You do not need to install anything to read most of the web in your own language. Every major browser now includes a translation feature, and several of them can translate a selected sentence or even text inside an image. This guide covers what is built in, how to switch it on and off, and what to do when it does not work.
Google Chrome
Translating a whole page
When you open a page in a language different from your browser language, Chrome usually shows a translate icon in the address bar and may offer to translate. Click it and choose your language. You can also right-click anywhere on the page and select Translate to [your language].
The translate bubble has options to always translate pages in that language, never translate that language, or never translate that particular site. These choices are remembered, so if Chrome stopped offering to translate a language, you probably clicked "never" at some point.
Settings
Go to Settings → Languages. There you can:
- turn Use Google Translate on or off;
- choose the language pages are translated into;
- edit the lists of languages that are always or never translated.
Add the languages you read fluently to your preferred languages list. Chrome will then stop offering to translate them.
Selected text and images
Select some text, right-click and choose the translate option to translate only that part of the page, which is useful on mixed-language pages. For text inside images, right-click the image and use Search with Google Lens; Lens can detect the text and show a translation.
Microsoft Edge
Edge has Microsoft Translator built in. It offers to translate pages in foreign languages through an icon in the address bar, and you can right-click and choose Translate to [language]. Selecting text shows a context-menu option to translate just the selection. The settings are under Settings → Languages, including which languages Edge should never offer to translate.
Safari
On recent versions of macOS and iOS, Safari shows a translate button in the address bar (on iPhone, in the page menu) when it detects a supported language. The list of supported languages is shorter than Chrome's or Edge's. Selected text can also be translated by right-clicking (or long-pressing on iPhone) and choosing Translate.
Firefox
Firefox includes a translation feature that runs locally on your computer: the translation models are downloaded once per language pair, and the page text is not sent to a server. When Firefox detects a foreign language it shows a translation icon in the address bar. It supports fewer languages than cloud-based services, but it is an excellent option when privacy matters.
When translation does not appear
- The page language is wrong. Browsers rely on the language declared by the page and on detection. If a site labels itself as English but is written in another language, the offer may not appear. Right-click and translate manually.
- You chose "never translate". Check the never-translate lists in the language settings.
- The language is in your preferred list. Chrome and Edge do not offer to translate languages you have said you read.
- The content loads dynamically. Chat apps, comment sections and infinite feeds add new text after the page is translated. Browsers usually translate new content too, but not always, and sometimes only after you scroll. Tools built for specific sites handle this better.
- The text is inside an image or video. Page translation only covers real text. Use Lens or similar tools for images, and captions for video.
Tips for better results
- Check prices, dates and numbers against the original. Formatting conventions differ between countries.
- Switch back to the original for forms, logins and checkout pages. Translated labels can be confusing and occasionally break page layouts.
- Be careful with sensitive pages. Cloud translation sends the page text to the provider. For banking, medical or private documents, use a local option such as Firefox's translator, or skip translation.
- Read the original headlines when possible. Short headlines lack context and are the text most likely to be mistranslated.
The bottom line
For ordinary web pages, the translation built into your browser is fast, free and good enough most of the time. Learn where its settings are, use right-click translation for selections and images, and keep its limits in mind for dynamic sites, images and sensitive pages.