Translation that reads the room

Say it the way
you meant it.

Other translators hand you words and wish you luck. Tono tells you how yours will land — so you don't come across as rude to your boss, cold to a friend, or distant to someone you love.

Free to try · Korean, Japanese, Chinese & 6 more

A real Tono answer: 도와주실 수 있을까요?, marked 해요체 · polite, with why this works and other ways to say it
Why it matters

The mistake you'll
never catch yourself.

Get a word wrong and someone corrects you. Get the tone wrong and nobody says anything — they just quietly decide you're rude, or cold, or not worth the effort. Every other translator hands you a sentence carrying a charge you can't feel.

To your manager · deferential
괜찮습니다
Reassuring and respectful. The formal ending holds exactly the distance the moment asks for.
To a friend, a little annoyed · casual
아, 됐어
“Forget it.” The same three English words — and a completely different relationship afterwards.
What changes

Walk in knowing how you'll come across.

Know how you sound — before you say it

Every answer names its formality level in the language's own words — 해요체, 敬語, usted, Sie — and tells you plainly why that level fits. You stop guessing and hoping.

Understand what they actually meant

Paste the message you can't read. Tono decodes slang, shorthand and typos — and tells you what their tone reveals about where you stand with them.

Order like you can read the menu

Point your camera at a menu, a sign, a label. It comes back item by item, with the context a local would never need explained.

Have the conversation, not just the words

Live back-and-forth across a table. They speak, you see what they meant, and you answer by tapping a ready reply or saying your own. Split-screen shows both sides at once — one phone, two people, upright for each.

Arrive prepared instead of anxious

Describe what's coming — the pharmacy run, the first meeting, the visa office. Get the whole exchange: what to say, what you'll hear back, and an answer ready for each.

When it counts

The moments where getting it wrong actually costs you.

Meeting the family

The first impression you only get one of — and the one where sounding too casual reads as disrespect, not warmth.

Your first week on the team

Colleagues won't tell you your Korean sounds blunt. They'll just stop asking what you think.

The message you can't read

Friendly, formal, or flirting? The words translate easily. The signal underneath doesn't — until now.

See it in action

Made for the moment you're actually in.

Tono Talk — a live bilingual conversation with translations
Talk
Hear what they meant — and answer in a tap.
Tono Scripts — a pharmacy conversation rehearsed line by line
Scripts
Rehearse the whole exchange before you walk in.
Tono Camera — a Korean menu photo translated with context
Camera
Point it at a menu or a sign — read it in context.
Show Mode

Hand your phone over.
It speaks for you.

Full screen, full brightness, and a courtesy note in their language so a stranger understands what they're looking at — and wants to help. When they answer, it listens and shows you what they said, with replies ready to tap.

Tono Show Mode — a full-screen phrase to show a stranger, with a courtesy note
Twelve languages, any direction

Learn in the language you actually think in.

Every explanation arrives in your own language — and so does the app itself. Korean is where Tono goes deepest, but the whole thing works between any two.

한국어Korean 日本語Japanese 中文Chinese 繁體中文Traditional 廣東話Cantonese English Español Français Deutsch Tiếng Việt Bahasa ไทยThai
How it works

Three taps to the right thing to say.

1

Type the phrase

Or paste a message, snap a photo, or just speak it. Any of your languages, either direction.

2

Add who & where

“To my boss.” “At a market.” One line of context is all it takes to change the whole answer.

3

Get the tone, and the why

The translation, its register named and explained, and other ways to say it for other people.

Premium

Try it free. Go unlimited when you're ready.

Free taste
5
translations to try, on the house
  • Full context-aware translation
  • Register, explained
  • Talk is always free
  • Offline translation — unlimited, on your device
Tono Pro
7 days free
then monthly or yearly · cancel anytime
Pricing shown for your region in the App Store
  • Unlimited translations & scripts
  • Photo reading
  • Everything in Free, without the wall
Get Tono

Never wonder how that landed.

Free to try on iPhone. Say what you mean — and know how it will land, before you say it.