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On-screen text translation

Five ways to read what cannot be selected with a mouse, and the limitations of each

English text on the screen that cannot be selected with a mouse is a common occurrence on forums, in applications, and within games. We examine five ways to translate such text and the limitations of each: where you'll have to switch between windows, and where the translation will appear on top of the same page.

Why text cannot be selected

There are usually three reasons, and none of them are about your mouse.

The text might not exist at all: what you see is drawn as an image or rendered via canvas, and there's nothing to select. The second case is copy protection: the site intercepts selection with a script, as done by forums, knowledge bases, and platforms with paid content. The third is an application instead of a browser: in mobile clients, games, and messengers, system selection is often absent due to the interface's build itself.

Hence a simple consequence: the translation method is chosen not by convenience, but by where the text comes from.

Screenshot and photo translator

The most common way: take a screenshot, open a translator, upload the image, read the translation. Works almost everywhere because the translator doesn't care where the image comes from.

The price of this convenience is switching. For each paragraph, you have to exit reading, take a screenshot, switch to another app, and come back. One phrase can be translated normally this way. On a long forum thread, this turns into a half-hour task.

A subtle point: recognition stumbles on small fonts, light text on a dark background, and low-resolution screenshots. If the shot is scaled down, some letters turn into mush before translation even begins.

Camera on another screen

A method for when the text is on another device entirely: on a monitor nearby, on a TV, on an ATM screen. Point your phone camera at it, and the translation overlays the image.

It works briskly, but it's hard to read: the image shakes, the translation jumps around, and a long paragraph has to be caught in pieces. For a sign, menu, or plaque, this is enough. You can't read a page of text this way.

Built-in page translation

In a browser, this is the best free option: the entire page is translated, the layout is preserved, and nothing is moved around.

There's one significant limitation: it only works in a browser and only with a page that the browser could parse. A phone app, a game, a PDF in a separate program, or a messenger window remain untranslated.

Browser extension

Extensions translate a selected fragment or paragraph on hover, without taking you away from the page. As long as the text can be selected, it's convenient.

As soon as the site prohibits selection, the extension hits the same wall as you do: there's nothing to send to the translator. Plus, it's still only for browsers and only on a computer.

Floating button over the screen

The fifth method is different because it doesn't depend on the text source. The button floats over any application: tap it, and it reads what's currently on the screen and returns the translation.

This is how screen translation works in Parleo. You don't need to select anything, nor switch between windows: you stay in the same forum thread, the same chat, or the same game where you were reading.

Then begins what we made this for. An unfamiliar word from the translated piece can be immediately sent to the dictionary: Parleo will find an image for it and put it on spaced repetition — today, tomorrow, in three days, in a week, in sixteen days, in a month. Translation stops being a one-time operation and becomes study material.

What to choose for your task

Text source	What fits
Browser page, text can be selected	Built-in page translation or extension
Forum with copy protection	Floating button or screenshot
App, messenger, game	Floating button
Another device's screen, sign, menu	Camera
One phrase, one-time	Screenshot and photo translator

Translation and understanding

Any of the five methods solves the task of "understanding what's written here," but doesn't solve the second: so that next time the same sentence can be read without translation.

The difference is evident from a simple experiment. Take a phrase you've just translated and try to say it aloud in English without peeking. Usually, it turns out that the meaning is clear, but the phrase itself doesn't come together: the words are familiar individually, but they've never been spoken together.

That's why in Parleo, screen translation is linked to a dictionary and conversation. A word from the translation goes into a card with a picture, and the phrase containing it pops up in a spoken conversation, where you say it yourself. Fifteen text responses per day are available for free and without registration; voice conversation is on the full plan for 899 ₽ per month.

The easiest way to start is with the very page you couldn't highlight just now: open screen translation and read it all the way through, without leaving the thread.