To read a menu or a sign in a language you do not know, open Outloud Reader, start a new book, choose Camera and photograph it, choose your own language as the one to hear, and tap Create. The text in the photo is recognised, translated into your language and read aloud, with each phrase highlighted. It works from a photo, not a live camera view.
What it is good for
Travel is full of short, practical text that matters: a menu, a notice on a train platform, a pharmacy label, a hotel form, a letter from the landlord. You could type it into a translator, but typing a foreign alphabet or a long list of dishes is slow. A photo is quicker, and hearing the result means you can keep your eyes on the street, the table or the person talking to you.
The steps
- Start a new book and choose Camera. Photograph the menu, the sign or the letter. If it is already on your phone, choose Gallery instead.
- Choose the language you want to hear. Pick your own language. If it differs from the language of the page, the text is translated first and then read to you. If you pick the page’s own language, it is read as printed, which is good for hearing how a word sounds.
- Choose a voice and tap Create. A few moments later the book is ready.
- Press play. Each phrase is highlighted as it is read. Slow the voice down, or repeat a sentence up to five times if you want to hear a line again.
Examples of what to photograph
A menu
Take one photo per page or per section. Menus with a clear list of dishes are read well; the app turns the list into sentences in your language, so “grilled fish with seasonal vegetables” comes out as a phrase you can follow. If a dish name is local and has no real translation, expect it to be left as it is or described loosely. Ask the waiter when it matters, especially for allergies: a translation is a help, not a guarantee.
A sign or a notice
A timetable change, a closed entrance or the rules of a park are short and easy to read once translated. Get close enough that the text fills the frame, and keep the phone steady.
A letter, a form or a leaflet
For longer paperwork, such as a rental contract or a medical leaflet, photograph the pages in order and make them one book. You hear the whole thing in your language and can repeat the confusing parts. For anything legal, medical or financial, treat the translation as a way to understand the outline and check the details with someone who can answer for them.
A label or a package
Ingredients, instructions and warnings are often in small print. Photograph the back of the package in good light. Small, curved or glossy surfaces are harder, so try a second photo if the first one reads oddly.
Taking a photo the app can read
- Light and focus. Avoid glare and shadows, and tap to focus before you shoot.
- Straight on. A page photographed at a sharp angle loses text at the edges.
- One thing per photo. A whole wall of signs in one shot is harder than one sign at a time.
- Printed text first. Print reads best; clear handwriting works too, but a rushed scrawl will not.
Before you rely on it
This is a translation made by software, and it can get things wrong, especially with slang, abbreviations and unusual typefaces. It reads the words in the photo; it does not describe the picture or understand a photo of a street as a whole. Making a book needs an internet connection, so if you travel with roaming switched off, make the books while you have wifi and listen later. Once a book is made it plays offline.
Using it to learn, not only to survive
If you would like to learn some of the language on the way, photograph the same menu twice: once to hear it in your language, once to hear it as printed in the page’s own language. Listening to the original while the highlight moves across the words is a quick way to match sound and spelling.
What it costs
A few pages are free to start. After that, pages come in packs or with Premium, and prices are shown in the app. Each photo is a page, and playing a book again is free.
More
The page on translating and listening sums up the idea, and the guide to photo to speech shows the screens step by step. Before your next trip, try it once at home on any printed page in another language, so the first time is not at a busy restaurant table.