Easy Translations

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated December 26, 2013)

You've probably used Google's translation site before in order to do elementary translations from one language to another. (You can find it by visiting http://translate.google.com.) Now Sheets brings the power of Google Translate directly into your spreadsheet. All you need to do is use the GOOGLETRANSLATE FUNCTION, in this manner:

=GoogleTranslate(A1, "en", "es")

In this example, the function returns a translation of whatever is in cell A1 from English ("en") to Spanish ("es"). You could, if you wanted, also provide cell references for the source language and the target language:

=GoogleTranslate(A1, A2, A3)

When specifying a source and target language, use the two-character designation for langauges. Some of the more common designations are en (English), sp (Spanish), fr (French), ja (Japanese), ko (Korean), etc. You could, if desired, also tell Google to figure out what the source language is, in this manner:

=GoogleTranslate(A1, "auto", A2)

This example translates whatever is in cell A1 (after Google figures out what language it is) into whatever language you specify in cell A2.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Pulling Cell Names into VBA

Excel allows you to define names that can refer to either ranges of cells or to constant information, such as formulas. ...

Discover More

Ampersands in Headers and Footers

Add an ampersand to the text in a header or footer and you may be surprised that the ampersand disappears on your ...

Discover More

Correctly Repeated Words

There are times when you need to repeat a word in a document, but doing so triggers an "error reaction" from Word's ...

Discover More
More DriveTips

Deleting a Named Range

No longer need a previously defined named range? Here's how to get rid of it.

Discover More

Understanding Text Wrapping

Because you can put text into spreadsheet cells, it makes sense that not all that text could be displayed in a ...

Discover More

Determining the Day of the Week

Need to know what the day of the week is? Sheets provides a handy function that can return a numeric value that ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 4 - 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.