The app follows your language now: Estonian, Russian or English#
Since September 30, 2026, the app has three interface languages: English, Estonian (Eesti) and Russian (Русский). It follows the language your phone or browser is set to, so on a Russian-language phone the meal-entry box opens with "Записать еду…" instead of "Log anything…", and on an Estonian one the labels on Today read in Estonian. If you want the app in a different language from the rest of your phone, Profile → Voice & language → Language cycles through System, English, Eesti and Русский, and the whole app updates immediately.
For anyone searching for a kalorite loendur or a трекер калорий на русском, that is the news in one paragraph. The rest of this post covers what changes on the screen, where the rollout stands, and why language matters more for a food log than for most apps: the entry is written in your words, and the words people use for food are rarely the words of a translated menu. The broader case for a light, attentive record is in the guide to mindful eating with numbers.
What changes on the screen#
Translation is more than swapping labels, and several details follow the language rather than staying English-shaped:
| Element | English | Estonian and Russian |
|---|---|---|
| Labels and buttons | English | Translated across Today, the log receipt, meal details, Plan, History, Library, Profile and onboarding |
| Units | kcal, g | Localized units, such as "ккал" and "г" in Russian |
| Dates and weekdays | English names | Local names and order |
| Clock times | Unchanged from before | 24-hour, as people there write them |
| Large numbers | 2,000 | Grouped with a space: 2 000 |
| Your meal names | As you typed them | As you typed them |
The last row is deliberate, and it matters more than it looks. A meal you type as "kohuke ja kohv" or "гречка с котлетой" is stored as you wrote it. The interface around it changes language; your own words do not get rewritten into something else.
Where it is live. The web interface is translated. On iPhone, the language setting is available, but some screens still contain English. English users see no change at all.
A note on scope: the interface is what changed. The foods you log are still described in your own words. Switching the screen language does not re-estimate anything you have already logged.
Why language matters in a food log#
The strongest evidence on language and health comes from medicine, not apps, so it is an analogy and should be read as one. A systematic review of 33 studies compared care for patients with limited English proficiency given by physicians who spoke the patient's language against other arrangements, including interpreters1. In 25 of the 33 studies (76%) at least one outcome was better with language-concordant care; 5 found no difference and 3 found worse outcomes. The quality caveats are substantial: only 4 were randomized trials, the rest cross-sectional, and none formally assessed how well the clinicians actually spoke the language. Among patients with limited English proficiency, language-concordant care was associated with better outcomes in many studies.
Food logging has a sharper version of the same problem, because the thing being communicated is a meal. In a survey of 141 current and former food journalers, when they rated how hard different kinds of meals were to log on a 7-point scale where higher meant easier, packaged food scored 6.5 and fast food 6.3, while ethnic food scored 3.7, below home-cooked meals at 4.62. Packaged and fast foods were rated easier to log than several other meal types, and party food scored lowest of all. The study did not isolate language as a reason; respondents described uncertainty about ingredients, portions and preparation. How describing a meal in plain words, instead of searching for it, changes that picture is covered in typing or saying a meal.
An unfamiliar interface language can add effort to logging.
A systematic review of nutrition-app use points the same way from the design side. After sorting 328 reported barriers and facilitators into a framework, the authors concluded that reasons for using or dropping these apps vary so widely that tailoring apps to specific user groups is a promising route to engagement3. The review did not study interface language; localizing is our design rationale, drawn from that general finding, for people who live in more than one language every day.
These studies do not test whether translating a calorie tracker improves intake records or weight loss. What they support is narrower: language concordance was associated with better outcomes in many medical studies, and some meal types are rated harder to log than others.
What switching language does not change#
Changing the language is a display choice, and nothing underneath it moves. Your calorie and protein goals stay the same numbers. Meals you logged last month keep their names, amounts and totals. Ranges, the Missing detail marker, the unfinished-day mark and the evening close all behave exactly as they did in English; only their wording changes. You can switch back and forth as often as you like, and the setting is remembered on that device until you change it again, for example to show someone your day in their language, and your log reads the same afterward.
The one thing that does follow the language is formatting, because a number written the wrong way is its own small barrier. "2,000" reads as two thousand to an English reader and can look like a decimal to someone used to a comma separator, which is why the Estonian and Russian versions group digits with a space instead.
Speaking a meal in more than one language#
Plenty of people switch languages mid-sentence, especially when talking about food. Dictation handles that without a setting: Recognition language in Profile reads Auto · mixed, so you do not choose a language before speaking, and "на завтрак kama с кефиром" is one entry, not an error. Voice input has worked this way for a while; the interface around it now matches. What spoken logs capture well and where they miss is covered in voice logging and food accuracy.
If you travel, the Language row is also the quickest way to keep the app in your language when your phone is set to another one. Practical advice for logging unfamiliar food abroad is in tracking calories while traveling.
FAQ#
How do I switch the app to Estonian or Russian?#
Set your phone or browser to that language and the app follows. To choose a language independently, open Profile → Voice & language → Language and tap until it shows Eesti or Русский.
Can I dictate meals in Russian or Estonian?#
Yes. The recognition language is set to Auto · mixed, so you can speak in either language, or both in one sentence, without choosing first.
Will the app translate the names of my meals?#
No. Meal names stay exactly as you typed or said them. Only the interface around them changes language.
Why does the clock show 24-hour time in Estonian?#
Times, dates and number formats follow the language you use the app in, and 24-hour time is the local convention in Estonian and Russian.
Sources#
- Diamond L, Izquierdo K, Canfield D, Matsoukas K, Gany F. A systematic review of the impact of patient-physician non-English language concordance on quality of care and outcomes. J Gen Intern Med. 2019;34(8):1591-1606.
- Cordeiro F, Epstein DA, Thomaz E, et al. Barriers and negative nudges: exploring challenges in food journaling. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2015;2015:1159-1162.
- König LM, Attig C, Franke T, Renner B. Barriers to and facilitators for using nutrition apps: systematic review and conceptual framework. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021;9(6):e20037.
Source: BurnWeek — "BurnWeek now speaks Estonian and Russian", https://burnweek.fit/blog/burnweek-in-estonian-and-russian/. Licensed CC BY 4.0: free to quote or reuse with a link to this page.
