Is there a way to translate English to Spanish and French?

[cbishop01]

I have documents that come in in english is there a way to translate selected Text frames to the above languages? Or even better is there a way to do this in Paragraph styles that i havent seen yet?

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

No, InDesign does not translate. It does allow you to set the language for the purpose of spellcheck and hyphenation though. You might want to hire a professional translator.

~ Jane

[CMcDowall]

As Peter points out below, there is a great (and cheap) script which will translate automatically. Of course, a native speaker should proofread, but it is a significant head start.

[SJRiegel]

I will second what Jane said. The only way to get reliable translation is to hire a professional person to do it.  

The best that automatic translation can do is give you a general sense of what something says - I would never ever use it for anything I was planning on publishing (print or web). 

[cbishop01]

Thank you both for replying. I knew it was a long show but figured it doesnt hurt to ask.

[Peter Kahrel]

Ariel Walden offers a script that uses Google Translate to translate text in an INDesign document. That could be a start. Google Translate has the problems of automatic translation (forget about literary translation), of course, but it may be good enough for your purposes. You can upgrade to neural machine-translation post-editing. It's pay-as-you-go.

http://www.id-extras.com/products/translate/

[CMcDowall]

Thanks Peter! I just downloaded this script, loaded it, purchased the translation key ($5) via PayPal, and converted my InDesign doc to Spanish --- all in about 15 minutes. I had not added a script for a long time, but the developer included a tutorial link and I did it quickly.

The Google Translate has scores of languages, and the Translat script works for InD 2022, although I am on a slightly older version.

Thanks for the link. Pretty amazing. Craig

[Test Screen Name]

Machine translation is pretty limited, but it sometimes can be good enough. Depends what image you want to give; Most companies don't find it professional enough. Here's a test you can try: translate the Spanish back to English. How does it look?