How to see pinyin in Google Translate

Pinyin on translate.google.com

On a computer, the pinyin is part of the text translation. It works for Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

1. Open translate.google.com and choose the Text tab.
2. Choose Chinese (Simplified) or Chinese (Traditional) as the language on the left, and your language on the right.
3. Type or paste the Chinese. The translation appears on the right, and a grey line of pinyin with tone marks appears under the Chinese on the left.

我想喝咖啡Wǒ xiǎng hē kāfēi

銀行在哪裡Yínháng zài nǎlǐ

The pinyin is one line for the whole text, grouped into words, with a capital letter at the start. It is not placed above each character, so in a longer text you count syllables to see which reading belongs to which character.

English to Chinese with pinyin

It works the other way round as well. Put English on the left and Chinese (Simplified) or Chinese (Traditional) on the right: the pinyin appears under the Chinese translation.

Where is the train station?火車站在哪裡？Huǒchē zhàn zài nǎlǐ?

The pinyin is the reading of Google's translation, so it is only as good as the translation itself. Check that the Chinese says what you mean before you read it out.

Pinyin in Google Search

Google Search has its own translation box. When we searched for 我想喝咖啡 in english, the box showed the pinyin under the Chinese. A search in the other direction showed the pinyin under the Chinese translation:

thank you very much in chinese非常感谢Fēicháng gǎnxiè

Camera and pictures: why you see no pinyin

The live camera view of the Google Translate app draws the translation over the Chinese text. It shows no pinyin: Google shows pinyin only in its text result. We checked this in September 2026.

On the web, the Images tab of translate.google.com is the same. On 25 October 2026 we gave it a picture of a Chinese sign: it drew the English over the picture. Show original put the Chinese next to it, still without pinyin, and Copy text copied the English translation, not the Chinese.

So for Chinese in a picture, the characters have to become text before you get pinyin. Our free page reads them from a screenshot or picture in your browser and writes the pinyin above them: Chinese OCR with pinyin

Typing pinyin into Google Translate

1. With Chinese as the language on the left, click the small arrow next to the 拼 button under the text box and choose the pinyin input.
2. Type the pinyin without tones, for example nihao. A numbered list of characters opens under it.
3. Pick the characters by their number, or press the space bar for the first one. The translation follows as usual.

nihao1. 你好 2. 拟好 3. 你 4. 尼 5. 泥

To turn pinyin into characters without Google, type it into our free tool. It suggests words as you type and lets you copy them: Pinyin to Chinese input

Apple Translate shows no pinyin

Apple's Translate app shows the translation of Chinese, but no pinyin, in text mode or in the camera view.

How the camera translators of Google, Apple and HanCam differ: Camera translators compared

Pinyin above each character, for text you can copy

Google's pinyin is one line under the whole text. For the pinyin above each character, tone numbers instead of tone marks, or pinyin only, paste the Chinese into our free converter. It runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded. Chinese to pinyin converter

The faster way: pinyin in the camera view

Google Translate shows pinyin once the Chinese is in its text box. HanCam for iPhone and iPad skips that step: point the camera at Chinese and it shows the characters, the pinyin with tone marks and the meaning together, live. It reads photos and screenshots too, and Chinese from other apps through the share sheet. Reading happens on your device and works offline after a one-time language-pack download.

Questions and answers