Translating Text and Web Pages from One Language to Another

Now here's a Google feature that most users aren't aware of. Not only can you display Google in other languages and use Google to search for pages written in other languages, you can also use Google to translate those pages written in other languages. In fact, you can use Google's language tools to translate not only complete web pages, but also any phrases of text that you enter.

Tip

I use Google's translation tools when I receive emails from readers in countries that don't speak English. I simply cut the text of the message from the email, and then paste into the Translate Text box; when I click the Translate button, I can read the translated message. Without this translation feature, I'd have no idea what my foreign readers were writing to me about!

You can access Google's language tools by clicking the Language Tools link on Google's main page, or by going directly to www.google.com/language_tools. As you can see in Figure 13.12, the top part of the page is where you search for pages written in a specific language (or located in another country); below that are Google's translation tools. (And below that are links to each of Google's country-specific sites.)

Languages Translated

Google lets you translate text or web pages between the languages shown in Table 13.1:

Table 13.1. Google's Translation Languages
From This Language	To This Language
English	Arabic
English	Chinese (Simplified)
English	French
English	German
English	Italian
English	Japanese
English	Korean
English	Portuguese
English	Spanish
Arabic	English
Chinese (Simplified)	English
French	English
German	English
Italian	English
Japanese	English
Korean	English
Portuguese	English
Spanish	English
French	German
German	French

Translating Text Passages

Tip

If you accidentally selected the wrong original language (it's not always easy to tell which language is which, especially if you don't speak them), just make a different selection from the From list on the Translate page. This retranslates the original text.

Google now displays the Translate page, shown in Figure 13.13. The translated text is shown in the first text box; the text in its original language is shown in the second text box.

Translating Web Pages

You can also use Google's translation tools to translate complete web pages from one language to another. This is particularly useful if one of the pages in your search results is in a language other than English. Here's how to do it:

On Google's Language Tools page, enter (or copy) the URL from the web page into the Translate a Web Page box.
Pull down the From list and select the original and the translated language.
Click the Translate button.

Caution

Google can only translate the text on a web page; it can't translate the graphics, which will appear in their original language.

Google now displays a translated version of the original page in your web browser. At the top of the translated page is a link to view the original page (in its original language); click this link to return to the native-language page. (Figures 13.14 and 13.15 show the CNN Japan page in its original Japanese and in the Google-translated English version, respectively.)

Translating from Google's Search Results

When you're searching the Web, you can use Google's web page translation feature without first having to go to the original foreign-language page. When you encounter a foreign-language page in Google's normal search results, you see a Translate This Page link, as shown in Figure 13.16. Click this link and Google will automatically display the translated version of the page.

Translating Web Pages from the Google Toolbar

If you have the Google Toolbar installed in your web browser, you have one more way to translate web pages. Just click the down-arrow on the Translate button (shown in Figure 13.17) and then select Translate Page Into English; Google's translation tool does the rest.

Note

Learn more about the Google Toolbar in Chapter 31, "Using the Google Toolbar."

Translating Words from the Google Toolbar

Here's another translation tool you can apply from the Google Toolbar. The WordTranslator function, when enabled, allows you to translate any English word into your chosen foreign language, just by hovering your cursor over the word on a web page. As you can see in Figure 13.18, the chosen-language definitions for the selected word appear in a tooltip-like pop-up.

To use the WordTranslator feature, you have to first choose the destination language, and then activate the tool. You choose the language by selecting Settings, Options, clicking the Translator Settings button, and then choosing a language from the pull-down list. You activate WordTranslator by clicking the down arrow next to the Translate button and checking the Enable WordTranslator option.

Commentary: Machine Translation

Google's automatic translation function, like all translation tools you find on the Web, is accomplished via the use of technology. It's basically a word-by-word translation that doesn't always "get" the structure and rules of a language. This means that a lot of sentences and syntax get garbled; even single-word translations are sometimes off a little, due to a lack of context sensitivity.

As I said, all automatic translation servicessometimes called machine translationsuffer from the same problems. While the technology behind these machine translators is constantly improving, it's still not as good as what a professional human translator or dual-language speaker can accomplish. This is yet another case of technology not being quite as accurate as good old human beings; machine translation is constantly a step behind.

In addition, Google's translation tool isn't quite as far-reaching as some of the other similar tools you find on the Web. As of this writing, for example, Google doesn't do Russian to English translations, or English to Norwegian. For that you have to turn to some alternative sites, such as FreeTranslation.com (www.freetranslation.com), WorldLingo (www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html), or my personal favorite, Alta Vista's Babel Fish (babelfish.altavista.com). All of these tools offer more translation options than Googleeven if the quality of the translations are not noticeably more accurate.