# BelliedMonkey Translator (大肚猴翻译)

> A free, open-source bilingual translation extension for Safari (iPhone, iPad, Mac),
> Chrome and Firefox. Webpages show the original with the translation directly below
> it; video gets dual subtitles. Sentences you actually stop and read become
> spaced-repetition review cards.

## What it is

- A browser extension, plus an iOS/macOS app. The app reviews what you read, and translates
  what you hear: "Live Subtitles" puts bilingual subtitles on whatever the device is playing
  (a floating bar over any app on Mac, macOS 26+; a picture-in-picture window over any app on
  iPhone), and "Conversation · live interpreter" transcribes, translates and reads aloud both
  sides of a conversation.
- On Mac, "Quick Translate" translates text from any app: select text and press a shortcut
  (or use the right-click Services menu), type, or drag a box around on-screen text that cannot
  be selected. It runs only when you start it. The text goes straight to the translation engine
  you configured; on-screen text is recognised on the Mac and the screenshot is neither saved nor
  sent. It does not monitor the keyboard or read the clipboard in the background, and it never
  reads clipboard content marked as concealed (passwords).
- On iPhone and iPad, "System translation" puts the app in Settings > Apps > Translate as the
  Default Translation App (iOS/iPadOS 18.4+): select text in any app, tap Translate, and the
  sheet that opens translates with the engine you configured. It runs only when you start it;
  only the text you selected is sent, and only at that moment; the extension has no background
  process and stops as soon as it is done.
- Audio is used only after you tap Start. Speech is recognised on the device (iOS 26 / macOS 26) and never
  leaves it; only the recognised text goes to the translation engine you configured.
  Nothing is recorded — only text is kept, and only if you add it to review.
- Free and fully open source: https://github.com/belliedmonkey/belliedmonkey-translator
- No subscription, no ads, no account required, and no third-party analytics in the app or the
  extension. Only anonymous usage events (which features are used, never page content or
  addresses), off in one switch; the China edition sends nothing. This website itself is counted
  by its host without cookies and without any cross-site identifier — see section 5 of
  https://belliedmonkey.cc/privacy.html
- Bring your own LLM API key — OpenAI, Claude, DeepSeek, GLM (Zhipu), Qwen, Kimi, or
  any endpoint that speaks the Chat Completions or Messages format. The international
  build also has a free no-key Google channel for trying it out.
- Translation requests go from your device straight to the provider you chose. None of
  our servers sit in that path, and your key never leaves your device.

## What it is NOT

- Not a hosted translation service. No server of ours does the translating. One bounded
  exception: the optional free credit for signed-in users routes the text through a relay of
  ours to the model provider — we store and log nothing of the content, only what each call
  spent. Bringing your own key keeps the path direct, as before. See the privacy page.
- Not a dictionary. Document translation (PDF / Word / images, one page at a time) sends the page
  you open to your own endpoint; images and scanned pages are recognised only by your own
  multimodal engine — never by a service of ours, and never on the free credit.
- Not a subscription product. There is nothing to buy.
- The mainland-China edition is a separate app (大肚猴翻译, belliedmonkey.com). Every
  engine there needs your own key — it has no free channel — and cross-device sync is
  turned off in that build.

## Who it suits, and who it does not

Suits: people who read in a second language and want to retain it; people who already
have an LLM API key; people who would rather not hand the pages they read to a third
party's servers.

Does not suit: people who want zero-configuration one-tap translation and don't mind a
cloud service doing it. The free Google channel covers part of that case, but it is not
a stable endpoint and occasionally returns the original text unchanged.

## The part that makes it different

Most translators stop at the translation. This one keeps the sentences you actually
finished reading — not the ones you scrolled past — and brings them back on a
forgetting curve, with read / listen / write tiers, sentence notes and read-aloud.
Read on your computer, review on your phone.

## Links

- Home: https://belliedmonkey.cc/
- Turn on the Safari extension: https://belliedmonkey.cc/setup.html
- Privacy: https://belliedmonkey.cc/privacy.html
- Support: https://belliedmonkey.cc/support.html
- FAQ (what it costs, what leaves your device, how to choose a bilingual reading tool): https://belliedmonkey.cc/faq.html
- Setup guide (which key, exact endpoint and model, read-aloud, transcription): https://belliedmonkey.cc/guide.html
- Pricing (free extension; what a page costs with your own key; the optional $0.20 credit): https://belliedmonkey.cc/pricing.html
- Open-source alternative to Immersive Translate (honest comparison, who should pick which): https://belliedmonkey.cc/alternatives.html
- Changelog (what changed in each version): https://belliedmonkey.cc/changelog.html
- YouTube dual subtitles, sentence by sentence: https://belliedmonkey.cc/youtube-dual-subtitles.html
- Translating web pages in Safari on iPhone and iPad: https://belliedmonkey.cc/safari-ios-translate-extension.html
- Community chat (Discord, English): https://belliedmonkey.cc/discord
- Source: https://github.com/belliedmonkey/belliedmonkey-translator
- App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6787190032
- Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ilnmffeejeohomjelipejdldhkjeoinf
- Firefox Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/belliedmonkey-translator/
- China edition: https://belliedmonkey.com/