4 Google Translate features you'll use every day

Google Translate's knowledge of more than 100 languages can help you in your daily workflow as much as it can help you on your next trip. The features below show how it can help you with entire documents or websites, or even your native tongue.  

Translate websites to a different language

Google Translate can parse individual words and phrases, of course, but you can also translate entire websites into a chosen language.

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You can translate foreign websites like this Italian news publication into another language with Google Translate.

Just type the entire URL of the website you want translated in the text box on the left side of Google Translate's home page. Make sureDetect language is selected, and click Translate. In a short time you’ll see the website’s translated homepage. All the site’s pages will be translated as well as long as you continue to view the site within the Google Translate interface. You can toggle between the translation and original language using buttons on the Translate toolbar.

Translate documents

You can also translate Word documents, PDFs, and other file types in Google Translate.

PCWorld

A recent column translated into Portuguese courtesy of Google Translate.

Beneath the text box, click theTranslate a document link. On the next page, select the source language or the Detect languageoption, and the language to which you want the document translated. Click the Browse button, select the file to upload it, and clickTranslate. A translated copy of the document will open in a new browser window.

Build your own phrasebook

Once you’ve gone to the trouble to translate a complex phrase, you want to remember it. Google Translate allows you to save any translation to your own personal phrasebook.

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Google Translate enables you to build a phrasebook of your translations.

Click the star icon beneath any translated word or phrase to save it. You can review your saved translations at any time by clicking the silhouetted star icon on the Translate toolbar.

Improve your English

Most of us would never think to enter our own language in the Google Translate box, but the tool can actually help you learn more about your native tongue.

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You can use Translate tools to improve your own command of English.

For any word entered into Google Translate, it provides a definition, the word class (noun, verb, etc.), synonyms, and examples of the word’s use in a sentence. It works much like a combination dictionary and thesaurus, allowing you to school yourself on unfamiliar words and phrases and improve your written communications.