A visual translation service, offline travel translator, and dictionary for Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, Waygo uses your phone camera to translate any written text into English. Perfect for the foreign language classroom or to help newly arrived learners, this app allows you to see and hear the pronunciation of the words in English as well as the originating language.

Website: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id496038103

What Users Love About the App

“I spent 5 weeks in China and this was life changing. I was able read menus which was the most fun and entertaining. With all the choices in every restaurant large or small, i was able to try all the things i wanted! I read menus like novels so it was incredible! It was great for reading train tickets, signage and descriptions.”

“All you have to do is point your camera at Chinese characters and like waiving a magic wand, the pinion and translation pop up. Very helpful for figuring out menus, the buttons on washers and air conditioners, and airport signs!”

“I love it—helps with foreign language students! It is very close to perfect.”

What Users Dislike About the App

“I am in Japan and I’ve tried to use this app for translating Japanese on many occasions. I upgraded to the paid version. The translations are really poor. Many things completely not food related translate into food items.”

“I’ve tried this app on 2 different occasions, months apart and both times it only translates one to two words in a line of text. And then I get a box asking if I want to upgrade. No. If it can’t translate 2 lines of a clothing label, how could it ever translate a menu as the professional ad has it seem.”

“I paid for the Chinese version, followed the directions how to “Restore” the upgrade, removed Waygo, tried again. No joy. Tried upgrading to the full, three language version. No joy.”

“I don’t know why it won’t even translate single characters. It keeps telling me there is no text in the box no matter how clear the picture is, or where I space it between the orange brackets. And this is a single typed character on a white piece of paper to test the app. It’s way too finicky for me to bother with.”

“I was too desperate to find a translator in Tokyo and made the mistake of wasting $6.99 on this useless inferior quality crap before discovering one minute later that Google Translate does it ten times better and for free.”