Inbound Tourist Support: How to Create Free Multilingual Audio Guides & Benefits

I want to create an audio guide in multiple languages... what methods are available?

Audio guides have now become a standard feature at museums, art galleries, and cultural facilities.

However, isn't it often the case that only Japanese is available, or the only foreign language option is English?

The ever-increasing number of inbound tourists actually includes many people who are not native English speakers.

By providing audio guides in languages such as Korean, Chinese, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, and Vietnamese, you can satisfy even more inbound tourists.

In addition to increasing visitors to museums, art galleries, and cultural facilities, multilingual audio guides also help accurately convey Japanese culture to more foreigners and foster a sense of familiarity with Japan.

In this article, we will explain how to make audio guides for cultural facilities multilingual for free, including for museums, art galleries, shrines, and temples!

Anyone can easily create multilingual foreign language audio guides for free.

Why not use the latest AI to provide hospitality to inbound tourists?

[Free & Inbound-Ready] Recommended AI Tools for Multilingual Audio Guides

There is a recommended AI tool for those who want to create multilingual audio guides.

That is Ondoku.

Ondoku is an AI text-to-speech service that can read foreign languages for free using the latest AI.

In addition to Japanese, it supports:

• English
• Chinese (Both Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin)
• Cantonese
• Korean
• Thai
• Malay
• Indonesian
• Vietnamese

It supports all the languages of the major inbound tourist groups to Japan!

Since it can read text with native pronunciation unique to the latest AI, you can provide easy-to-understand audio for inbound tourists.

Moreover, you can read up to 5,000 characters for free, so you can create a multilingual foreign language audio guide for free right now.

Why not use Ondoku when you want to make your inbound audio guides multilingual?

Multilingual Audio Guides Are a Must for Museums, Art Galleries, and Cultural Facilities!

Audio guides are becoming increasingly popular at cultural facilities such as museums, art galleries, shrines, and temples.

However, it is common to find that only Japanese and English are provided.

In fact, multilingual support is highly recommended for future audio guides!

Multilingual Audio Guides are Recommended for Inbound Tourists

Have you felt that "the number of inbound tourists has increased recently"?

It's no surprise, as the number of inbound tourists is actually growing rapidly.

According to JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) statistics, the number of visitors to Japan in October 2024 was 3,312,000, exceeding the levels of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inbound support is essential for future tourist destinations and cultural facilities such as museums, art galleries, shrines, and temples.

But do you think English alone is sufficient for inbound measures?

According to the same statistics, the countries and regions of origin for inbound tourists in October 2024 were as follows:

1. South Korea: approx. 730,000
2. China (Mainland China): approx. 580,000
3. Taiwan: approx. 480,000
4. United States: approx. 280,000
5. Hong Kong: approx. 200,000
6. Thailand: approx. 130,000

(Countries/regions with over 100,000 visitors).

That's right, there are a very large number of inbound tourists whose native languages are Korean or Chinese.

This is where multilingual support becomes necessary.

By making audio guides and displays multilingual—including Korean, Chinese, and Thai in addition to English—you can attract more inbound tourists and help them feel a sense of familiarity with Japanese culture.

For Korean narration or checking pronunciation for study! Listen to native pronunciation samples from 14 speakers (female and male voices)

Here, you can listen to Ondoku's Korean audio samples. Voices include both female and male options. Use them for narration, work training, presentations, or language learning.

For Chinese pronunciation checking and listening! Listen to native pronunciation samples from 40 speakers (female, male, and girl voices)

Here, you can listen to Ondoku's Chinese audio samples. You can choose Chinese audio from various regional dialects like Simplified Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese, and Traditional Chinese (Taiwanese). Voices include female, male, girl, and boy options.

For Thai pronunciation checking and listening! Listen to native pronunciation samples from 4 types of speakers (female and male voices)

Here, you can listen to Ondoku's Thai audio samples. Voices include both female and male options. Use them for narration, work training, presentations, or language learning.

Reference: Malay, Indonesian, and Vietnamese are also recommended

• Malaysia (approx. 50,000)
• Indonesia (approx. 40,000)
• Vietnam (approx. 50,000)

These are also countries with many inbound tourists.

Creating audio guides and displays in Malay, Indonesian, and Vietnamese will allow you to guide inbound tourists even more kindly.

For Malaysian/Malay pronunciation checking and listening! Listen to native pronunciation samples from 2 types of speakers (female and male voices)

Here, you can listen to Ondoku's Malaysian/Malay audio samples. Voices include both female and male options. Use them for narration, work training, presentations, or language learning.

For Indonesian/Javanese learning and pronunciation checking! Audio sample listening & how to use the free text-to-speech 'Ondoku'

Listen to audio samples for Indonesian and Javanese available on Ondoku. Checking pronunciation is essential for smooth communication with Indonesian and Javanese speakers. Ondoku is highly recommended for this! A text-to-speech service...

For Vietnamese pronunciation checking and listening! Listen to native pronunciation samples from 6 speakers (female and male voices)

Here, you can listen to Ondoku's Vietnamese audio samples. Voices include both female and male options. Use them for narration, work training, presentations, or language learning.

3 Benefits of Multilingual Audio Guides

Introducing multilingual audio guides to museums, art galleries, and cultural facilities brings many benefits.

In addition to increasing visitor numbers and profitability by welcoming inbound tourists in multiple languages, you can also prevent overtourism issues and reduce the workload of facility staff.

1. Providing Hospitality through Multilingual Commentary

Many museum and art gallery exhibits only have Japanese and English commentary.

Adding Korean, Chinese, and Thai to every exhibit caption is a major undertaking.

That's why we recommend starting with multilingual support from the audio guide.

By explaining Japanese culture to inbound tourists via audio, you can help them develop a deeper appreciation for Japan before they return home.

It is also recommended to print and display the multilingual translated text when creating the audio.

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Do you want to easily implement a museum audio guide? With the AI text-to-speech 'Ondoku', you can create high-quality audio for free! With support for Japanese and foreign languages, it is ideal for small museums and private galleries. Click here for details!

2. Preventing Trouble by Communicating Viewing Rules

Museums and art galleries have rules such as:

• Do not cross the barrier/get too close to exhibits
• No photography
• No flash photography
• No eating or drinking

Similarly, shrines and temples have visitation rules to protect valuable cultural properties and maintain a quiet environment.

With the increase in inbound tourists, unexpected troubles can occur at cultural facilities and tourist spots like shrines and temples.

A major cause of these troubles is that manners and rules are not communicated effectively.

By conveying information in multiple languages such as Korean, Chinese, and Thai—not just English—you can prevent troubles before they happen.

Except for simple commands like "No photography" or "No eating/drinking," communicating rules can often be difficult.

Content that is hard to explain to people from different cultures, such as how to worship at a shrine or temple, can be conveyed clearly and smoothly through a multilingual audio guide.

Audio guides are also recommended for overtourism measures at shrines, temples, tourist spots, and public transportation.

[Definitive Edition] Solving Inbound Overtourism Issues! How to Create Multilingual Guidance with the Latest AI Tools

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3. Reducing Staff Burden

With ongoing labor shortages, the workload for staff at museums, art galleries, and cultural facilities is constantly increasing.

Under these circumstances, handling inbound tourist support is very difficult.

It is also extremely challenging to hire staff who can communicate in foreign languages.

By guiding visitors through the facility with multilingual audio guides created with the latest AI, questions from inbound tourists will decrease, allowing staff to focus on other tasks.

As you can see, multilingual audio guides offer many benefits for both inbound tourists and the staff at museums, art galleries, shrines, temples, and cultural facilities.

To create a better tourist spot, prevent trouble, and improve the working environment, why not create a multilingual audio guide with the latest AI?

Recommended Languages for Inbound Multilingual Audio Guides

So, what languages should I use to create the audio guide?

In the countries and regions from which many inbound tourists visit Japan, languages other than English are primarily spoken.

Here are the recommended languages for the multilingualization of audio guides and displays.

Languages of Countries and Regions with Many Inbound Tourists are Recommended

The languages widely used in countries and regions with many inbound tourists are as follows:

• South Korea: Korean
• China (Mainland China): Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified Chinese)
• Taiwan: Chinese (Taiwanese Mandarin, Traditional Chinese)
• United States: English
• Hong Kong: Cantonese (Traditional Chinese)
• Thailand: Thai
• Malaysia: Malay, Chinese (Hokkien/Mandarin)
• Indonesia: Indonesian
• Vietnam: Vietnamese

Based on this, if you are making your audio guide multilingual, it is recommended to create audio for:

• Korean
• Chinese (Best to create both Simplified and Traditional Chinese for displays)
• Cantonese
• Thai
• Malay
• Indonesian
• Vietnamese

If you don't have the resources to create all of them, starting with just:

• Korean
• Chinese

is a good first step.

For Korean narration or checking pronunciation for study! Listen to native pronunciation samples from 14 speakers (female and male voices)

Here, you can listen to Ondoku's Korean audio samples. Voices include both female and male options. Use them for narration, work training, presentations, or language learning.

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By creating Chinese audio, you can also enable inbound tourists from places with many ethnically Chinese people, such as Singapore and Malaysia, to use the audio guide.

*While Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong can often understand Chinese (Mandarin, the standard language of China), it is kinder to create Cantonese audio as well whenever possible.

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[Multilingual Support] Recommended AI Services for Inbound Tourist Guides

Ondoku is a recommended AI text-to-speech service for creating multilingual audio guides.

It is very easy to use.

Just paste the AI-translated foreign language and press the "Read" button, and you can create foreign language audio with native pronunciation in as little as 10 seconds!

It supports over 80 languages and dialects.

• English
• Chinese (Both Mandarin and Taiwanese Mandarin)
• Cantonese
• Korean
• Thai
• Malay
• Indonesian
• Vietnamese

It covers all the major languages of inbound tourists.

Moreover, Ondoku can be used for free!

You can read and download up to 5,000 characters for free, so you can start making your multilingual audio guide right now.

Why not use Ondoku to create a multilingual audio guide for inbound tourists?

How to Create a Multilingual Audio Guide

How do I create sentences in Korean or Chinese? Isn't it difficult?

Don't worry!

By utilizing AI tools, anyone can create natural sentences and audio just like a native speaker!

Here, we will explain how to create a multilingual audio guide using Korean and Chinese as examples.

1. Translate the Text

First, translate the Japanese text into multiple languages.

For example, we will translate the following text:

"Thank you for using the audio guide. First, here are some precautions when using the museum. Please do not touch the exhibits. When taking photos, please do not use a flash."

Translation Method 1: Use Translation Sites

The easiest way to translate is to use a translation site.

For Korean and Chinese, it is recommended to use Korean and Chinese services rather than American services like DeepL.

• Korean: Papago
• Chinese: Baidu Translate

These are the standard services.

Inputting the example sentence into a translation site looks like this:

■ Example for Korean

「음성 가이드를 이용해 주셔서 감사합니다. 먼저 박물관을 이용하실 때 주의사항입니다. 전시품은 손대지 마세요. 사진을 찍을 때는 플래시를 사용하지 마세요.」

■ Example for Chinese

「感谢您使用语音指南。首先是使用博物馆时的注意事项。请勿触摸展品。拍照的时候不要用闪光灯。」

It has been translated like this.

However, if you don't have staff who speak Korean or Chinese, you won't know if the content is correct or wrong.

Therefore, input the translated sentence and translate it back into Japanese.

■ Re-translation of Korean

"Thank you for using the audio guide. First, here are the precautions when using the museum. Please do not touch the exhibits. Please do not use a flash when taking photos."

■ Re-translation of Chinese

"Thank you for using the audio guide. First are the precautions when using the museum. Please do not touch the exhibits. Do not use a flash when taking photos."

In this way, we can see that there are no major mistakes.

However, depending on the content, it may be mistranslated.

If there is a mistranslation, try the following:

• Use simple expressions: Replace phrases like "Please refrain from..." with simpler expressions like "Is prohibited" or "Please do not...".
• Use brackets for proper nouns: AI translation sites will recognize terms inside brackets 「 」 as proper nouns.

Translation Method 2: Use AI Services

Actually, there is a way to create native-sounding sentences even more easily.

That is to have an AI service like ChatGPT or Claude translate it for you.

For example, by instructing the AI to "Translate the following text into Korean/Chinese with native-sounding natural expressions. Please also explain the content in Japanese," you can create sentences with more natural expressions than on translation sites.

The image shows an example of translating an example sentence using the AI service Claude.

It translated it like this:

■ Example for Korean

「오디오 가이드를 이용해 주셔서 감사합니다. 먼저 박물관 이용 시 주의사항입니다. 전시품에 손을 대지 마십시오. 사진 촬영 시 플래시를 사용하지 마십시오.」

■ Example for Chinese

「感谢您使用语音导览。首先，我们来介绍参观博物馆时的注意事项。请勿触摸展品。拍照时请勿使用闪光灯。」

The Korean expression changed from "Voice Guide" to the Hangul transliteration of "Audio Guide," and the Chinese version added a subject "我们来介绍" (Let us introduce), making the expressions much more natural.

Until now, trying to create multilingual sentences with translation services often resulted in sentences that felt like literal translations.

AI services can solve that problem!

The free plans are sufficient for translating audio guide text, so we recommend utilizing AI chat services for more natural multilingual text.

*Even when translating with AI chat services, we recommend performing a re-translation for verification.

Detailed explanation about Chinese translation can be found in this article.

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2. Read Aloud

Once you have the translated text, the rest is easy.

Open the Ondoku top page and read the audio guide text in multiple languages.

Paste the text on the top page (here, we pasted the Korean example).

Select the language.

Select the voice.

*Ondoku audio samples can be listened to here:

• Korean
• Chinese

Press "Read."

Reading will start.

The reading completes immediately (even long audio is generated in about 10 seconds).

When the reading is complete, the display will change and you can listen to the audio sample.

If everything is fine, press the download button to save the MP3 file.

The process of creating a multilingual audio guide using Ondoku is now complete.

Using the same method, you can create audio in various languages such as Cantonese, Thai, French, or Spanish!

Why not create a multilingual audio guide for inbound tourists with Ondoku?