How to Use Google Translate

Google has expanded its basic search engine service over the last few years to include all sorts of useful tools. Before utilities like Google Earth and GMail took the Internet by storm, however, Google ran them through their paces in trial versions called "betas." One up-and-coming Google beta program is Google Translate, which lets you translate blocks of text or entire webpages from one language to another.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Find a section of text you'd like to translate. Google works both from and into English, so the text can be in any of its offered languages.

2. Use your mouse cursor to select the text you want to translate, then right-click it. Choose "Copy" from the menu that appears.

3. Right-click somewhere in the "Translate Text" field on the Google Translate webpage. Select "Paste" from the menu that appears.

4. Choose the language of the original text from the first drop-down menu. Notice that if you select Chinese, Google Translate offers both Simplified and Traditional versions.

5. Select the language of the target text from the second drop-down menu, then click "Translate."

6. Check the translation to see if it's what you expected. Occasionally, the translator can't find the right words for the job and leaves certain phrases in their original language.

Tips & Warnings

• Copy a web address and paste it into the "Translate a Web Page" field to read foreign language pages in English.
• Avoid asking the program to translate idioms and expressions. These often don't translate literally into another language.

Resources

• You can find Translate and Google's other language tools here.