ChromePing - Talk to anyone by phone, in a language you don't speak
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Move somewhere you don't speak the language and the phone becomes a wall — the immigration office, your bank, a landlord, a clinic, even ordering food. The usual fix is bringing a human translator, if you can find one.
ChromePing lets you call any real phone number — mobile or landline, anywhere — from your browser. No app to install, yours or theirs. The call is translated live, both ways, with captions. Whoever you call just answers their normal phone. Pay as you go, no subscription.
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I moved to Germany, where German runs everything — and the paperwork here is on another level. For anything official you're basically expected to bring someone who can translate for you, which only works if you can find a person who's free the exact day you need them.
What nobody warns you about is the phone calls. You call the Ausländerbehörde, the Jobcenter, a credit company about a loan, the town hall, a doctor's office — or you just want to order food somewhere that doesn't switch to English. If you don't speak the language, you're stuck, and "bring a translator" isn't a thing you can do on a phone call.
So I built ChromePing. You call any phone number straight from your browser — no app, no SIM — and it translates the call live, both directions, with captions so you can follow along. The person you're calling just picks up their normal phone; there's nothing for them to install.
It works anywhere you've landed in a language you don't speak — Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, Finland, wherever. We're steadily adding languages, improving the translation, and trying to make it as accessible as we can. It's early, and feedback — especially on the translation — genuinely shapes what we build next.
I really like the fact it can manage to resolve things in any language. Good idea .)