Real-time Chinese translation on your Mac
Updated 2026-10-09
Press Start, play it, and the subtitles appear as it is spoken — original, translated or both. To follow Mandarin as it is spoken — a C-drama, a Bilibili stream, a supplier in Shenzhen on WeChat, a factory call, a Zoom with a Shanghai team — run Tingdong on your Mac. It listens to whatever is playing, detects Chinese automatically, and floats English subtitles over it at simultaneous-interpretation pace. Call Translation adds the other direction: you speak English, they hear Mandarin (Website version).
How to set it up
- 1Open Tingdong and choose “Live Subtitles”
Pick “Screen sound” so it hears exactly what the show, stream or meeting plays. Chinese is detected, not selected.
- 2Press Start
Subtitles float over the player or the meeting window: Chinese on top, English below.
- 3For a WeChat, phone or Zoom call, switch to “Call Translation”
Choose Tingdong Microphone (Website version) in the app’s mic menu, or hand an iPhone call to the Mac over Bluetooth. Your English reaches them as a Chinese voice; their Mandarin comes back as English subtitles.
Built for WeChat and the supplier call
Most cross-border work with China happens in voice: WeChat calls, factory walk-throughs on video, a supplier who would rather talk than type. Tingdong treats WeChat like any other app — pick Tingdong Microphone (Website version) in its mic menu and the call is interpreted both ways, with no bot and nothing installed on their side. Tones, dropped subjects and measure words are exactly what line-by-line translators get wrong; Tingdong translates a continuous stream and keeps context across sentences. Mandarin is recognized automatically, and a speaker who switches between Chinese and English mid-call is followed per phrase.
Frequently asked questions
Does it translate WeChat calls?
Yes. WeChat on Mac lets you choose a microphone; choose Tingdong Microphone (Website version) and the call is interpreted both ways. The other party hears your words as a Chinese voice alongside yours and installs nothing.
Which kind of Chinese does it recognize?
Mandarin and Cantonese, detected automatically per phrase, so you never choose it in advance; a Shanghai or Sichuan accent on Mandarin is the same case. Captions come out in Chinese characters either way.
Does it work on Bilibili, iQIYI and Youku?
Yes. It captures the audio your Mac plays, so any site or player works — including live streams with no subtitle track — and the same floating subtitles follow you to YouTube, Netflix and local files.
How accurate is it for business Mandarin?
Meeting and dialogue speech translates well; context is kept across sentences. Rapid crosstalk, chengyu-heavy speech and songs are hard for any machine translation — the Chinese line stays on screen above the translation so you can always check.
Try it on your next video, meeting or call
Download free for macOS Get it for Windows
Free trial: about 100 minutes of subtitles · No signup or card
Windows 11 (subtitles and Read aloud only, nothing sent into calls)