Tools for reading raw manga chapters

[JoeWangDev]

For those of us who can't wait for translations, here are the tools I use to read raw chapters:

On Android — Floating screen translator

I use Screen Translator. It puts a bubble overlay on top of my manga reader app (Tachiyomi). When I'm on a raw page, I tap the bubble and it scans the page using OCR, translating all the text — speech bubbles, narration boxes, even some sound effects.

It handles:

• Vertical Japanese text (standard manga layout)
• Horizontal Korean text (manhwa/webtoons)
• Both clean digital text and reasonably clear scanned text

My workflow:

1. Open raw chapter in Tachiyomi
2. Read the page (look at art, get context)
3. Tap the floating bubble to translate dialogue
4. Swipe to next page, repeat

Tips for better results:

• Digital raws translate much better than scanned physical pages
• Clean fonts > stylized fonts for OCR accuracy
• Korean manhwa generally translates better than Japanese manga (horizontal text is easier for OCR)
• Don't bother translating sound effects — they rarely translate meaningfully

Limitations:

• Machine translation isn't as good as human translation (obviously)
• Heavily stylized or handwritten text may not be recognized
• Works with static images only

It's not a replacement for proper scanlation, but when you're 30 chapters behind and can't wait, it gets the job done.

Screen Translator: Google Play

What tools do you all use for raw reading?

 

[GipoScribantino]

What tools do you all use for raw reading?

My knowledge of the language.