Is a catalogue note in a foreign language a problem in 2026? Today I will test whether artificial intelligence can replace a translator and translate subtitles from electronic parts specifications into English. Importantly, the whole experiment will be based on screenshots (bitmaps) rather than PDF files, so AI will have no way to make its job easier. Will this form of specification translation be of any use? Let's find out!
The testing methodology will be very simple - I take a screenshot of the catalogue note and try to translate it into English by sending it as an attachment with a prompt to the AI. I will use the free LMArena website to run the AI models:
https://lmarena.ai/
After testing, I will try to subjectively evaluate and group the models according to their results.
Note - I have placed the images as generated by the AI. If something is cropped, it means that such a bitmap was created by the model.
Test 1 - constant-current LED controller
Inputs:
translate to english
seedream-4-high-res-fal
Such a grand hallucination rather rules out this model.
reve-v1.1-fast
No translations.
reve-v1.1
Major unnecessary reworking of document, residual translations.
chatgpt-image-latest (20251216)
Slightly better, occasional typos. Almost usable.
gpt-image-1.5
Slightly better, occasional typos. Almost usable.
flux-1-context-pro
No translations.
flux-2-flex
Virtually no translations, except for the title above the document.
flux-2-flex-20251231
Translation failure - random letters and stamps, mostly no translations.
qwen-image-edit
This model hallucinates a strange background and is able to spoil the document. Useless.
flux-2-max
Vestigial translations, most are a meaningless string of letters. The headline translated.
flux-2-pro
Nonsensical strings of letters, useless result.
flux-2-pro-20251231
Nonsense strings of letters, useless result.
gemini-2.5-flash-image-preview (nano-banana)
Surprisingly the elder Banana did not want to translate anything.
gemini-3-pro-image-preview (nano-banana-pro)
Best result to date. Text almost all correct, occasional errors and typos, only in paragraphs are some words nonsense.
Trial 2 - display controller
translate to english
gpt-image-1-mini
Model reworked image, renamed layout, not translated.
gemini-2.5-flash-image-preview (nano-banana)
Elder Banana could not cope with the translation.
flux-2-pro
The model has attempted a translation but the result is unreadable, virtually only the title is helpful - LED Driver/Keyboard Scan.
flux-2-pro-20251231
Flux 2's primary keywords decrypted, but the rest are useless.
flux-1-context-pro
This model has superimposed the inscription translate to English on the image.
flux-2-flex-20251231
Residual translations.
gpt-image-1.5
At first glance very good, but the introduction from the second/third sentence onwards fell apart.
reve-v1.1
The basics translated, but also damaged the lead-in diagram.
seedream-4-high-res-fal
The title may be translated, but the model has added some strange background.
chatgpt-image-latest (20251216)
Like the second one from OpenAI, it's not bad, only the introduction fell apart afterwards. In addition, I see a slightly damaged lead-in diagram.
gemini-3-pro-image-preview (nano-banana-pro)
Nano Banana Pro has again performed very well.
Trial 3 - synchronous rectifier
This time a trial with a screenshot:
translate to english
qwen-image-edit
Useless result.
chatgpt-image-latest (20251216)
The basic translation is there, but with lots of typos. Synchornous?
gpt-image-1.5
Same as the previous GPT.
seedream-4-high-res-fal
This model has redone the background again....
gpt-image-1
Residual translation. In addition, with another attempt I received a strangely cropped image.
gpt-image-1-mini
And here what happened? A short circuit? And this is between two separate diagrams.... in addition, the model also cropped the picture.
flux-2-flex
Again, residual translation.
gemini-2.5-flash-image-preview (nano-banana)
No translation.
seedream-4.5
It came out slightly better this time, but there are still shortcomings.
flux-1-context-pro
No translation.
flux-2-pro
The letters have been changed, but they don't make sense?
gemini-3-pro-image-preview (nano-banana-pro)
bb558ffb3
Another success story for Nano Banana Pro.
Final ranking of video models
I did additional tests, but did not put any more images in the topic, because the content with several of the same nonsense graphics would be unreadable. In the end, I grouped the models according to my overall feeling, although I noticed that occasionally a particular model might do better or worse - probably the generation has some randomness factor (seed - so called).
Right translations, occasional errors:
- gemini-3-pro-image-preview (nano-banana-pro)
Almost acceptable translations, but problems with some words, blurring of letters:
- chatgpt-image-latest (20251216)
- gpt-image-1.5
Sometimes it explains something, sometimes it hallucinates and creates nonsense:
- reve-v1.1
- gpt-image-1
Bare translation attempts, meaningless letter composition:
- flux-2-max
- flux-2-pro
- flux-2-pro-20251231
Something tries to translate, but hallucinates and rearranges images:
- seedream-4-high-res-fal
Can spoil the image:
- qwen-image-edit
In summary , only the latest Nano Banana Pro seems to give acceptable results in terms of translating images from the catalogue notes, although it still happens to have artefacts. Just behind it is still GPT-Image 1.5 and ChatGPT-Image (20251216), but it is no match for it. The rest of the models are useless, although some of them try to remake the image and some ignore the text completely.
There doesn't seem to be much left to do with AI in this context. It seems to me that as early as 2026 there will be much better models that can handle such translations even better, and even if not, the Nano Banana Pro is still satisfactory.
Do you see a use for artificial intelligence in the role of an image translator? Or do you know of other practical applications for the Nano Banana Pro and similar models?
Cool? Ranking DIY Helpful post? Buy me a coffee.
