How to translate messages in WeChat

guides Jan 25, 2021

WeChat is often the only way to reach someone in China, and it is frequently the chat where you understand the least. Chinese is not a language you can half-guess from context if you do not read the characters. This guide shows how to translate WeChat messages on iPhone and on the desktop without leaving the conversation.

Three ways to translate a message on iPhone

Mate for iPhone and iPad hooks into iOS itself, so it works over WeChat rather than beside it.

Select, then tap Translate. On iOS 18.4 and later, set Mate as your default translator in its Settings under Integrations > Default Translator. Then press and hold a message, select the text and tap Translate. Mate opens with the translation; swipe down to go back.
Share. Select the text, tap Share, then Translate with Mate. Available on any iOS version. If you cannot see the action, scroll to the end of the share sheet and add it under Edit Actions.
Copy, then Paste and Translate. WeChat often lets you copy a whole message but not select inside it. Copy it, press and hold Mate's icon on the Home Screen, and tap Paste and Translate. This is the route you will use most in WeChat.

A lot of WeChat traffic is images: screenshots, posters, menus, official-account articles saved as pictures. Open Mate, switch to Camera, tap Pick a photo and choose the image. Mate recognises Chinese, Japanese and Korean text as well as Latin and Cyrillic scripts, and draws the translations over the picture.

Reading Chinese you cannot pronounce

Two things in Mate help specifically with Chinese, and they matter more than the translation itself when you are learning.

Transliteration. Mate shows the translation in Latin letters alongside the characters, so you get the reading as well as the meaning. It does the same for Japanese, Korean, Russian, Greek, Arabic and other non-Latin scripts.
Pronunciation. Tap the speaker button to hear the line read aloud. There is a speed slider in Mate's settings; slow it down if you are trying to repeat after it.

On short texts, Mate also shows the phonetic transcription. More on all three in Pronunciation, phonetic transcription and transliteration.

Writing back

Type the reply in Mate in your own language, then copy the translation into WeChat. Use the Advanced or AI style rather than Basic: informal chat, idioms and slang are where the difference shows. The AI style also adds a short note on how a phrase is used, which is worth reading before you send something you cannot check.

Advanced and AI are part of Mate Pro. The Basic style is free and covers all 248 languages.

On WeChat for Mac and Windows

If you also use WeChat on a computer, the routes change but the idea does not.

Mac. Select the message text, right-click, and choose Services > Translate with Mate Translate. Or turn on Auto-translate clipboard in Mate for Mac's settings and press Option+Shift+T after copying — that route works even in apps that replace the right-click menu, which desktop chat clients often do. See Translate selected text in any Mac app.
Windows. There is no native Mate app for Windows. Use the online translator, or read the conversation in a browser tab with the Mate extension for Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Opera and press Shift+T on a selection.

Keep the phrases you use every week

Business WeChat conversations repeat themselves: greetings, thanks, scheduling, polite closings. Translate a line once, open the card's menu, choose Add to Phrasebook and start a list called "WeChat". Each list is tied to a language pair.

With Mate Pro and sync on, the list is on all your devices, and the browser extension can export it as CSV for a flashcard app. See Phrasebook: save and organize words you want to remember.

Twenty ways to say hello

Openings repeat constantly, so they are the cheapest thing to memorise. The first form is polite, the second is casual.

Chinese — Nín hǎo / Nǐ hǎo
Japanese — Konnichiwa / Yā, Yō
Korean — Annyeong haseyo / Annyeong
Portuguese — Olá / Oi
Danish — Goddag / Hej, Halløj
Dutch — Goedendag / Hoi, Hallo
Hebrew — Shalom / Hey
Swahili — Shikamoo / Habari, Hujambo
Hindi — Namaste, Namaskar / Hai, Helo
French — Bonjour / Salut
Swedish — God dag / Hej, Tjena
Arabic — Asalaam alaikum / Ahlan
Greek — Yassas / Yassou
Indonesian — Selamat siang / Halo
German — Guten Tag / Hallo, Hi
Russian — Zdravstvuyte / Privet
Spanish — Hola / ¿Qué tal?
Polish — Dzień dobry / Cześć, Witaj
Turkish — Merhaba / Selam
Italian — Salve / Ciao

Travelling without a connection

If you are going to be somewhere with no usable data, download the languages you need in advance. Mate translates on the device in 55 or more languages on iPhone and iPad, and on macOS 15 and later on the Mac. Offline translation is part of Mate Pro; the instructions are in Use Mate offline on iPhone and iPad.

One Mate Pro subscription covers the Mac app, the iPhone and iPad app and all four browser extensions, with History and Phrasebook synced between them.