Foodakl, a calorie counter app in 16 languages

Foodakl is a food and calorie tracker for iPhone and Android that speaks 16 languages, including Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Its screens are translated, and so are the readings: item names, portions and the follow-up question come back in your language.

The 16 languages

Foodakl is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Indonesian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional). The app opens in your phone’s language when it is one of these.

Portuguese is the Brazilian variety. Chinese comes in two forms, Simplified and Traditional.

What “in your language” covers

In Foodakl, a language covers the app’s screens and what the app writes for you, not only the menus.

• The app’s screens. Menus, settings, reminders and messages are all translated, not only the home screen. The privacy policy, the terms and the page on where the numbers come from stay in English.
• Your readings (Premium). When Foodakl reads a plate, the item names, the portions and the follow-up question come back in your language.
• The written read and Ask (Premium). The written read of your week and the answers in Ask your record are written in your language.
• The food library. Dish names, typical portions and alternate names are written for each language, so a search finds a dish under the name you use. English names still find it too. Recipes, exercises and shopping lists are translated as well.
• Numbers and dates. Decimal marks, grouping and date order follow your language. Digits stay 0 to 9 in every language, Arabic, Urdu and Hindi included.
• Units. You choose calories or kilojoules, kilograms or pounds, and kilometres or miles, in More → Units and language.
• Describing a meal (Premium). You can write the description in any language, or mix two in one description.

Right-to-left languages

Foodakl supports Arabic and Urdu, which read right to left, and in both of them the app’s layout turns around to read that way.

Switching between a left-to-right language and Arabic or Urdu restarts the app once so the layout can turn around. If it does not restart on its own, Foodakl asks you to close and reopen it. Switching between languages that read the same way, such as English to Spanish or Arabic to Urdu, takes effect at once.

How Foodakl picks and changes the language

Foodakl follows your phone. If your phone is set to one of the 16 languages, Foodakl opens in it, and if not it opens in English. For Chinese, Foodakl chooses Traditional or Simplified from your phone’s script and region: Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau get Traditional, and everywhere else gets Simplified.

To change it, open More and tap the Language card. It shows the current language in its own name, so you can find it even when you cannot read the rest of the screen. The same choice is in More → Units and language, and on the first screen when you set the app up. The list shows each language in its own name next to its English name. Your record is the same in every language. Only the words around it change.

Food from your kitchen

Foodakl’s library covers home cooking from all over the world, plus drinks, fast food and packaged snacks: 2,944 dishes from 41 kitchens. Separately, 257 dishes have a full recipe and a photograph on this site. Browse the dishes or the kitchens.

The kitchens, from A to Z: American, Andean, Basics, Bengali, Brazilian, British & Irish, Burmese, Caribbean, Central American, Central European, Chinese, Drinks, East African, Fast food, Filipino, Greek & Balkan, Gulf, Iberian, Indonesian & Malay, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Levantine, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Nepali & Tibetan, Nordic, North African, North Indian, Packaged snacks, Pakistani, Persian, Russian & Eastern European, South Indian, Southern African, Sri Lankan, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, West African, Western European.

Dish names are written in each language’s own script. More than half of the recipe pages on this site also list a dish’s other names, including in other scripts: chicken biryani is also चिकन बिरयानी and چکن بریانی, and baklava is also بقلاوة.

Questions people ask

Which languages does Foodakl support?

Foodakl is available in 16 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Indonesian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional). Arabic and Urdu read right to left.

Does Foodakl work in Arabic, Urdu and Hindi?

Yes. Foodakl is available in Arabic, Urdu and Hindi. Its screens are translated, and in Arabic and Urdu the app reads right to left. Readings, the written read of your week and the answers in Ask your record come back in the language the app is set to (Premium).

Will Foodakl’s readings come back in my language?

Yes. When Foodakl reads a plate, the item names, the portions and the follow-up question come back in the language the app is set to. Photo reading is part of Premium.

How do I change the language in Foodakl?

Open More and tap the Language card, or go to More, then Units and language. Foodakl also follows your phone’s language when it is one of the supported languages.

Can I describe a meal in my own language?

Yes. Describing a meal is part of Premium, and you can write the description in any language, or mix two in one description.

What kinds of food does Foodakl’s library cover?

Foodakl’s library has 2,944 dishes from 41 kitchens, including Gulf, Levantine, Persian, Turkish, Pakistani, North Indian, South Indian, Bengali, West African, East African, Brazilian, Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Italian, with dish names written for each of the 16 languages.