Chat in English with someone who speaks Russian

With Piou, you write in English and your contact writes in Russian. With Piou Premium, every Russian message appears in English on your phone, translated on the device itself, and the original Cyrillic text stays one tap away. For your contact to read you in Russian, they need Premium too, or you can gift it to them.

How it works between English and Russian

Piou detects the language of each message on the sender's phone and stores it exactly as written. Translation happens on the recipient's device, into the recipient's language. Each person reads in their own language: you see English, your contact sees Russian, and nobody has to change the way they type.

The engine depends on the device:

• iPhone: Apple's built-in translation, on iOS 18 or later.
• Android: ML Kit by Google, with models downloaded to the phone.
• Web app: the open source Bergamot engine with Firefox Translations models running in the browser, or Chrome's built-in translation on a computer when available. English and Russian form a direct pair on the web, with no detour through a third language.

A translated message carries the label Translated. Tap Show original to see exactly what your contact wrote, which helps with names, addresses and anything that reads oddly. 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.

The language packs download once, ideally over Wi-Fi. After that, translation and Face to face mode work offline.

On the free plan, Piou is a complete messenger with chats, groups, voice messages, photos and calls, but messages appear in their original language. Premium adds automatic translation, voice messages transcribed and translated, translated subtitles during calls and Face to face mode. If you have Premium and your contact doesn't, Piou suggests gifting it so they can read you in Russian.

What an exchange looks like

Emily's partner grew up speaking Russian. His mother, Galina, lives in another city and writes only in Russian. Here is roughly what each of them sees:

• Galina writes: “Эмили, здравствуйте! Мы с дедушкой ждём вас в субботу к обеду. Что Лёве можно есть?” → Emily reads: “Hello, Emily! Grandpa and I are expecting you on Saturday for lunch. What can Lyova eat?”
• Emily replies: “Thank you so much! He eats almost everything, just no nuts, he's allergic.” → Galina reads: “Большое спасибо! Он ест почти всё, только без орехов, у него аллергия.”
• Galina then sends a voice message. Emily sees the transcript in English and can still play Galina's voice.

“Лёва” is a pet form of Lev, the boy's name, and the translation may spell it Lyova or Leva. If a name looks unfamiliar, Show original settles it.

Tips for chatting with Russian speakers

• Ask how they'd like to be addressed. With in-laws, older relatives or new colleagues, many Russian speakers use the formal “вы”, often with the first name and patronymic, as in Galina Petrovna. Using the form of the name your contact uses is the clearest sign of respect.
• Expect several versions of one name. Aleksandr may be Sasha to friends and Sashenka to his grandmother; Elena becomes Lena, Dmitry becomes Dima. Same person, different degrees of closeness.
• A bracket can be a smile. Many Russian speakers type “)” or “))” instead of an emoji. It's friendly, not a typo, and the translation may drop it.
• Direct doesn't mean rude. Russian often does without the softeners English relies on, such as “would you mind” or “just”, so a translated request can sound sharper than intended. Read it in the tone of the whole conversation.
• Read dates day first. 03.04 usually means April 3, not March 4. Times are often given in 24-hour format, and decimals use a comma: 1,5 means one and a half.
• Don't guess where someone is from. Russian is spoken by people from many countries and backgrounds. Let your contact tell you about themselves.

Where translation can stumble

• Gender. Russian verbs and adjectives change with the speaker's gender: “я устал” for a man, “я устала” for a woman. English “I'm tired” gives no clue, so the translation guesses and may pick the masculine form.
• Formal or informal “you”. The translation picks “ты” or “вы” on your behalf and may switch from one message to the next.
• Names that are also words. Nadezhda means “hope”, Vera “faith”, Lyubov “love”. A translation can turn a name into a word.
• Russian in Latin letters. A message like “privet, kak dela” may not be recognized as Russian, so it may stay untranslated.
• Idioms, irony and wordplay, along with typos, abbreviations and messages mixing Russian and English, can come out wrong.

Getting started

1. Install Piou on iPhone (iOS 18 or later) or Android (8.0 or later), or use the web app at app.piou.chat.
2. Choose English as your language and let the languages download, ideally over Wi-Fi.
3. Invite your contact with a link, a QR code or from your address book. They need Piou to send and receive messages.
4. Start the 7-day free trial to turn on translation. A card is required, nothing is charged for 7 days, and the subscription then starts automatically at the price shown unless you cancel before the trial ends.
5. Want your contact to read you in Russian? Use Gift Piou to someone to pay for their Premium, and manage the gift later in Settings → Premium.