Do you want to translate your DOC file but you do not want to lose the formatting of the text? Let’s see together how to translate Word documents.
Many online services allow translations of any Word document. Unfortunately, most of the time, these tools completely distort the formatting of texts. By eliminating the latter, they are rendered virtually illegible. However, there are some completely free solutions to which we can safely address. We can do the translations directly with Word, or we can use the Google Drive service. So let’s see how to translate Word documents in a few simple steps.
Index
Translation with Microsoft Word
Many people do not know about it, but using Microsoft Word, we can translate documents quickly and easily. The only flaw is that it is not possible to save the translated text in a new DOC file, as the document will be shown in the browser. However, we can copy it to a new file and save it without losing the original formatting.
- Open the document to be translated with Microsoft Word;
- Click on the Review tab;
- Click on the Translate button;
- At this point we click on Choose language translation;
- From the Translation drop-down menu we choose the original language of the file;
- From the two Translation drop down menus we choose the language in which we want to translate it;
- Finally click on OK.
Once this is done, we will show the translated document. All we have to do is copy it and paste it onto a new DOC file and save it.
In case of problems
It may happen that the languages available in the drop-down menus are not displayed. In this case we can proceed in different ways.
Solution 1
- We open the document to be translated;
- Let’s move to the Review tab;
- We click on Translate;
- Click on Choose language translation;
- We respond affirmatively to the notice that appears;
- We click on Detect new search services and click on Yes.
Solution 2
- Let’s open the Control Panel;
- Click on Uninstall a program;
- Select the entry for Microsoft Word or the Office package;
- Click on Change and click on Yes;
- Check the option Add/remove features and click on Continue;
- We expand the item Shared Features of Office;
- Click on the arrow of Correction Tools;
- Choose the option Complete Execution from the local computer;
- Finally click on Continue and then on Close.
Once this is done, the languages available for translation should work properly.
Translation with Google Drive
Google Translate is one of the best translation services currently available on the web. However, it is not recommended to use Google Translate directly. We will rather use Google Drive, which allows us to keep the original formatting of the document intact.
- Let’s connect to the main page by clicking on this link;
- Log in with our account;
- Drag the document to be translated into the Folders section;
- At this point open the file just uploaded;
- Click on Open with Google Docs;
- Click on the Tools menu and then on the Translate document entry;
- In the Translate drop-down menu, choose the language in which you want to translate the document;
- Type the name to be assigned to the new file and click on Translator;
- Return to the main page and click with the right mouse button on the new document;
- Finally click on Download.
Translation with SDL
It is a famous online tool that allows you to translate Word documents while preserving the original formatting of the text. It is completely free and supports files of up to 5 MB.
- Let’s go to the site by clicking on this link;
- Select the languages of origin and destination;
- Click on Select file and choose the file;
- Once the upload is complete, just click on the Download button.
Once this is done, the translated document will start to download and will be downloaded to our computer.
Conclusions
As we have seen, thanks to these simple methods we can easily translate all our documents in DOC format, all without losing the original formatting of the text.