Leaping Over the Language Barrier

Q. I know there are sites that convert words and phrases from other languages to English, but how do you translate an entire web page?

A. You can find language-translation options from certain browsers, search engines or websites. For example, Google’s Chrome browser for computers, Android and iOS have translation tools built in and may even volunteer to automatically translate a page that is not in your preferred language settings. A free Google Translate extension for Chrome gives you the ability to quickly translate highlighted portions of a page.

Google and Microsoft both offer online tools for converting pasted text, documents or entire web pages between dozens of languages. When using either the Google or Bing search engine to look for foreign-language sites, you may see a “Translate this page” link on the results page that transforms the site into your default language with a click.

The Google Translate site can convert pasted sections of text, uploaded documents or entire websites when you enter the URL into the box on the page. It can also translate speech. The mobile app version (available for Android and iOS) has even more features, with the ability to translate bilingual conversations, text in images and handwriting. The Android version of Google Translate now works within any app on the device so you do not have to paste text in and out of another program to convert it.

Microsoft’s Bing Translator page converts chunks of pasted text from a site, too. You can also paste a site’s URL into the first box on the Bing Translator page and choose English as the destination language. When you hit the Enter key, the site provides a new link in the translation box that you can click to go read the entire site in English.

Windows 10 users can use the Microsoft Translator add-on for the Edge browser to instantly translate web pages, and a Microsoft Translator app for Android and iOS devices translates bilingual conversations and foreign language text in pictures. Microsoft’s Skype program for video, audio and text chat has its own Translator tool you can use with the Skype software on Windows, Mac and Linux systems to translate real-time spoken conversations in eight languages.

Stand-alone mobile apps and software for language translation are also available around the web. Keep in mind that the instant software translation between languages may not be perfect or as nuanced as what an experienced human interpreter can provide, but you should be able to get a general idea of what the web page or story is about.