You are probably an anime fan, or need to translate Japanese image text to English for the purpose of business or study. Then, you need to do Japanese OCR.
The process of a Japanese OCR requires an OCR tool to recognize the Japanese texts first, then export the whole file as editable or copyable document for translation. Here we include 7 outstanding programs to do Japanese OCR, no matter you are working on a Mac, Windows, iOS or Android device, via online and offline Japanese OCR software.
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is the most comprehensive PDF converter with OCR capability to perform conversion on PDF files. It not only builds in all the basic features that other PDF converters includes, but also offers advanced setting for accurate OCR or extended features to create/protect/compress PDFs.
Notes:
For user-password protected PDFs, you need to click the lock icon to unlock PDF first.
Tipard PDF Converter Platinum is an easy-to-use Windows OCR program to recognize Japanese files efficiently. Most of users speak highly of its OCR feature, it brings accurate OCR results, supports more than 100 languages, you can even work on a multilingual file.
There are 3 OCR modes available: Accuracy, Balanced, Speed, you can pick each according to your needs.
Accurary: Best quality for recognition.
Balanced: Balance between accuracy and speed.
Speed: The OCR speed is 2-2.5 faster than normal.
At the same time, many users are still looking for some online free services to do Japanese OCR, such as i2OCR, ocrconvert, ocrspace, as showed in Google top results. Here, we are going to test and verify if these online free Japanese OCR are worth a try.
According to the test results above, we noticed that the OCR accuracy of online free OCR tools is quite mediocre, which well reflect the OCR performance of existing online OCR services. Yet, this is quite understandable, free service always comes with limited features or average performance. Does this mean online free Japanese OCR is a waste? No, they are still worth a try, if:
Scan&Translate from AISBERG LLC is a iOS app to recognize image text, then translate to your target language, this is extremely convenient for users who need real-time translate when travelling in Japan. All you need to do is, take a picture of the Japanese information, then scan and translate with this app, even it can read the text for a better communication.
It has an excellent support on OCR language and target translated languages:
Yomiwa, a Japanese OCR app with Dictionary, is really a great tool for users who want to study Japanese anytime and anywhere.
It can recognize text from uploaded images, from files captured under your camera, even handwritten text you input by drawing/radical search/keyboard. Once the OCR finishes, each Japanese word and Kanji will be provided with detailed information, such as pronunciation, conjugation or definition. Also, the Japanese contents can be translated into more than 10 languages.
However, Yomiwa can only translate single Japanese word or Kanji, it is not capable of translating a complete sentence. To translate the whole file, you will need to copy the text, then paste to a 3rd party translator.
|
Platform
|
OCR Accuracy
|
Extended Features
|
---|---|---|---|
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR
|
MacOS
|
97%
|
Advanced OCR setting
Create PDF (compress/protect PDF)
|
Tipard PDF Converter Platinum
|
Windows
|
95%
|
Preview PDF files 3 OCR modes |
ocrconvert
|
Online
|
80%
|
Support image and PDF OCR
|
ocr.space
|
Online
|
80%
|
Support image and PDF OCR
|
i2OCR
|
Online
|
75~80%
|
Recognize 60 languages
|
Scan&Translate
|
iOS
|
92%
|
Translate
|
Yomiwa
|
Android
|
88%
|
Build in Dictionary
|
Applications to do Japanese OCR on different devices serve for different purposes. Doing Japanese OCR on a computer, users often require high on OCR accuracy for professional work, while doing this on a mobile phone, users pursue real-time service and convenience. Therefore, choice on performing Japanese OCR differs, and the rule is, if you want high quality, you’d better try the desktop experts, they are designed to make Japanese OCR accurate and professional.
Connie has been writing for Mac productivity and utility apps since 2009. Each review and solution is based on her practical tests, she is aways energetic and trustworthy in this field.