Speaker (Italian)
Benvenuti. Oggi vi consiglio i tonnarelli cacio e pepe, li facciamo in casa.
いらっしゃいませ。本日のおすすめは自家製のトンナレッリ・カチョ・エ・ペペです。
Ciao こんにちは
Live translation
Italian ↔ Japanese
through one pair of earbuds.
Share an earbud. Pick Italian and Japanese. Each of you hears the other in your own language, live.
A sample exchange
Three turns between Italian and Japanese, the way they'd actually go. Each card shows the original line above the translation.
Speaker (Japanese)
いいですね、それをください。あと、地元の赤ワインも一杯お願いします。
Perfetto, li prendo. E un bicchiere di vino rosso della zona, per favore.
Speaker (Italian)
Ottima scelta. Arriva subito.
素晴らしい選択です。すぐにお持ちします。
What metcha supports for this pair
| Italian | Japanese | |
|---|---|---|
| Apple on-device translation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deepgram cloud STT | ✓ | ✓ |
| iOS built-in voices | ✓ | ✓ |
| ElevenLabs premium voices (Plus) | 4 voices | 4 voices |
| Voice cloning (Plus, your voice) | ✓ | ✓ |
Why metcha for this pair
Japanese tourism in Italy is large and famously food-led, and the fascination runs both ways: Italian chefs study Japanese technique while Japanese diners queue for the real cacio e pepe. The two languages even sound compatible, both built on open, vowel-ended syllables, which is why Italian words sit so naturally in katakana. The structures differ completely though, Italian verb-medial and Japanese verb-final, and most tools route the pair through English; metcha's Better Translation path on metcha Plus translates directly between the two and keeps the Japanese politeness register (です／ます) intact.
Common phrases
Hand-picked phrases for everyday Japanese-speaking situations. In metcha you don't need to memorize these — but they're useful to anchor what the app sounds like before you try it.
- Greeting
-
Italian: Buongiorno, piacere.
Japanese: こんにちは、はじめまして。
- Thank you
-
Italian: Grazie mille.
Japanese: ありがとうございます。
- Apology
-
Italian: Mi scusi, non ho capito.
Japanese: すみません、わかりませんでした。
- Directions
-
Italian: Dov'è la stazione più vicina?
Japanese: 一番近い駅はどこですか？
- Ordering
-
Italian: Cosa mi consiglia?
Japanese: おすすめは何ですか？
- Allergy
-
Italian: Sono allergico ai crostacei.
Japanese: 甲殻類アレルギーがあります。
- Bill
-
Italian: Il conto, per favore.
Japanese: お会計をお願いします。
- Hotel
-
Italian: Ho una prenotazione a nome [nome].
Japanese: [名前]で予約しています。
- Pharmacy
-
Italian: Avete qualcosa per il mal di testa?
Japanese: 頭痛の薬はありますか？
- Taxi
-
Italian: A questo indirizzo, per favore.
Japanese: この住所までお願いします。
Where you'd use it
- Japanese travelers in Italy: Rome, Florence, Venice, food first See the Rome guide →
- Italian chefs and Japanese diners trading questions across the counter
- Sushi counters and izakaya in Tokyo welcoming Italian guests See the Tokyo guide →
- Food and wine tours where the conversation is half the experience
Common questions
- Does metcha translate Japanese to Italian as well as Italian to Japanese?
- Yes, both directions run in the same session. When someone speaks Italian, the other person hears it in Japanese; when they reply in Japanese, you hear it in Italian. There is no direction to configure and no turn-taking button. See how it works for the full walkthrough.
- Is Italian ↔ Japanese translation in metcha on-device or cloud?
- Both. metcha's free tier uses Apple's on-device Translation framework where supported (available for both Italian and Japanese). metcha Plus optionally routes through a Better Translation cloud path for more natural phrasing, with a quiet fallback to the on-device path when the network is slow.
- Do I need both AirPods to use metcha for Italian and Japanese?
- No. The simplest mode is one earbud each — you keep one, the other person keeps the other. metcha handles both directions through that single shared pair. If you'd rather both wear your own earbuds, you can pair a second phone in seconds via a QR code (still no app install for the other person).
- What about regional accents within Japanese?
- metcha's Deepgram STT path handles major regional variants of Japanese robustly. The on-device path is more sensitive to accent — if you find the free path missing words, switching to the metcha Plus cloud STT usually fixes it without changing anything else about the conversation.
- Does it work without internet?
- The free on-device path works fully offline once the relevant Apple Translation language packs are downloaded. metcha Plus features that depend on Deepgram, Better Translation, or ElevenLabs voices need a network connection.
- How many voices does metcha ship for Japanese?
- 4 curated native-Japanese voices on metcha Plus, plus all iOS built-in voices on the free tier (and any Enhanced or Premium voices you've installed in Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content).
- Are conversations private?
- metcha does not store conversations on our servers, and none of our providers retain audio for training. The free on-device path never sends audio off your phone at all. See the privacy policy for the full data-handling story.