Top 15 Japanese Translators for Language Learners

japanese translators

Finding the right Japanese translator, that correctly translate any word or sentence from your native language can be hard! In this article, we will look at the best Japanese language translators that can assist you in getting the meaning of a Japanese phrase or word quickly and efficiently, whether during a conversation, when watching a movie or just seeing a Japanese post. Watch your Japanese improve, with these best Japanese translators! 

15 Best Japanese Translators

1. RomajiDesu

Available on: Browser

Price: FREE

RomajiDesu is a free website that features several detailed and useful tools to assist you in studying and translating Japanese. Aside from translating Japanese, RomanjiDesu comes with a bidirectional Japanese to English dictionary, which you can use to check up the words you don’t understand, thereby enhancing your Japanese vocabulary.

With RomanjiDesu, you can also learn about sentence structure and particles, because it highlights particles in blue text and places spaces between words. A morphological analyzer, Mecab, is used by the translator to decompose Japanese sentences into different parts based on word types, forms, and pronunciation.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Comes with audio pronunciationNo mobile version
Radical multiple lookupNot a lot of context

2. Jisho

Available on: Browser

Price: FREE

Jisho is another popular Japanese translator that’s very easy to use and has its own set of features. You can search for translations by drawing kanji or by verbally saying a word or phrase like “yes” or “no” in Japanese. Plus, you can search via kanji radicals, wildcards, multiple search terms, and hashtags. This translator is sophisticated enough to allow for extremely precise searches, such as popular terms ending in a particular kanji, organization, family names, and even kanji with a specific number of strokes.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Have bonus featuresNo mobile version
Free to useThe platform isn’t up to date

3. J-Talk’s Kanji to Hiragana

Available on: Browser

Price: FREE

If you need to rapidly translate a sentence or phrase or read a kanji, use this Japanese translator. Paste your kanji phrase, then click “Convert.” You will immediately see the kanji’s romaji and English definition. Click “Kana” in the upper left to see hiragana. Easy-peasy. You can only convert kanji a few times before J-demo Talk’s version expires and you must purchase. If you like it, it may be a good learning investment.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Own in-built translatorsYou must support them on PayPal
Translate large blocks of Japanese textJapanese to English only

4. Tangorin

Available on: Browser | iOS | Android

Price: FREE

Tangorin is an online Japanese-English dictionary with example sentences and many features to help you learn Japanese. Our Japanese dictionary makes it easy for you to search any word to translate Japanese from English to Japanese, or Japanese to English.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Inclusion of kanji stroke orderAndroid version not user friendly
Ease of searching words via radicals.Search button doesn’t work properly

5. Midori

Available on: App Store

Price: FREE

Midori is one of the best Japanese translators that can is a Japanese to English and English to Japanese dictionary with almost 1 million entries and over 150,000 example sentences. This app allows users to search new words or phrases by typing in kana or romaji, and even allowing you to practice the strokes. 

Each entry includes the “grade level” of the word, meaning, a radical breakdown, and even related words. Each of the words also include their own example sentences with furigana.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Can be downloaded offline Not available on Android
List of kanji as taught in Japanese schools from grade 1 to 6App can sometimes crash

6. Rikaikun

Available on: Chrome extension

Price: FREE

Rikaikun for Chrome and Rikaichan for Firefox are incredibly handy extensions for Japanese learners who need an on-the-spot translator. To use Rikaikun, simply add the extension to your Chrome or Firefox browser, respectively. Once it’s activated, all you need to do to translate a Japanese word or phrase is hover over the text with your cursor. A translation will pop up and you can hit Shift+Enter to see a more detailed explanation of the kanji you’ve selected. If you’re an advanced learner who reads Japanese text online, you will find this best Japanese translator extremely useful for looking up unfamiliar kana quickly and easily.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Efficient text-to-speech functionalitiesFeatures do not work optimally
Customizable optionsTranslation not available for many languages

7. Linguee

Available on: Browser | iOS | Android

Price: FREE

Linguee is a new kind of dictionary app for Japanese-English, French-English, Spanish-English and other language pairs. You will find reliable translations in the shortest time, even when you’re offline. It also serves as dictionary to check up the meaning of Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and many more words. The platform is reliable, as it is created by over 400 lexicographers.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Translator is free of chargeLimited number of languages
Available offlineHistory fills up fast and crashes

8. DeepL

Available on: Browser | iOS | Android | Chrome extension

Price: 6.99 – 10.49 USD/ month

DeepL is another popular language translator that is known for its quality translation due to the use of advanced Artificial intelligence technology. Your Japanese translation comes easy with DeepL, you can translate your PowerPoint and MS Word document to or from Japanese. Additionally, your Japanese word can easily be looked up using the built-in dictionary. With the dictionary, you can search both the source text and translation for words. You can also use the DeepL Pro Japanese translations within your computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool to pre-translate your files automatically, enrich your translation memory, and maintain your text’s original formatting.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Make improvement based on users experienceQuality differs depending on language pair
Automatic text captureQuality differs depending on language pair

9. Yandex

Available on: Browser | iOS | Android

Price: 50 USD/month

Yandex translate is a unique Japanese translator with multiple options to choose from. With varieties of options to translate and features like synchronized translation for 85 other languages, predictive typing, dictionary with transcription, pronunciation, usage examples, and many other features, you can translate and learn Japanese at the same time. In addition to translating words, whole texts, or phrases like “goodbye” in Japanese, Yandex translate also allows you to translate whole websites from Japanese to English or any other language of your choice. You don’t have to worry about data costs while using Yandex, as you can also make use of the offline version, anywhere, anytime.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Voice input translationThe mobile version consumes space
Comes with a dictionary to learnNot enough written text for a language model to learn from

10. Ulatus

Available on: Browser

Price: 20-50 USD/month

Founded in 2005, Ulatus is an experienced translation company that specializes in Asian languages. Ulatus possesses more than 3000 highly qualified translators on the internet. Whether you have a small task or a large Japanese document, you always find assistance from Ulatus, as their translations range from books to video games and script experts with long years of practical experience.

Ulatus supports 11 specific industries, with the most demanded ones entailing healthcare, finance, education, legal and academic sectors. At the same time, it covers 50+ languages, with a focus on Japanese.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Accurate translation servicesPrice information not available
No hidden costsDelayed delivery

11. Imiwa?

Available on:  iOS 

Price: Free

Imiwa? is one of the best Japanese translator dictionary apps, that doesn’t requiere internet connection. Imiwa? offers Japanese translation in 4 languages (English, French, German, and Russian), where every entry includes the kanji, example sentences, and conjugation tool suitable for beginners. 

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
You can bookmark and write notesNot available on Android
Includes grammar explanations Few small bugs in the UI

12. Yomiwa

Available on: iOS | Android

Yomiwa is a dictionary, translator app that helps users read, write, and learn in Japanese. It’s a powerful offline app that recognizes more than 4000 Japanese characters with your device camera. You can try reading newspapers, books, menus, or anything readable! 

This dictionary is fast and delivers Japanese words in more than 20 target languages, where you can input words by text, or even by drawing. Additionally, they offer flashcards to learn new words from built-in lists from your history. 

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Listen to the Japanese pronunciation of words trough the “Speak” functionThe live camera function is not the best
Translate whole Japanese sentences to EnglishExporting the word lists doesn’t always work

13. Lingvanex

Available on: Browser | iOS | Android | Chrome extension

Price: 79.99 USD

Lingvanex is an online platform that uses machine translation to remove language barriers and reach global audience with award-winning language technology services. They translate online and offline text, voice, images, files, and websites, from and to as much as 108 languages, and get your translated document delivered in a short time.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Flexible pricing options for any budgetFeatures do not work optimally
Total protection of your private dataNot as efficient as google translate

14. Japanese Dictionary Mazii

Available on: Chrome Extension

Price: FREE

With Japanese Dictionary Mazii, you can look up any Japanese word easily! This online extensions allows you to quickly translate Japanese into any language of your choice. You can translate Japanese newspapers, and emails. 

Users can compare meanings of different languages and quickly look up the vocabulary and the kanji meaning. You can even save the history of your Japanese searches. 

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Comprehensive and helpful app The app page can sometimes appear in Vietnamese
Look up directly in the toolbarThe extension can lag

15. ili

Available on: Device

Price: 153 USD

ili is a small translator device that works offline with no internet connection required. Currently, the device supports Japanese, Chinese and Spanish, and at $199 USD per device, ili is the most expensive option on our list. To use ili, simply press the circular button to speak and the speaker on the opposite side of the device will audibly translate what you have said. This is the perfect tool to have on hand for those traveling abroad with very little Japanese language skills, as it is even optimized for travelers with a database of common travel phrases, so you’ll know that the translation you get is accurate.

What We LikeWhat We Don’t Like
Available offlinethe words are limited
Update not requiredOnly good for common phrases

FAQs

1. Do these Japanese translators provide Japanese to English translation and English to Japanese translation?

Yes, all of these translators provide English to Japanese as well as Japanese to English translation. Most of them can also translate to other languages like Spanish, German, French, Mandarin, Chinese etc., So they are not only useful for people interested in learning Japanese, but for anyone who wants to translate to other languages as well.

2. How to find the best Japanese translators that suits my needs?

There are hundreds of Japanese translators on the internet, you only need to google search to see them. However, some of the best translator companies include Ulatus, Jisho, DeepL etc., there are a lot of them on the web.

3. Which Japanese translators offer the most accurate translation?

Most of the translators mentioned in the article gives you an accurate translation, with each having both their pros and cons. Still, some are better than the other. Translators such as Google translate, ili, DeepL, Systran, in my opinion, delivers more accurate translations.

4. How else can I enhance my Japanese skills?

There are various ways to enhance your Japanese skills and one of them is by language learning apps. You can also signup with Japanese tutors online, or listening and watching to translated Japanese movies and songs. Just find what works for you and keep learning.

Ready to Start Translating Everything in Japanese?

Japanese is a fun language to learn, as there are a lot of benefits that go along with learning the language. Such opportunities, which include jobs, studying, travel, etc are available in Japan, and you need to learn the language to enable easy communication.

The best way to learn Japanese is by signing up with highly qualified, passionate, dedicated, and friendly Japanese tutors on AmazingTalker platform.

Discover the answers to your language-related questions on AmazingTalker’s Q&A page.

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About AmazingTalker

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