While Internet tutorials will point you to different methods of translating Word documents, the best solution for you boils down to two main questions:
- Who will read the translation?
- Do you need to maintain the formatting?
No matter what you answered, we have compiled the best ways to translate Word documents for your personal or business translation needs.
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Method #1: Use built-in translation tool in Microsoft Word
You can easily translate a document within Word itself. This is the free, fast, and convenient option.
First, open your Word Document. Then from the toolbar, select Review > Translate.
To translate a particular segment of text in the document, click Translate Selection. You can also choose to translate the entire word file by clicking Translate Document.
Once you have selected, the translator menu will appear on the right. The steps from here onwards are just like how you would use Google Translate.
Step 1 : Select the source language
Step 2 : Select the target language
Step 3 : Click Insert/Translate
If you are only translating a small section of text within a file, the translation will replace the source text in the original file.
If you opt to translate the whole document instead, the translation will automatically open in a new Word document, which you then can save to your computer. Based on my experience, Microsoft is decent at preserving simple textual formats after translation, such as bullet points and tables.
Important Info
- Microsoft Word translations are not 100% accurate, because a machine does all the work. Artificial intelligence is getting better… but it’s not quite there yet.
- If you translate the entire document within Word itself, the program will retain certain aspects of the formatting, such as list and tables. However, it might also translate text and passages that do not need to be translated (e.g. hyperlinks).
- Images containing text will not be translated using this method.
- Only suitable if you want to translate a text for your personal reading and understanding
Method #2: Upload the document to Google Translate
Another online translation tool is Google Translate. Just click on the Documents tab on Google Translate as shown below. You’ll then be able to upload your Word document for a quick translation. It also works for PDF files, translating PowerPoint slides, and with translating Excel sheets too.
For another cloud-based alternative, you can also use Google Docs to translate a Word document. To start, upload your file to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs.
On the toolbar, select Tools > Translate Document.
Next, you will be prompted to choose the target language. Once you make your selection, the translated copy will open in a new Google Doc file.
Finally, you can download the translated copy as a Word document by selecting File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx).
Important Info
- Once again, Google is a machine translation tool (read here about when, why, and in which case to use machine translation here) that will compromise the quality of the translation.
- This method does not preserve the formatting of your document. You will need to spend time fixing it for further distribution.
- Uploading your documents to any free translation platform like Google Translate presents privacy and security threats. This is not ideal for work files.
- Only suitable if you want to translate a text for your personal reading and understanding
If curious to read more about how machine translation has come so far and when it will replace human translators - here is a detailed guide where you can learn all about it.
Method #3: Use a professional translation tool
Most translators and businesses prefer to invest in a professional translation tool like Redokun. The main reason is to save time and money at different stages of their multilingual workflow – from translation to design to distribution.
Let’s say your company has a brochure that needs to be translated into different languages for foreign markets. This process would normally involve a translator and a graphic designer.
If you use an external vendor to translate the document, the job is usually billed according to the number of words or number of hours. Then, you need a designer to transfer the translated text to the template. This ensures all design elements are standardized across all your brochures.
Having a professional translation software like Redokun cuts down the amount of the work for your translators and designers.
Translation software is a new thing for you? If so, here is a 101 guide explaining everything you need to know and even more - a guide about how to choose a translation software.
Here is how you can elevate your workflow with our professional translation tool:
- You and your translator can store, manage, and access commonly used terminologies for consistent and accurate translations (read and learn all about translation memories and the benefits that come with translation memories). Using this computer-assisted translation method is 99.98% cheaper than solely relying on human translation.
- Your document’s structure remains intact at the post-translation stage. No funny-looking headings, lists, and SmartArt. This eliminates the need of employing a designer to fix the final copy. Redokun even extends this feature to more sophisticated file formats like Adobe InDesign, XML documents, html files and subtitles.
- You can easily revise your original document without affecting the text that has already been translated. Only the newly added information will be marked for translation by the software. Learn more about this intuitive feature here.
- Working from home just got easier with cloud-based translation tools like Redokun. As the admin, you can closely monitor the progress of different translation projects (here is more about managing your translation projects).
- Do you need to work closely with a team member on translations? Redokun supports collaboration whether it's with your internal team or external team.
- Redokun is easy to use and implement for everyone! No intensive training required. If you do run into questions while using the translation software, you can always count on Redokun’s responsive support team to resolve the issues promptly.
Not ready to commit yet? It's okay! Try Redokun for free and start optimizing your workflow today. No credit card necessary.
Want to read more about the benefits that come with using translation software and all about the essential tms features, here is a detailed guide about what are cat tools and even more here is a list of the best translation software for 2021.
Till next time,
Shu Ni
