rollingdeep

Hello,

Had a search through the threads but this didn't come up. I know they are not that accurate but as we are probably going to rent a mifi for our trip to Japan I was wondering if anyone has used any decent translation apps.

Probably won't be used that much but occasionally it might be helpful with a sign or menu. I have downloaded word lens but any other suggestions welcomed.

PS if this should be in the travel tech forum please move.

ChrisLi

Google Translate did it pretty good but require Internet connection for image recognition.

SpammersAreScum

Actually, Google bought the maker of Word Lens several months ago. I'm not sure how far they've gotten in integrating with Translate yet.

gnaget

The best ap is Imiwa but unfortunately it is iOS only. It is offline and quite large (500 MB when I last downloaded it.) Trying to look-up kanji is quite difficult and tedious. It has this multi-radical search feature, but it helps if you understand the components from which more complex kanji are constructed.

For hiragana and katakana then it helps a lot if you actually know them so that you can input it quickly. You can of course use a hiragana smartphone keyboard but then it takes forever to input it if you don't know it. For me it is easier to use the romaji keyboard that auto-converts into hiragana, but then you need to be able read the hiragana.

Menus tend to be written in kanji and stylized script is quite popular. They also like to write the prices in kanji so it is useful to memorize kanji numbering. Even some Japanese people struggle with menus.

abmj-jr

This is what often trips me up. I can read basic machine print hiragana and katakana but when they toss in the cutesy stylized script it sometimes becomes unintelligible to my un-fluent eyes.

freecia

OCR Image Recognition is only in the Android version. Google translate app on iOS and Android both allow hand drawn input.

Chrome browser translate is enabled for iOS and Android.

Docomo offers a menu translator with OCR on Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ehonyaku&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ku.ja2en&hl=en

ksandness

Most signs that are important for tourists (directions to famous sights, entrances and exits inside stations, destination signs on the front of trains, names of major stores and hotels) are already in both Japanese and English.

As far as restaurants and coffee shops are concerned, most affordable restaurants (the ones not designed for the expense account crowd) have either plastic models of the food in the window or a menu with photos of the food. If you eat inside your hotel, breakfast is likely to be a buffet, and if your hotel has restaurants for lunch and dinner (although I would recommend going out into the city to try the local food), the menus are likely to be in both Japanese and English. If you go into a department store, there is likely to be an information desk with personnel who speak various languages, as well as an English-language map of the store. Announcements on the major trains and all the subway lines are given in both English and Japanese. The only type of transport that is difficult without knowledge of the language is the city buses, but tourists are unlikely to need to ride local buses unless they are visiting friends who live away from the subway and train lines.

For people who do not speak any Japanese, I recommend the Berlitz phrasebooks, because they have everything written both phonetically and in Japanese script. If the person you need to talk to does not speak English or does not understand your attempt at Japanese, you can point to what you want to say.

Everyone you are likely to meet in Japan has had at least three years of English in school. This does not necessarily mean that they speak it, but they can usually understand a simple message written in block letters or know how to find someone who can.

I think a combination of a phrasebook and reliance on bilingual signs is much more efficient than trying to patch together three layers of technology.

freecia

OP Just curious - do you have dietary restrictions? This is an area where OCR and standard point to communicate cards would likely fall short in Japan. IMO, it would be better to find restaurants ahead of time which serves food you can eat, read the menu, then confirm with the waiter/waitress that the item you've selected doesn't contain any hidden ingredients you are allergic to. That's a different topic/thread, though.

rollingdeep

I don't but my partner doesn't eat meat (eats fish). We are planning to look at places to eat before and make a list and add to google as backups so we can navigate to them easily but to be honest we usually just wander around and go somewhere we like the look of.

In addition I am getting a friend to write this out in Japanese on a card so worst case we can show that to a restaurant. No allergies so even if we get something with meat I can just eat it

As for everyone else thanks for all the thoughts and options will start to look at some of those. I know it won't be perfect and there will be plenty of English for us non-Japanese speakers. I am not worried just thought I would give it a try if I have the mifi anyway to see how accurate it might be. As others have mentioned with all the tech required I will probably give up after the first few tries.

Will also take a look at the phrasebook - we have some common phrases in the back of guide book we have will check what they cover.

ainternational

I've tried a bunch of apps, from simple text translation tools and dictionaries to Japan Goggles - which attempts to perform a real time translation via your camera which you aim at Japanese characters.

I've found them all to be terrible. I went back to Google's translate app. I find it to be the least terrible option.

My personal experience is that in individual word or character translations, these things work relatively well, it's in sentences and paragraphs where they seem to fail. I speak almost no Japanese - so I am no expert in what I am about to conjecture - but I would guess that due to the differences in sentence structure between languages, translators that work by translating individuals words will often produce confusing translations. Versus a translator (like a human) which looks at phrases and full sentences, can capture the right meaning.

If anyone knows of any electronic translators which perform phrase / sentence level translation to/from Japanese, that would be quite useful.

Doc Savage

I have an app on my iPad called "SayHi Translate" that does a good job with Spanish and appears to translate German well (as far as I can tell with my basic German knowledge).

It has an option for Japanese. You speak into the lPad, and it translates verbally and with script in both directions.

The app was quite inexpensive when I got it, $2-3. It has a large number of languages. I use it relatively frequently if translators don't show up with some of my patients. It's worth the price just to play with.

Unfortunately, this won't work well for translating signs, menus.

Have a great trip!

abmj-jr

I found the best "app" was to spend a few intensive months learning basic, traveler's Japanese.

freecia

Google Translate for iOS now has a snap to capture OCR option which has been on Android for some time . It also comes with a live image translate similar to Word Lens and speak to translate for a few languages (no Japanese yet)
http://www.minews26.com/content/?p=36185

@abmj-jr - Do you recommend any particular courses, apps, or books to learn basic traveler's Japanese?

abmj-jr

I think that is very subjective. What works for some isn't so good for others. As an example, Rosetta Stone seems to be beloved and recommended by many. I tried it and hated it. YMMV.

That said, what worked for me years ago was a combination of the book "Japanese for Busy People" to study at home, the tiny Berlitz Japanese for Travelers for something to carry around in my pocket and some Pimsleur CDs to listen to in the car. I also put JquickTrans on my laptop for look-ups, got a couple of small practice primers on Hiragana and Katakana for written Japanese and downloaded a bunch of subtitled Japanese TV shows and movies to train my ear to proper pronunciation. I credit that last for several compliments I have received regarding my pronunciation from folks who didn't believe I wasn't more fluent than I am. Later, I got a couple of books and dictionaries to help me with Kanji but that goes beyond "basic traveler's Japanese." I also (no joke) got some manga (in Japanese) to practice reading. That was tough as they don't really write those at an elementary level.

Like I said, I did it "intensively." By the time I made my first visit about 6 months later, I could make travel arrangements, use small, local transport options, order meals and buy sundries in little neighborhood shops and engage in simple conversations with locals on trains, buses and in parks. It made my first visit more enjoyable than just sticking with the usual tourist-friendly options. As I visited many times after that, I got more and more fluent with practice but am still FAR from able to pass the basic certification course. That will likely never happen for someone who is self-taught like me. If I wanted to do that, I'd take some real courses, probably at the local Cal State campus. I'll never do that as I accomplished what I wanted - to make my visits easier and more fulfilling.

freecia

Thanks for the info on what worked for you. If I was able to learn Japanese from listening and repeating, I'd be speaking like a high school girl long long ago (thank you anime). That said, it is disconcerting when I'm able to mentally translate a conversation acknowledgements (Aizuchi) http://youtu.be/nWCtuaLfpVw when in reality, I don't actually understand the conversation at all.