How to translate a French image to English

French paperwork people photograph most

Most French documents that need English arrive as phone photos, because the original sits in a folder in France or in a family drawer. Typical examples:

• School records: a bulletin de notes, a relevé de notes from a university or a diplôme for a US admissions office.
• Civil records: an acte de naissance, acte de mariage or acte de décès, or a page of the livret de famille. The French birth certificate guide covers which version to order.
• Letters from French offices: the CAF, the tax office (avis d'imposition), a mairie or a bank.
• Housing and work papers: a bail (lease), a fiche de paie (payslip) or an attestation from an employer.

French documents from Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec and West Africa read the same way. The source language is detected from the text, not from the country.

How French details look in the English Word file

Accents in names

Kept as written. Hélène Lefèvre stays Hélène Lefèvre, and François keeps its ç.

Dates in words

Translated. Le 12 mars 2024 becomes 12 March 2024.

Dates in figures

Kept day first, as printed. 03/04/2024 stays 03/04/2024, which in France is 3 April.

Amounts

Kept as printed. 1 250,50 keeps its space and decimal comma.

Grades

Kept on the French scale. 14,5/20 stays 14,5/20, so a US reader sees the original mark.

Because dates in figures stay day first, add the month name in Word for any date a US reader will act on. 03/04/2024 next to 3 April 2024 removes all doubt.

How to translate a French photo to English with LoreAI

1. Photograph the page flat. Lay it on a table in daylight and fill the frame. For a booklet such as a livret de famille, photograph one double page at a time.
2. Enter your email at the top of this page. The 6-digit code we send opens LoreAI with English already set. Your first document is free, up to 3 pages and 3 MB.
3. Upload the JPG, PNG or PDF. Several photos of one document go into one PDF first, so they come back as one Word file.
4. Download the English .docx. Headings, tables and stamps stay in the order of the French page. Handwritten entries, such as a teacher's comment on a bulletin, are translated with the printed text.

Free French picture translators and what they return

Google Translate's Images tab on a computer translates a picture from French, lets you copy the translated text or download the translated image, and can show the original side by side[1]. DeepL translates text from images in its desktop and mobile apps, and its free plan allows 1500 characters a day[2].

Both work well for a menu, a sign or a short note. A school report or a lease has tables and several pages, and you will want to edit the result. That is where a Word file earns its place, which is what LoreAI returns.

French documents for a US office

USCIS accepts a foreign document only with a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate, together with the translator's statement of competence in both languages[3].

LoreAI is not a certified translation service. A translator who reads French reviews the Word file and signs the certification. How to get a certified translation covers the steps, and a French PDF goes through the French to English PDF guide.

Questions people ask