Speaker (Japanese)
すみません、おすすめのタパスはどれですか？
Disculpe, ¿qué tapas me recomienda?
こんにちは Hola
Live translation
Japanese ↔ Spanish
through one pair of earbuds.
Share an earbud. Pick Japanese and Spanish. Each of you hears the other in your own language, live.
A sample exchange
Three turns between Japanese and Spanish, the way they'd actually go. Each card shows the original line above the translation.
Speaker (Spanish)
Hoy le recomiendo especialmente las gambas al ajillo y las patatas bravas.
今日はガンバス・アル・アヒージョとパタタス・ブラバスが特におすすめです。
Speaker (Japanese)
では、その二つと、グラスの赤ワインをお願いします。
Entonces esas dos, y una copa de vino tinto, por favor.
What metcha supports for this pair
| Japanese | Spanish | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 ↔ Spanish sits far apart structurally: Japanese is verb-final and written in kanji and kana, Spanish is verb-medial and written in the Latin alphabet, so live translation has to rebuild each sentence completely. The pair is more common than it looks, with Japanese travelers in Spain and Mexico, and large Peruvian and other Latin American communities living and working in Japan. Most translation tools treat non-English pairs as second-class; metcha's Better Translation path on metcha Plus translates directly between the two with conversational context and keeps the Japanese politeness register (です／ます vs casual) consistent.
Common phrases
Hand-picked phrases for everyday Spanish-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
-
Japanese: こんにちは、はじめまして。
Spanish: Hola, mucho gusto.
- Thank you
-
Japanese: 本当にありがとうございます。
Spanish: Muchísimas gracias.
- Apology
-
Japanese: すみません、わかりません。
Spanish: Disculpe, no entiendo.
- Directions
-
Japanese: 一番近い地下鉄の駅はどこですか？
Spanish: ¿Dónde está la estación de metro más cercana?
- Ordering
-
Japanese: おすすめをお願いします。
Spanish: Lo que usted recomiende, por favor.
- Allergy
-
Japanese: 甲殻類アレルギーがあります。
Spanish: Soy alérgico a los mariscos.
- Bill
-
Japanese: お会計をお願いします。
Spanish: La cuenta, por favor.
- Hotel
-
Japanese: [名前]で予約しています。
Spanish: Tengo una reserva a nombre de [nombre].
- Pharmacy
-
Japanese: 頭痛の薬はありますか？
Spanish: ¿Tiene algo para el dolor de cabeza?
- Wifi
-
Japanese: Wi-Fiのパスワードは何ですか？
Spanish: ¿Cuál es la contraseña del wifi?
Where you'd use it
- Japanese travelers in Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Andalusia See the Barcelona guide →
- Travel in Mexico City and across Latin America See the Mexico City guide →
- Peruvian and other Latin American residents in Japan, at work and at the counter
- Tapas bars and restaurants welcoming Japanese tour groups
Common questions
- Does metcha translate Spanish to Japanese as well as Japanese to Spanish?
- Yes, both directions run in the same session. When someone speaks Japanese, the other person hears it in Spanish; when they reply in Spanish, you hear it in Japanese. There is no direction to configure and no turn-taking button. See how it works for the full walkthrough.
- Is Japanese ↔ Spanish translation in metcha on-device or cloud?
- Both. metcha's free tier uses Apple's on-device Translation framework where supported (available for both Japanese and Spanish). 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 Japanese and Spanish?
- 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 Spanish?
- metcha's Deepgram STT path handles major regional variants of Spanish 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 Spanish?
- 4 curated native-Spanish 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.