Does Your English Sound Translated? Free Checker
Grammatically correct English can still read as «translated». This checker scans for the patterns that give it away — passive voice, very long sentences, no contractions, and common non-native phrases — and shows you exactly where.
Why correct English can still sound translated
You can write English with no grammar mistakes and still have a reader sense, instantly, that you are not a native speaker. That gap is rarely about errors — it is about patterns: the passive voice where English prefers an active subject, sentences that run 40 words because your first language allows it, a complete absence of contractions, and word-for-word phrases that are correct but no native would choose. This checker looks for those signals and scores how «translated» your text reads. It is a heuristic guide, not a verdict — but the flags it raises are the exact things that mark writing as non-native.
What the checker looks for
- Passive voice density — «the report was written by the team» where «the team wrote the report» is stronger. A little passive is fine; a lot reads translated.
- Very long sentences — anything over 35 words. Native English breaks these up.
- No contractions — «I do not think it is ready» everywhere, instead of «I don't think it's ready». Zero contractions reads stiff and formal.
- Non-native phrase markers — fixed expressions like «according to me», «discuss about», «I am agree», or «kindly revert» that are common in ESL writing but not in native English.
From flagged to fluent
A high score does not mean your English is bad — it means it carries the fingerprints of translation. Fixing it is mechanical once you can see it: turn the strongest passive sentences active, split the longest ones, allow a few contractions, and replace the flagged phrases. That is exactly the kind of rewrite Diglot's paraphrasing tool is built for — it keeps your meaning and your voice while making the phrasing land like a native wrote it.
«Does this sound right?» — what to actually check
The question every second-language writer asks about a finished sentence is not «is it grammatical?» but «does this sound right?» — and the two come apart constantly. A sentence can be flawless by every grammar rule and still read as obviously non-native, because what gives it away is not error but pattern.
Four things decide it. Collocation: English says «make a decision», not «take a decision», and no rule explains why. Information order: English puts the known thing first and the new thing last, so a sentence built on another language's order reads back-to-front even when every word is right. Over-explicitness: translated thinking spells out what English leaves implied. Register drift: a formal connective dropped into a casual sentence. This checker looks for those patterns rather than for grammatical errors, which is why it flags sentences a grammar checker passes.
Take it further with Diglot
This free tool runs in your browser. When you want to act on what it shows — fix the grammar, tighten the phrasing, or make your English read like a native wrote it — that is what Diglot is built for. The free tier is meaningful for daily writing, no card required.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I know if my English sounds right?
- Grammar being correct is not the test — plenty of flawless sentences still read as non-native. The giveaways are collocation (English «makes» a decision, it does not «take» one), information order, spelling out what English leaves implied, and mixed register. Paste a paragraph above and the checker flags those patterns rather than grammar errors.
- Why does my writing sound off even when the grammar is correct?
- Because the fingerprint lives in sentence architecture, not in words. Compose in your first language and render it into English and you inherit that language’s word order and idiom, which survives every grammar check. Fixing it means rebuilding sentences around English information flow, not swapping synonyms.
- What does the «translated-ness» score mean?
- It is a heuristic 0–100 estimate of how strongly your text shows patterns common in non-native English — passive voice, very long sentences, no contractions, and certain fixed phrases. Higher means more «translated»-sounding. It is a guide to revise by, not a judgment of correctness.
- Is this checking my grammar?
- No. Your English can be perfectly grammatical and still score high here. The checker looks at style and phrasing patterns, not grammar errors. For grammar, use a dedicated grammar checker alongside it.
- Why does it flag passive voice and long sentences?
- Both are correct English, but native writers use them sparingly. Heavy passive voice and 35-plus-word sentences are two of the most reliable signals that text was written by a non-native speaker or translated, so the checker surfaces them for you to weigh.
- Does my text get uploaded anywhere?
- No. The analysis runs entirely in your browser — your text is never sent to a server or stored. You can paste anything, including unpublished or confidential writing.
