Chat in English with someone who speaks Italian

Piou lets you write in English while your contact writes in Italian, whether it's your nonna in Calabria or your landlord in Bologna: each message is translated on the reader's own device, and the original stays one tap away. Translation is part of Piou Premium ($5.99 a month in the US, A$8.99 in Australia, after a 7-day free trial) and works offline once both languages are downloaded.

How it works between English and Italian

Everyone writes in their own language. Piou detects the language of each message on the sender's phone and keeps it as typed; the reader's device translates it. You'll see “Translated” under each translated message, and “Show original” brings back the Italian exactly as it was written.

The translation always happens on the device:

• iPhone (iOS 18 or later): Apple's built-in translation.
• Android (8.0 or later): Google's ML Kit, with the models downloaded to the phone.
• Web app (app.piou.chat): the open-source Bergamot engine with Firefox Translations models in the browser, or Chrome's built-in translation on desktop when available. English–Italian is translated directly, with no third language in between.

Translations never leave your device. The messages themselves are stored on Piou's servers, in their original language, so they can be delivered and synced.

Translation is personal. With Premium, you read messages, polls, status text and voice messages in English; voice messages are transcribed and translated while the recording stays playable. On the free plan, Italian messages stay in Italian, with a banner once a day per conversation offering “Message in Italian — Tap to read it in English”. For your grandparents to read you in Italian, they need Premium too, which you can gift them.

An example exchange

Sophie lives in Melbourne; her grandmother Rosaria lives in Reggio Calabria. The translations are illustrative; the exact wording depends on each device's engine.

• Nonna Rosaria writes: “Sofia, amore mio, domani hai l'esame? In bocca al lupo! Ti voglio bene.”
  • Sophie reads: “Sofia, my love, do you have your exam tomorrow? Good luck! I love you.”
• Sophie writes: “Thanks, Nonna! I studied all weekend. I'll call you after.”
  • Rosaria reads: “Grazie, nonna! Ho studiato tutto il fine settimana. Ti chiamo dopo.”
• Nonna Rosaria writes: “Brava! Magari quest'estate vieni a trovarmi?”
  • Sophie reads: “Well done! Maybe you'll come and visit me this summer?”

“In bocca al lupo” literally means “into the wolf's mouth”; here the engine rendered it as “good luck”, but idioms don't always survive. And “magari” is slippery: it can mean “maybe” or “if only!”, so Sophie's best answer is a clear yes or no.

Tips for writing to Italian speakers

• Pick the right greeting. Ciao is for family and friends; for a landlord, a professor or a doctor's office, open with “Good morning” or “Good evening” (Buongiorno, Buonasera). Many Italians switch to buonasera in the afternoon.
• Use titles. University graduates are often addressed as Dottore or Dottoressa, and you'll also hear Ingegnere, Avvocato or Professore. If someone signs as “Dott. Rossi”, write “Dear Dr. Rossi” to keep the formal tone.
• Lei or tu. Italian has a formal Lei and a familiar tu. Tu is normal in the family; with a landlord or a professor, Lei is expected. The engine picks one for your “you”, so keep the tone formal when it matters.
• Mind the clock. Italy is usually 6 hours ahead of New York and 8 to 10 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne, depending on the season. A late-evening message from nonna may land in your morning.
• Numbers and dates. Day first (03/04 is April 3), a 24-hour clock (alle 20:30 is 8:30 p.m.) and a decimal comma: 1.250,00 € is twelve hundred fifty euros.
• Shortcuts. “cmq” (comunque, anyway), “nn” (non, not), “xké” (perché, why or because) and “tvb” (ti voglio bene) may stay untranslated.

Translation limits to know

• Two kinds of “I love you”. Ti amo is romantic; ti voglio bene is the love of family and friends. Write “I love you” to nonna and the translation may well say ti amo. She'll understand, but a “Ti voglio bene, nonna” typed in Italian goes straight through as written.
• Dialects. Many older Italians write the way they speak: Sicilian, Neapolitan, Calabrian, Venetian. Regional languages aren't among Piou's 20 languages, so a message in dialect may be poorly translated. Standard Italian works best.
• Gender and formality. Italian adjectives agree in gender (stanco or stanca, “tired”), so when English doesn't say, the engine guesses. It also picks Lei or tu on its own.
• Idioms and interjections. Beyond magari, words like boh (“who knows”) and dai (“come on”) can come out oddly.
• Mixed messages. Piou detects one language per message, so switching languages mid-sentence may leave half of it untranslated.
• Voice features depend on what your device's speech recognition supports, and strong regional accents or background noise lower accuracy.
• High stakes. For property, inheritance, citizenship paperwork, health or money, use a professional translator or interpreter. In an emergency, call 112 in Italy, 911 in the US or 000 in Australia.

Getting started

1. Install Piou on an iPhone (iOS 18 or later) or an Android phone (8.0 or later), or open app.piou.chat and add it to your home screen (Safari → Share → “Add to Home Screen” on iPhone; Chrome → ⋮ → “Install app” on Android).
2. Create your account with Apple, Google or an email address, choose English and verify your phone number once: it helps contacts find you and is never used to sign in.
3. Download English and Italian on Wi-Fi, so translation keeps working offline.
4. Add your contact from “Already on Piou”, or send an invite link or QR code.
5. Start the 7-day free trial (card required, no charge for 7 days; the subscription then starts automatically unless you cancel first). For nonna to read you in Italian, use “Gift Piou to someone”.