Fast. Private. Accurate.
Spanish 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.
Hola, buenas tardes
こんにちは
¿Cuánto cuesta esto?
これはいくらですか？
¿Dónde está…?
…はどこですか？
The routes between Spanish and Japanese are older and more personal than most people expect. Most Peruvians in Japan descend from Japanese families who emigrated to Peru, and they live and work mainly around Greater Tokyo, Isesaki in Gunma and the Nagoya area; there are even Peruvian schools in Hamamatsu and Isesaki. Add travellers from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Spain on their way to Kyoto and Osaka, and you get many conversations at city hall windows, clinic receptions and ticket offices where neither side shares a language. Mingle turns what you say in Spanish into Japanese captions and a natural Japanese voice in real time, so the clerk, nurse or station attendant hears a full, polite sentence rather than isolated words.
- 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
It runs in the browser of any phone or computer, so there is nothing to install and nothing for the other person to download. A session runs in one direction, Spanish into Japanese. When the other person answers, tap swap in the language menu: the session ends, the captions clear and a new one opens from Japanese into Spanish; tap the mic again to hear and read their reply. Read-aloud is optional and can play through earbuds, which helps in a quiet waiting room. You need mobile data or Wi-Fi for it to work.
The moving-in notice at city hall in Isesaki
You have just moved to Gunma and have 14 days to file the moving-in notification at the shiyakusho. At the counter you explain in Spanish where you live, who moved with you and which surname is your family name; the clerk reads Japanese captions and hears a polite voice. When the clerk asks something back, tap swap in the language menu: the session ends, the captions clear, and a Japanese-to-Spanish session opens. Tap the mic again and read the question in Spanish before you answer.
Changing a train reservation at Kyoto Station
A family from Guadalajara missed the morning train to Tokyo. At the ticket office one parent explains in Spanish how many seats they need, for which time and that two of the travellers are children. Staff hear complete Japanese sentences instead of pointed fingers. The times and the fare in yen come back on a swapped session, so the family reads them in Spanish, with read-aloud through one earbud, before paying.
A child's fever at a clinic reception in Hamamatsu
A mother from Lima brings her son to a neighbourhood clinic. She tells the receptionist in Spanish when the fever started, what medicine he already took and that he is allergic to penicillin. The receptionist sees each detail in Japanese on the shared screen and types it into the symptoms form. For the receptionist's instructions about the waiting time and the follow-up visit, she swaps the direction and reads them in Spanish.
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 Spanish–Japanese phrases, ready to hear out loud.
| Listen | Japanese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| こんにちはkonnichiwa | Hola, buenas tardes | |
| これはいくらですか？kore wa ikura desu ka? | ¿Cuánto cuesta esto? | |
| …はどこですか？… wa doko desu ka? | ¿Dónde está…? | |
| どうもありがとうございますdōmo arigatō gozaimasu | Muchísimas gracias | |
| …と申します… to mōshimasu | Me llamo… | |
| 苗字は…ですmyōji wa … desu | Mi apellido es… | |
| 十時に予約がありますjūji ni yoyaku ga arimasu | Tengo una cita a las diez | |
| もう一度ゆっくりお願いしますmō ichido yukkuri onegai shimasu | ¿Me lo puede repetir más despacio? |
Start in three steps
- 01
Pick two languages
Languages are already set to Spanish → 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
Spanish and Japanese sound closer than they are. Each has five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, so Japanese words rarely feel hard to say. The traps are elsewhere. Japanese has a single r sound, a quick tap that can drift toward l, and it does not tell r from l at all. Spanish separates caro from carro and pero from perro, but in katakana Rojas and Lozano both begin with ロ (ro), and the rr in Herrera is written like any single r. Japanese also uses length to change meaning: obasan is an aunt and obāsan a grandmother, and a doubled consonant does the same work. When you say a name, an address or a station, look at the caption rather than trusting your ear.
Politeness is built into Japanese verbs. The desu/masu forms are the normal register with strangers and at any counter, and staff often add respectful verbs for you and humble ones for themselves. Spanish marks courtesy with usted, but Japanese has no matching pronoun, and speaking too bluntly or too stiffly both come across badly. Mingle does not have a formality switch, so phrase your request courteously in Spanish and the Japanese follows. Both languages also leave out the subject: Spanish because the verb ending shows who acts, Japanese because the context does. A Japanese reply with no subject can come back into Spanish with the wrong person, so ask "¿quién?" when it matters.
Numbers, names and dates need the screen. Japanese groups big numbers by ten thousand (万, man), so 100,000 yen is said as "ten man". Dates run year, month, day, and forms often ask for the era year: Reiwa began on 1 May 2019, which makes 2026 Reiwa 8. Your name is written in katakana, family name first, so say which of your surnames is the family name. One small surprise: pan means bread in Japanese too, but it arrived from Portuguese pão in the sixteenth century, not from Spanish, along with botan (button) and kasutera, the sponge cake.
This page covers Spanish → Japanese specifically
This guide covers Spanish → Japanese specifically: what changes between the two languages, what to check on the caption pane, and a few phrases worth knowing even when Mingle does the talking.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Spanish to Japanese translation.
Will the Japanese sound polite if I speak to the clerk as "usted"?
Japanese politeness lives in verb endings such as desu and masu, plus respectful and humble verbs, not in a word for "you". Mingle has no formality setting: the Japanese follows how you phrase things. A courteous Spanish sentence ("¿Me podría decir…?") gives the translation more to work with than a bare command, and you can read the caption to see which form came out.
How will my name with two surnames appear in Japanese?
Japanese puts the family name first and writes foreign names phonetically in katakana, so "María Fernanda Quispe Rojas" becomes a string of katakana whose order and length depend on how it is said. Tell the person which part is your family name ("mi apellido es Quispe"), and compare the katakana on screen with your passport or residence card before anything is filed.
Why do prices and dates look different on the Japanese screen?
Japanese counts large numbers in units of ten thousand, man (万): one hundred thousand yen is jūman en, written 10万円. Dates run year, month, day, and many official forms use the era year: Reiwa began in May 2019, so 2026 is Reiwa 8 (令和8年). Read the figure on screen and say it again in digits if it looks off.
Will Mingle follow my Peruvian, Mexican or Caribbean Spanish?
Speak the way you normally do. Mingle has one Spanish setting, with curated slang hints for Spanish and for Japanese, but accuracy by region or dialect has not been measured. The Japanese caption shows what was understood, so check a name, a medicine or an address on screen and repeat it if the caption looks wrong.
What do I need to use it at a Japanese counter?
A phone or computer with a browser and an internet connection, mobile data or Wi-Fi. Open mingle.fit, allow the microphone and start as a guest, with no account and no card. Signing in keeps a saved history, handy when you need the clinic's instructions or a train time again later.
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.
