Fast. Private. Accurate.
Chinese to Japanese live translation, as fast as you can speak
Free to try as a guest — no card, no install. Log in to unlock up to 10 live sessions on the free plan.
你好
こんにちは
这个多少钱？
これはいくらですか？
…在哪里？
…はどこですか？
Mandarin speakers reach Japan in large numbers: shoppers in Ginza and Osaka's Shinsaibashi, families on a Hokkaido winter trip, exchange students on a Tokyo campus, and buyers working through a trade-fair aisle. Many of them can read half the street signs and still cannot be understood, because Japanese grammar and pronunciation have little in common with Mandarin even though the writing overlaps. Mingle turns your spoken Chinese into live Japanese that the other person hears and reads, so you can ask, negotiate and explain without a phrasebook.
Need the other way? Japanese to Chinese
- Private & Secure
- Works Anywhere
- No App Required
Real-time Translation
Instant captions as you speak.
Natural Voice Output
Hear Japanese naturally with read-aloud.
Private & Secure
Encrypted in transit, and we never sell your data.
Works Anywhere
Runs in your browser — no app required.
Perfect for real conversations
The setup is simple. Open mingle.fit in a phone browser, choose Chinese to Japanese, tap the mic and talk. A session translates one direction, which means Japanese spoken back to you is not translated while it runs. When the clerk, landlord or supplier answers, open the session menu and tap swap. The current session ends, the captions clear, a Japanese-to-Chinese session begins, and one more tap on the mic starts it. Signed-in users keep each direction as its own history entry, which helps when you want to look up a train time later; guests use one free session per swap.
The tax-free counter in Shinjuku
You are buying cosmetics and a camera, and the cashier asks for your passport and walks through the refund procedure. You say what you want in Mandarin and the clerk reads and hears it in Japanese. For the clerk's instructions on where to collect the sealed bags, swap the direction, tap the mic, and read the Chinese captions before you queue.
The ryokan front desk in Kyoto
At check-in you need to confirm the number of nights, the dinner hour, and a shellfish allergy. Speak Mandarin and the staff member hears polite Japanese. When the ryokan's hostess (the okami) explains the bath schedule or breakfast times, switch to a Japanese-to-Chinese session so each time stays on the screen instead of in your memory.
The supplier meeting after a trade fair
A buyer from Guangzhou sits down with a Japanese packaging maker. The buyer describes order size, delivery window and payment terms in Mandarin; the maker reads Japanese captions and can check a figure before answering. Each answer from the Japanese side goes through a swapped session, so the buyer sees the reply in Chinese text before the next question.
Native Script Captions
Japanese captions render in 日本語, not a romanized guess.
Conversational Speed
Keeps up with natural real-world dialogue.
Read-Aloud Support
Hear Japanese naturally when you need to.
Phrasebook
Handy Phrases
Common Chinese–Japanese phrases, ready to hear out loud.
| Listen | Japanese | Chinese |
|---|---|---|
| こんにちはkonnichiwa | 你好 | |
| これはいくらですか？kore wa ikura desu ka? | 这个多少钱？ | |
| …はどこですか？… wa doko desu ka? | …在哪里？ | |
| どうもありがとうございますdoumo arigatou gozaimasu | 非常感谢 | |
| 一ichi | 一 | |
| 二ni | 二 | |
| 三san | 三 | |
| もう一度ゆっくりお願いしますmou ichido yukkuri onegai shimasu | 请再说慢一点 |
Start in three steps
- 01
Pick two languages
Languages are already set to Chinese → Japanese — swap them anytime.
- 02
Tap the mic and allow access
One browser permission. No account required to start.
- 03
Just talk
Words appear as live captions and — with Read Aloud on — are spoken into your earbuds as natural voice, while your phone faces the other person. Talking both ways? Share the session to their phone.
The earbud moment: they talk to your phone, you hear your language
Set your phone on the table facing them and turn on Read aloud. Their voice goes into your phone’s mic; the translation plays quietly in your earbuds. Private, hands-free, no shouting into a gadget.
Any wired or Bluetooth earbuds your phone uses should work, because read-aloud plays through the phone’s normal audio output. If your phone switches to the earbuds’ microphone, choose the built-in mic under Devices so it hears them, not you.
Want them to hear you too? Tap Share session and show them the QR code: they join on their own phone in their own language, so each of you reads and hears the other without passing anything back and forth. On one phone, swap the languages from the session menu to reply instead.
What makes Japanese different
Shared characters are a gift and a trap. Some words match: 学校, 电话 (in Japan 電話) and 免税 mean the same thing in both languages, and Japanese uses the same grouping of ten thousand as Chinese, so 一万円 is easy to read. Others look identical and are not. In Japanese 手紙 is a letter, whereas 手纸 in Chinese is toilet paper. 大丈夫 means fine or all right, 娘 is a daughter, 新聞 is a newspaper and 勉強 is studying. A shop assistant asking 大丈夫ですか about a bag may mean "do you need one" or "are you all right", and a Japanese 大丈夫です can mean either yes or no thank you, so confirm with captions.
Numbers and counters deserve care. Japanese has two readings for many numbers (4 can be yon or shi, 7 nana or shichi), and the counter changes the sound: hitori and futari for one and two people, then sannin; ippon, nihon, sanbon for bottles and pens; ippaku, nihaku, sanpaku for hotel nights. Prices are in yen, written 円 and read en, while the ¥ sign also stands for the yuan, so say the currency out loud. Finally, Japanese has pitch rather than tones, and long vowels and double consonants change meaning: おばさん is an aunt, おばあさん a grandmother. Check names, addresses and amounts on screen before you rely on them.
This page covers Chinese → Japanese specifically
What trips Chinese speakers up in Japan is rarely vocabulary alone. Japanese puts the verb last and often drops the subject entirely, hangs particles after every noun, and layers politeness into verb endings that Mandarin has no equivalent for. A sentence that is perfectly clear in Mandarin may sound blunt when copied word by word. Speaking naturally in Chinese and reading the Japanese on screen lets you see what the other person actually receives.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Chinese to Japanese translation.
Will the Japanese captions look like the characters I already know?
Partly. Japanese mixes kanji with hiragana and katakana, and many kanji are written in forms that differ from simplified Chinese, for example 車 where you write 车. Short nouns often look familiar, but particles and verb endings are in kana, so the captions are most useful for checking numbers, names and places.
Which politeness level will the Japanese use?
Mingle translates natural conversational speech, including courteous phrasing. It has no formality setting, so for a hotel manager or a first business meeting, read the Japanese caption and rephrase if something sounds too casual.
Do I need an app or an account to try it at the counter?
No. Open mingle.fit in your phone browser, allow the microphone, and start as a guest without an account or card. Signing in adds saved history and longer paid-plan usage.
How do I hear what the shop assistant answers?
A session only translates Chinese into Japanese. Open the session menu and tap swap: this ends the session, clears the captions and starts a new Japanese-to-Chinese one. Tap the mic again and the reply appears as Chinese text, with optional read-aloud through the speaker or earbuds.
Can I trust prices and quantities that appear in the Japanese text?
Read them before you pay or sign. Japanese counters change with the object, and the ¥ sign is shared with the yuan, so a figure on screen is safer than a half-heard number in a busy shop. The Japanese side can also confirm a figure by reading the caption.
Do both people need the app?
No. Everything runs in the browser. For a conversation both ways, tap Share session and show the QR code: they join on their own phone in their language, with no app and no account. On one shared phone, a session translates one direction, and you swap the languages from the session menu when they reply.
Is Mingle free to try for this language pair?
Yes — start instantly with free guest sessions, no card and no install. Paid plans unlock longer sessions and saved history.
