Annotator. Tap a word to open its full dictionary entry. These are dictionary meanings of each word, not a translation of the line; for that, press Translate with Study Guide.

A word shows several meanings. Which one is it?

Leave Enhance Translation with Microsoft Translator on (it is on unless you switch it off). Pressing Translate to English with Pinyin then also has Microsoft translate each line in context, and where its English for a word differs from our dictionary's it is added after a slash, marked with a cloud (on a menu, 元 becomes yuan). If the words cannot be matched one by one, the line's translation is shown under it instead. Switch it off and the text (never the photo) goes to our dictionary only; this device remembers that you switched it off.

Can it read the text aloud?

Yes. Press the speaker button beside a line to hear it in Mandarin, read by a synthetic voice, which helps you say a dish or a place name, or play it to someone. Only that line's text is sent to our server to be spoken, never the photo, and nothing is sent until you press it.

How is this different from Chinese OCR?

Both use the same reader on your device. This page is made for travelers: it shows your photo with each line of Chinese numbered, lists the lines, reads a line aloud and translates the text. Chinese OCR gives you the text in an editable box to copy, add pinyin to or convert, which suits screenshots, scans and documents.

Why does it download something first?

Reading a photo without uploading it means the reader has to run on your device. The first time you press Take a photo or Choose a photo, it downloads once from this site, about 8.6 MB, while your camera is open, and your browser keeps it for next time. On mobile data you can press Download it now on Wi-Fi before you go.

How accurate is it?

We tested it on 30 real photos of menus, signs, packaging and printed notices (2,143 characters). It read 87.4% of the characters, showed 8.7% as unreadable (■) and did not find 3.9%; 0% were shown wrong. That is a test of 30 photos, not a guarantee: blurred, tiny, curved or handwritten text can still be misread. Printed text that is in focus and photographed straight on does best.

Why are some characters shown as ■?

A character the reader is not confident about is shown as ■ instead of a guess. A misread character looks exactly like a correct one, so a gap you can see is safer than a word that is quietly wrong. Move closer, hold the phone straight and try again.

Does it read handwriting or traditional characters?

It reads printed simplified and traditional characters, including vertical text. Handwritten menus and boards are often refused or missed; for a single handwritten character, draw it in our handwriting lookup instead.

Can I rely on it for allergies or medicine?

No. It is a machine reading and can miss or refuse characters. For allergies, medicine or anything safety-related, ask staff or a pharmacist, and use the phrasebook's pharmacy phrases to explain what you need.

Related free tools

• Chinese OCR: copy the Chinese text out of an image or screenshot
• Draw a Chinese Character: look up one character you cannot type, handwritten or printed
• Chinese to English Translator: characters, pinyin and meaning for text you can paste
• Travel Phrasebook: what to say and what you will hear, situation by situation
• Address Card: show a taxi driver where you are going
• Chinese Dictionary: the full entry behind every word
• Simplified ↔ Traditional Converter: the same text in the other script