Smart, cultural translation
Cultran is a smarter translator. It listens to your voice, understands what you actually mean and says it back the way a local would, whether you're on a short trip or working from a new city for months.
Could you help me? I got on the wrong train and need to get to Shinjuku.
すみません。電車を間違えたみたいで、新宿に行きたいんです。
sumimasen · densha o machigaeta mitai de...“Sumimasen” softens the ask before requesting help from a stranger.
Why Cultran
Run the same line through a typical app and through Cultran. The difference isn't a few extra words. It's whether the sentence lands at all.
「そこで足を折ってください。」
"Please break your leg in there."「頑張って!」
"Do your best!" — natural casual encouragement"저 길거리 음식에 불이 난 것 같아요."
"That street food seems to be on fire.""저 길거리 음식 진짜 맛있어 보여요."
"That street food looks really delicious.""Elle a l'énergie du personnage principal."
"She has the energy of the main character.""Elle a une vraie vibe de personnage principal."
"She has a real main-character vibe.""¿Puedo estrellarme aquí esta noche?"
"Can I crash into here tonight?""¿Me puedo quedar aquí esta noche?"
"Can I stay here tonight?""我在找一家墙上有洞的面馆。"
"I am looking for a noodle shop with a hole in the wall.""我想找一家不起眼但很好吃的小面馆。"
"I want to find a small, unassuming noodle shop that is really good.""Đó không phải là vấn đề lớn."
"That is not a big problem.""Không sao đâu, chuyện nhỏ mà!"
"No worries, it's a small thing!" — warm and casualContext, not just text
Cultran picks how it phrases things based on who you are and who you're speaking to. Communicate following local customs.
Same intent. Four readings of the room.
Try a phrase
"Could you take a photo for me?"
"Could you help me for a second?"
Polite default. Younger stranger or public setting.
写真撮ってくれる？
shashin totte kureru?"Can you take a photo for me?"
'Totte kureru?' uses plain casual speech and treats the photo-taking as a favor done for the speaker.写真を撮ってもらえますか？
shashin o totte moraemasu ka?"Could you take a photo for me?"
'Moraemasu ka?' politely asks to receive the favor. This is natural for asking a stranger without sounding too stiff.写真、お願いできる？
shashin, onegai dekiru?"Could I ask you for a photo?"
'Onegai dekiru?' keeps the sentence casual but cushions the request. It is softer than directly saying 'take it.'写真を撮っていただけますでしょうか？
shashin o totte itadakemasu deshō ka?"Would you be able to take a photo for me?"
'Itadakemasu' is humble request language, and 'deshō ka' makes the ask more deferential and less imposing.ちょっと手伝ってくれる？
chotto tetsudatte kureru?"Can you help me real quick?"
'Kureru?' frames the help as a favor done for the speaker. Plain form makes it casual and familiar.少し手伝ってもらえますか？
sukoshi tetsudatte moraemasu ka?"Could you help me for a moment?"
'Moraemasu ka?' politely asks whether the speaker can receive the favor. It is indirect, which softens the request.ちょっと手伝ってもらえる？
chotto tetsudatte moraeru?"Could you help me for a sec?"
'Moraeru?' is still plain speech, but less direct than a command. It works only when casual speech with the older person is acceptable.少しお手伝いいただけますでしょうか？
sukoshi otetsudai itadakemasu deshō ka?"Would you be able to help me for a moment?"
'Itadakemasu' humbly frames the help as something received from the listener. 'Deshō ka' adds another layer of softening.Thirteen languages
Every language ships with full cultural context, handed down the right way.
How it works
State of the art speech recognition and AI translation. A natural conversation that happens in two languages in real time.
State-of-the-art speech recognition: Listens to your voice and transcribes it into text, which is then sent to our AI.
Our AI understands the context: Who you are, who you're talking to and what you're really asking. Then it generates the correct translation, vocabulary, and tone.
A natural spoken translation that sounds human, with readable cultural notes when they actually help.
Point. Translate.
Menus, signs, prescription labels, station maps, etc.
Aim your camera at any text and get the translation, culturally smoothed, never just word-for-word.
Miso ramen · ¥980
Text mode
A loud train station, a quiet temple, a sore throat...
Type your sentence and Cultran translates it the same way it
would translate your voice, with the same tone and context.
Where's the nearest pharmacy?
Research has shown for years that off-the-shelf translation systems miss honorifics, idioms, gender, and tone. We all communicate differently.
What the research says
Korean translation systems struggle with honorifics because the correct form depends on social context: age, rank, intimacy, and who is speaking to whom.
Hwang et al., 2021 — "A Study on Neural Machine Translation of Korean Honorifics" ↗Generic Machine Translation can preserve the literal meaning while losing cultural tone, persuasion, and local nuance, especially in travel and tourism contexts.
Chen & Lin, 2025 — "Evaluating Machine Translation and Generative AI in Chinese Tourism Translation" ↗Japanese often drops subjects and pronouns that are inferred from context, so sentence-level MT can insert the wrong “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” or miss who is doing what.
Rikters & Nakazawa, 2024 — "Revisiting Context Choices for Context-aware Machine Translation" ↗Traditional MT often forces a gender when English is ambiguous, e.g. “the nurse” or “my friend” becomes masculine or feminine even when the source does not specify it.
Garg et al., 2024 — "Generating Gender Alternatives in Machine Translation" ↗Get Started Now
Mochi tags along on every trip and helps you set up Cultran so you can start communicating right away.
Cultran is built for real-world travel days: asking for help, reading menus, checking signs, and keeping tone natural when you do not share a language.
Quick answers
Cultran is a culture-aware translation app for travelers and digital nomads. It translates voice, camera, and typed text while accounting for meaning, tone, formality, and local context.
Cultran is designed to translate what you mean, not just the words you say. It handles idioms, slang, politeness, age-aware phrasing, and cultural context that literal translation can miss.
Cultran is built for people navigating daily life in another language, including short-trip travelers, long-stay travelers, remote workers, and digital nomads.
Cultran supports 13 languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, French, German, Italian, Portuguese.
Yes. Cultran supports voice translation, camera translation for visible text such as signs and menus, and typed text translation for situations where speaking is not practical.
Subscription prices and availability are shown in the App Store or Google Play and may vary by country, platform, taxes, and store offers.
Pick your plan
Start with a free 24-hour pass: 10 translations on us.
Or pick the plan that fits your trip, long stay, or remote-work season.
Carry-on ready.
Get 7 daysSun hat, check.
Get 30 daysLaptop, camera, gone.
Get 6 monthsSubscription prices and availability are shown in the App Store or Google Play and may vary by country, platform, taxes, and store offers.
