Papago can make your Korean polite; Google Translate can read a menu offline

Yes, if you speak English, Japanese or Chinese and want to talk to people in Korea: Papago, made by the Korean internet company Naver, has a switch that makes its Korean output polite, and its offline pack pairs Korean with exactly those three languages (Chinese in simplified characters). For any other language, or for pointing a camera at a menu with no data connection, Google Translate is the safer choice. Google says its camera translation works offline once the languages are downloaded. Naver says Papago's image translation doesn't work offline at all. Neither company publishes an accuracy comparison for Korean, so this post compares what each app can do. The sources are Naver's Korean-language Papago help centre, Papago's App Store release notes, Google's Translate help pages and both apps' store listings, all checked on 10 October 2026.

Which app reads a Korean menu or sign better with the camera?

Neither Naver nor Google publishes accuracy figures, so the difference that shows up at the table is connectivity and limits: Papago's camera needs data and, by its App Store release notes, stops at 100 images a day, while Google's camera keeps working offline once Korean is downloaded.

Papago's help centre describes several ways to use the camera. You can take a photo and rub a finger over the words you want, tap select-all to translate every line, turn on an overlay that prints the translation on top of the photo, or use real-time mode, which translates whatever the camera is pointed at without taking a picture. Papago's App Store release notes for April and May 2026 say the daily image-translation limit went up from 50 to 100. The same update added nearby place information from your photos, which is why the listing asks for location access. On the papago.naver.com website, image translation needs a Naver login and is limited to 30 images a month, reset on the 1st (Korean time).

Google's help page for translating images says to point the camera at the text and "watch the translation instantly happen". Its Google Play listing counts 94 languages for instant camera translation. Google adds that small, unclear or stylized text may not be translated correctly, though the same page gives handwritten notes as an example of what the camera can translate. Naver's help points the other way on handwriting: it says handwriting, cursive lettering and text over patterns or lines are hard for Papago to recognise.

Can Papago translate Korean offline into your language?

Only if your language is English, Japanese or Simplified Chinese. Naver's help page for offline translation lists four languages, Korean, English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, translating in any direction among them. Traditional Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Spanish and Papago's other languages work online only.

Once you've downloaded the offline pack, Papago translates typed text and speech with no connection. Naver lists what stops working offline: image, conversation, website and document translation, handwriting input, pronunciation playback, dictionary entries, the glossary and the honorific switch. The phone needs at least 4 GB of RAM. On Android, offline voice translation also needs Android 14 or later and a separate voice pack. On iPhone, the release notes for version 1.12.0 (1 September 2026) say the update added offline voice translation and improved offline quality. Papago itself runs on iOS 17.0 or Android 9.0 and later, according to Naver.

What does Google Translate do offline with Korean?

It translates text and camera images, as long as you've downloaded Korean and your own language first. Google's help says to download languages in the app's language picker, and that a language with no download button can't be downloaded. It recommends doing this on Wi-Fi to avoid slow downloads or extra data charges. Its image-translation page says camera translations then work for the downloaded languages without an internet connection.

Google's help pages don't print the offline language list. Its Google Play listing counts 59 offline languages. Google's ML Kit developer documentation describes its on-device translation as "powered by the same models used by the Google Translate app's offline mode" and lists Korean, Japanese and Chinese among its 59 languages. The same page says that between two non-English languages, English is used as an intermediate step, which can affect quality. By that description, offline Japanese-to-Korean or Chinese-to-Korean on Google would go through English on the way, which is one more reason Japanese and Chinese speakers may prefer Papago's offline pack.

Can either app make your Korean polite?

Papago can, with a switch labelled Honorific. Google Translate has no setting for it. Korean changes its verb endings depending on who you are speaking to, and a sentence that sounds fine between friends can sound abrupt to a shop owner.

Naver introduced the switch in January 2019, starting with English to Korean. Its announcement gave examples such as 나 becoming 저 ("I" in its humble form) and the plain ending 했다 becoming 했습니다. On 10 October 2026, papago.naver.com showed the Honorific switch when translating into Korean from English, Japanese or Chinese (simplified or traditional). It did not appear for French to Korean. It was off by default from English and Japanese and on by default from both forms of Chinese, so English and Japanese speakers need to turn it on themselves. Because the switch isn't available offline, polite Korean from Papago needs a connection.

Google Translate's web page showed no formality option for English to Korean on the same day, and we found no article in Google's Translate help on choosing formal or casual output (there is one on gender-specific translations). The nearest thing is a February 2026 update to the Translate app in the US and India: it shows alternative translations with "understand" and "ask" buttons, which Google says help you "nail the tone of any conversation". That is a question you put to the app, not a switch, and Google's announcement names no languages.

Which app handles a two-way conversation in Korean?

Both have a conversation mode, and in Korean both need data for it. In Papago's conversation translation, each person taps the microphone for their own language and speaks, and the app reads the translation aloud (an automatic read-aloud you can switch off in settings). Naver's help says that holding the microphone button down while you talk improves recognition in a noisy place. Naver's offline page lists conversation translation as unavailable offline.

Google's live translate lists Korean among its supported languages, with Conversation, Listening and Text-only modes and a face-to-face view that splits the screen between the two speakers. Its Android help page says live translation can be downloaded for offline use only on Pixel 9, 10 and 11 phones, and the ten offline pairs it lists, such as Japanese with English, don't include Korean.

One detail for iPhone users: Papago's App Store listing says voice and conversation translation in Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Russian and Italian use Apple's speech recognition, and the voice data for those languages is sent to Apple.

Is there a published figure for the data a camera translation uses?

No. Neither Naver nor Google publishes one, either per photo or per minute of live camera. Google's image-translation help only advises "a strong network connection" for the best results. Naver's help gives no figure for image translation and no size for its offline packs. The one size Google has stated was in a June 2018 blog post, which put each offline language pack at 35 to 45 MB. Its current Android help simply calls language files small. For hourly estimates of everyday app use, see how much data a Korea trip needs.

Papago's camera, its honorific switch and both apps' conversation modes all stop without a signal, and they are the features you reach for at a counter. Kedanto's Korea eSIM keeps them working away from Wi-Fi by giving the phone mobile data through SK Telecom and LG U+, and a travel partner whose translator also needs a signal can tether to it. Calls and texts aren't part of it: there is no Korean number on the line, and SMS can't reach it.

Do you need both apps, or will one do?

Keep both, and give each the job it does best.

• English, Japanese and Chinese speakers: use Papago with the Honorific switch on for talking to staff, and download its offline pack for Korean and your language while you're on Wi-Fi.
• Everyone: download Korean and your own language in Google Translate as well, so the camera works when the signal doesn't.
• Speakers of Thai, Vietnamese, Spanish or Papago's other online-only languages: Papago works when you're connected, and Google's offline download covers you when you aren't.

The test usually comes at a counter where the day's dishes are written in marker on a whiteboard. Handwriting is exactly what Naver's help says Papago's camera struggles with. If the photo comes back garbled, copy the dish name stroke by stroke into Papago's handwriting box with your finger. Like the camera, that box needs a signal, and with none, Google's offline camera is the one that will still try.