Quick answer: 5 easy ways to translate a picture to English

  • Google Translate: A convenient option for quickly translating text from photos, screenshots, and other images.
  • DeepL: Useful for translating images when natural-sounding translations are a priority.
  • Wondershare PDFelement: Suitable for translating images as well as PDFs and other documents in one workflow.
  • Yandex Translate: A straightforward online tool for translating text directly from images.
  • Image Translator.io: A browser-based tool focused on translating text from images without requiring desktop software.

If you have a photo, screenshot, scanned document, or other image containing text in another language, you can translate it to English without typing the text manually. Image translation tools can recognize text from an image, translate it, and in some cases preserve the original layout.

Whether you need to translate a short photo or a multi-page scanned document, the right method depends on what you want to do with the translated content afterward.In this guide, we'll show you five practical ways to translate a picture to English.

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Top 5 Tools for Translating Photos to English

Here are the top 5 tools for translating images text to English.

In this article
  1. Translate an Image to English with DeepL
  2. Wondershare PDFelement - Most Efficient Tool That Can Translate a Photo to English
    1. How To Translate Picture to English Using PDFelement
    2. Wondershare PDFelement Features and Benefits
  3. Translate A Photo to English With Yandex Translate
  4. Batch Translate Photos to English Using Image Translator.io

1. Google Translate English Photo Translation

google translate user interface

Rating on G2: 4.6 / 5 stars - 579 reviews

Price: Free.

Pros
  • Image-to-text translation is often quick and convenient, providing users with a rapid way to obtain translations without manually typing or copying text.
  • Google Translate receives continuous updates and improvements, enhancing accuracy and language coverage.
Cons
  • Google Translate may struggle with nuanced or context-dependent translations.

User Review:

A user review on G2: I like that it can be used on almost any device, it has easy access, it is a very useful tool for people who need to translate small texts, specific words.

While Google Translate's image-to-text translation offers convenience and accessibility, users should be aware of potential accuracy limitations, contextual challenges, and security considerations. It does not understand slang or cultural nuances. Thus, you need to review the translations to ensure they are accurate.

2. Translate an Image to English with DeepL

deepl user interface

Rating on G2: 4.6 / 5 stars - 185 reviews

Price: 

$8.74 per month for individual

Pros
  • Supports common image formats
  • Supports glossary and professional translation features
Cons
  • Free usage has limits

3. Wondershare PDFelement - Most Efficient Tool That Can Translate a Photo to English

wondershare image translator

Rating on G2: 4.5 / 5 stars - 1046 reviews

Price:

Yearly Plan - $79.99

2-Year Plan - $109.99

Perpetual Plan - $129.99

Pros
  • Incorporating Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, the software adeptly transforms scanned PDFs or image-based PDFs into editable text.
  • PDFelement empowers users with precisely translating PDFs and images into over 100 languages, ensuring comprehensive language support.
Cons
  • PDFelement has a free trial, but the full version is paid software.

User Review:

A user review on G2: Wondershare PDFelement helps customers to read, create, and edit PDF documents. It is a good tool to have for good businesses.

How To Translate Picture to English Using PDFelement

When utilizing PDFelement, there are several methods to translate images into text. This functionality empowers users to create, edit, and reproduce content from images with precision and efficiency. Here are three ways to perform image translation using Wondershare PDFelement.

If you want to only translate the text in the image to know the meaning, here’s what you should do.

  1. Launch Wondershare PDFelement and click the Create PDF on the top left of the screen.
  2. Select From File > Select the image that you want to translate. Wondershare PDFelement will automatically convert it to PDF.

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creating pdf from image
  1. To copy the text, click Perform OCR at the top. Select the correct source language and click Apply.
performing ocr
  1. Click the Translate icon on the right toolbar.
opening the translate feature
  1. Specify the source language and target language.

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selecting the languages
  1. Select the text that you want to translate.
  2. Click Translate.

However, if you wish to translate the text within an image to another language while preserving the original formatting, Wondershare PDFelement provides a convenient solution. Choose PDF Translator to translate the text on an entire picture.

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opening translate pdf feature
Editorial note: To convert the translated PDF back to image format, click on Convert > To Image>Ok.

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Wondershare PDFelement Features and Benefits

Why is Wondershare PDFelement a cut above other tools? Explore these advantages to find out.

Integration of OCR Technology

PDFelement incorporates Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, enabling image text extraction. Furthermore, the OCR tool recognizes over 40 languages, allowing you to use it on documents written in foreign languages.

AI Tools for Language Translation

PDFelement includes AI-powered tools specifically designed for language translation. You can easily translate PDF documents to different languages while preserving the original formatting, simplifying multilingual document management. Alternatively, you can use the Chat with AI feature to translate only some text in the PDF.

Preservation of Original Formatting

One of the notable benefits is the ability to maintain the document's original formatting during the translation process. This ensures the translated content retains the original image’s structure, layout, and visual elements.

Wide Range of Supported Languages

PDFelement supports translation into a variety of languages, catering to a global audience. While the OCR can recognize only 40+ languages, the AI tool can translate the text into several more languages. So rest assured, it can help you understand what’s written on images.

4. Translate A Photo to English With Yandex Translate

yandex translate user interface

Rating on G2: 4.1 / 5 stars - 40 reviews

Price: Free

Pros
  • Yandex Translate supports many source languages and even more target languages.
  • It accepts URLs as input.
  • Yandex Translate preserves the formatting of the image.
Cons
  • There is a 5 MB file size limit.

User Review:

Guru Dheeraj R on G2: Its UI is very clean and simple, it is user-friendly and reliable. Users can translate entire website documents and even images, which is very much valuable for real time.

Yandex Translate is an online translation tool that’s also available as a mobile app. It supports 50 source languages and can translate to 90+ languages. The interface is clean and simple, allowing anyone to use it with ease. Furthermore, it accepts URLs as input, so you don’t need to download the image that you need to translate. The translated words replace the text in the image, preserving the formatting. But please note that the image should not be larger than 5 MB.

5. Batch Translate Photos to English Using Image Translator.io

image translator io user interface

Price:

Basic - $4.99/week

Standard - $14.99/month

Pros
  • Image Translator.io supports different image formats.
  • This translator accepts URLs as input.
  • It offers batch translation.
Cons
  • There is a 5 - 15 MB file size limit.
  • It supports only 19 source languages.
  • The translated image is not clean. You may find dots and dashes all over the image.

Image Translator.io is another web app that lets you translate photos into English. It supports several image formats, including JPEG, JPG, PNG, and GIF. Furthermore, it supports 19 source languages, including some that are a little rare, like Danish and Portuguese. But since it is a web app, Image Translator.io also has a file size limit. It can't translate images that are above 5 MB in size. If you get a paid account, you can increase the limit to 15 MB.

6. 5 Tools Compared

Each tool has a different focus, from quick online translation to translating images as part of a broader document workflow. Compare their supported image formats, access options, language coverage, and typical use cases below.

Tool Image Formats Free Access Language Support Best Suited For
Google Translate jPNG, JPG, JPEG,Webp  Yes 200+ languages Quick everyday image translation
DeepL PNG, JPG, JPEG Yes, with limitations Multiple languages; availability varies by feature Photos, screenshots, and image translation
Wondershare PDFelement Common image formats Free trial available 70+ languages Image and document translation
Yandex Translate JPG, PNG, GIF  Yes 100+ languages Online and mobile image translation
Image Translator.io JPG、PNG、WebP  Yes, with limitations 130+languages Simple browser-based image translation

Conclusion

Translating a picture to English no longer requires manually typing the text. Image translation tools can recognize text from photos, screenshots, and scanned pages and translate it directly into English.

For a quick translation, Google Translate or DeepL can handle common photos and screenshots. If you're working with scanned documents, multi-page PDFs, or files that need further editing after translation, an OCR-enabled PDF tool such as Wondershare PDFelement provides a more complete workflow.

Whichever tool you choose, start with a clear image and review important names, numbers, and technical terms before using the translated content.

Audrey Goodwin
Audrey Goodwin Sep 30, 26
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12 years of talent acquired in the software industry working with large publishers. Public speaker and author of several eBooks on technical writing and editing.