The short answer: game text cannot be copied, so normal translator apps cannot read it. A screen translator reads the text directly from the display. Install Swift Translate (free), open your game, and drag the floating bubble over dialogue or menus — it translates in place while the game keeps running.
The setup
- Install Swift Translate and turn the main switch on.
- Open the game.
- Drag the bubble over the text you want to read — dialogue, menus, item descriptions, event banners.
For dialogue-heavy scenes, use area scan: long-press and select the dialogue box once, then translate each new line with a tap in the same spot.
What works well
- Otome games and visual novels — story text translates line by line at your pace. This is one of our most-loved uses; players of Japanese otome games are some of our happiest reviewers.
- JRPGs — menus, quests, and dialogue.
- Gacha events — limited-time event pages that never get official translations.
- Korean and Chinese servers — play versions that launch months before the global one.
Honest limitations
- Very stylized fonts can reduce recognition accuracy.
- Text that disappears quickly (battle popups) can be hard to catch — pause when possible.
- Names and game-specific terms translate literally; you will learn to recognize them.
Japanese, Korean, and Chinese all work
Recognition supports Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Latin-script languages, with automatic detection. English → your language works too, if English itself is the foreign language.
Related: Game translator · How screen translation works
