Conventional selection flow
Select 1Find a translate action 2Open result UI 3Read and close it 4Find your place again 5
Chrome extension · by RANURANU
LingPeekSelect text.Keep reading.
LingPeek reveals a Chrome-local translation directly where you are reading — without a separate translator tab, copy-paste, or an extra translate button.
No account · No LingPeek backend · No external translation API · No translation history
Translate Lens demo
Article excerpt
A quieter reading workflow
This workflow is surprisingly useful, selected text when one unfamiliar word interrupts the page.
Translation at selection유용한
SELECT↓TRANSLATION APPEARS HERE↓KEEP READING
Why LingPeek
Translation shouldn't interrupt reading.
LingPeek is deliberately narrower than full-page translation suites. It is for the moment when one word or sentence interrupts the page and you want the meaning without leaving your place.
LingPeek
Select 1Read 2
The difference is not a longer feature list. It is the removal of a repeated detour.
Translate Lens
The meaning appears where the text was.
The page text is not permanently replaced. LingPeek positions a temporary translation surface around the user-created selection, so the surrounding paragraph remains visible and the reading location stays obvious.
Translation, right where your eyes are.
The interface stayed quiet until translation was useful.
Translate Lens조용한
Focused features
Built around one reading interaction.
Eight capabilities support the same narrow purpose rather than turning LingPeek into a separate translation workspace.
01
Translate Lens
The meaning appears where the text was.
The result stays around the selected reading position instead of sending you to another tab or detached popup workflow.
02
Single words are welcome
Select one word. Keep the sentence context.
For isolated words LingPeek can use nearby context, page language hints, Chrome language detection, and recent reliable context to reduce obviously unreliable output.
LingPeek uses Chrome’s translation engine rather than a dictionary database, so isolated words can still be ambiguous.
03
Smart Trigger
Quiet until it makes sense.
Standalone URLs, emails, numbers, prices, punctuation, file paths, hashes, long identifiers, command-only text, code-heavy selections, and text already in the target language can be ignored.
04
Choose your language
Automatic when possible. Manual when useful.
Source language can stay on automatic detection or be chosen manually. The target can start from Chrome’s UI language and remains under the user’s control.
05
Local-first translation
No LingPeek translation server.
LingPeek calls Chrome’s built-in Translator rather than a RANURANU translation API or an external translation service.
06
Original one key away
Hold Alt to peek back at the source.
When the preference is enabled, holding Alt temporarily reveals the original selected text while the translation is visible.
07
Copy and pause controls
Keep the useful actions close.
Copy the translated text from Translate Lens, pause LingPeek for one hostname, or disable the extension globally without changing the page itself.
08
Local HTML too
Useful beyond public websites.
With explicit Chrome file URL permission, LingPeek can work on a local HTML page the user has opened. It does not scan folders or crawl local files.
Product philosophy
Built to remove a step, not add a suite.
LingPeek does not try to become a giant translation workspace. It does not add PDF translation, OCR, subtitle tools, writing assistants, cloud accounts, or dashboards to v0.4.0. Its job is narrower: when foreign-language text interrupts reading, make the meaning available with as little friction as possible.
No full-page translation suiteNo PDF or subtitle translationNo OCR or image scanningNo writing assistantNo account dashboardNo external cloud fallback
Local-first
Your reading doesn't become a LingPeek history.
LingPeek temporarily handles the text you select and, when needed, a bounded amount of nearby page context to detect the source language or make a short selection more useful. The translation interaction is handled through Chrome’s built-in Translator.
No LingPeek accountNo translation historyNo external translation APINo behavioral analyticsNo advertisingNo sale of user data
Read LingPeek Privacy Policy →SELECTED TEXT
+ bounded nearby context when needed
+ bounded nearby context when needed
↓
CHROME BUILT-IN TRANSLATION
↓
TRANSLATE LENS
↓
RANURANU TRANSLATION SERVER: NONE
Language coverage
Read across languages.
LingPeek exposes a broad set of languages supported by Chrome’s built-in Translator. Actual source/target pair availability is determined by the user’s Chrome installation.
Supported language options in LingPeek v0.4.0
ArabicBulgarianBengaliCzechDanishGermanGreekEnglishSpanishFinnishFrenchHebrewHindiCroatianHungarianIndonesianItalianJapaneseKannadaKoreanLithuanianMarathiDutchNorwegianPolishPortugueseRomanianRussianSlovakSlovenianSwedishTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianVietnameseChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)
Language-pair availability and translated wording are provided by Chrome and can depend on the user’s Chrome version and browser-managed language resources. Chrome may need to prepare a language resource the first time a language pair is used.
Extension interface localization: English, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Russian. The RANURANU product website remains English at launch.
Local HTML
It can peek inside local HTML too.
Developers, designers, saved documentation, and local prototypes are not limited to public URLs. Enable Chrome’s file URL permission for LingPeek, open the HTML file, and select ordinary page text.
LingPeek does not scan local folders or files. It can process only accessible text from a local HTML page the user explicitly opened and for which Chrome granted extension access.
Set up Local HTML →file:///C:/project/index.htmlSELECT FOREIGN TEXT
↓
Translate Lens↓
Compatibility
Focused scope, clearly stated.
These boundaries are part of the product definition, not hidden apology text.
Requirements
- Desktop Google Chrome.
- Chrome 138 or newer.
- A source/target language pair available through Chrome’s built-in Translator.
- Ordinary selectable page text on an accessible page.
- Explicit file URL access for local HTML pages.
Current limitations
- No
chrome://pages or Chrome Web Store pages. - No protected browser surfaces or inaccessible cross-origin frame content.
- Canvas-rendered text and some document editors may not expose ordinary DOM selections.
- No PDF viewer, OCR, image, subtitle, full-page, or input-field translation in v0.4.0.
- Isolated words can remain ambiguous, and translated wording is produced by Chrome.
FAQ
Before you add another translation step.
Does LingPeek require an account?
No. LingPeek v0.4.0 does not require a LingPeek or RANURANU account.
Does LingPeek send selected text to RANURANU?
No. LingPeek does not operate a RANURANU translation backend. Selected text is handled through Chrome’s built-in translation capability.
Does LingPeek use an external translation API?
No. The release source contains no external translation API or network request for translation.
Does LingPeek store translation history?
No. Selected text, nearby context, translated text, and translation history are not persisted by LingPeek.
Why does Chrome sometimes prepare a language resource?
Chrome manages language resources for its built-in Translator. A first-use language pair can require browser-managed preparation or download before translation is available.
Does LingPeek work with a single word?
Yes. LingPeek can use nearby sentence context, page language hints, and reliability checks, but isolated words can still have several valid meanings and LingPeek is not a dictionary database.
Can I choose source and target languages manually?
Yes. Source can remain on automatic detection or be selected manually, and the target language can always be changed.
Can I disable LingPeek on one website?
Yes. The popup provides a current-site control, and Settings lists the sites where LingPeek is paused.
Does LingPeek work on local HTML?
Yes, after you explicitly enable Chrome’s Allow access to file URLs setting for LingPeek and reload the local HTML page.
Does LingPeek translate entire webpages, PDFs, images, or subtitles?
No. v0.4.0 is focused on selected DOM text. It does not provide full-page translation, PDF translation, OCR, image translation, or subtitle translation.
Does LingPeek work on every Chrome page?
No. Chrome-controlled and protected pages, Chrome Web Store pages, inaccessible frames, and other restricted surfaces cannot run the content script.
Select it.
Understand it.
Keep going.
LingPeek is built for the small translation moments that interrupt reading.
Free · No account · No LingPeek backend · Chrome-local translation