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Three Ways To…

…Translate another language online

By Bill Pfleging

Since the World Wide Web is, well, worldwide, we are increasingly in need of language translation. After all, your next coworker could be in Indonesia or Manila. Here's how to communicate even when you don’t speak the native tongue.

1. Use a translation dictionary Google has a decent language-to-language dictionary, but an even better choice is WordReference. This set of free online translation dictionaries (French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) offers more than just straight word-to-word translation. You also get a spoken word demo and a detailed etymology of the word you're translating. “As a German speaker who is now an American citizen, I use online dictionaries constantly,” says Natascha Schuberth-Thompson, Global Ecosystem and Partner Marketing Director, of SAP Community Network. “SAP communicates in both German and English, so accuracy is important.”

2. Install a browser add-on Available on Mozilla Firefox, the FoxLingo add-on translates Web pages and blocks of text in 45 different languages. Users can install GTranslation, which uses both Google Translate and Babel Fish.

3. Grab a widget Widgets can live almost anywhere -- blogs, Web sites, and almost every social network in existence. You’ll find plenty of translation help at WidgetBox, one of the biggest depositories of widgets. Best language widget choices are “My Online Instant Multi Languages Dictionary” for 11 different languages and “Ultimate Web Translator,” which allows you to translate your content into more than 30 languages. Widgetbox provides conversion to the platform of your choice.

Although these translation methods are convenient and fun, be aware there might be the occasional goof or faux pas, says Mark Antman, who works with multilingual clients as the CEO and co-founder of The Image Works, an international stock photographic agency. “We have French, German and Spanish speakers on staff,” says Antman. “We generally can get by with online dictionaries. But we've had bad experiences as well.” An alternative, of course, is taking the time to learn a foreign language. You can take lessons in the language of your choice at LiveMocha, a free online service currently in beta.

Bill Pfleging is a computer consultant who writes about technology for national publications, such as ComputerWorld, Razor, and Inc. Pfleging is also a tech columnist for newspapers and co-author of The Geek Gap: Why Business and Technology Professionals Don't Understand Each Other and Why They Need Each Other to Survive.

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