how do you translate a powerpoint presentation

Presentation Translator for PowerPoint

About presentation translator.

Presentation Translator subtitles your live presentation straight from PowerPoint, and lets your audience join from their own devices using the Translator app or browser.

As you speak, Presentation Translator displays subtitles directly on your PowerPoint presentation in any one of more than 60 supported text languages. This feature can also be used for audiences who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Up to 100 audience members in the room can follow along with the presentation in their own language by downloading the Translator app or joining directly from their browser.

Key features

Live subtitling

Speak in any of the 11 supported speech languages and subtitle into any one of the 60+ text translation languages.

Interactive audience experience

Share a QR- or five letter conversation code and your audience can follow along with your presentation, on their own device, in their chosen language.

Multi-language Q&A

Unmute the audience to allow questions from the audience on their device in any of the supported languages.

Inclusivity through Accessibility

Help audience members who are deaf or hard of hearing follow the presentation, and participate in the discussion.

Customized speech recognition

Customize the speech recognition engine using the vocabulary within your slides and slide notes to adapt to jargon, technical terms, and product or place names. Customization is currently available for English, Chinese, and Spanish.

Translated presentations with preserved formatting

The "Translate Slides" button allows presenters to translate their whole presentation while preserving its formatting.

How Presentation Translator works

The technologies behind presentation translator.

Presentation Translator for PowerPoint is powered by the Microsoft Translator live feature which lets you have translated chats by starting or joining a conversation from the Translator app. Up to 100 people can chat at once using the  Translator app or directly from their browser at  http://translate.it .

The Microsoft Translator live feature is built using Microsoft Translator core speech translation technology, the Microsoft Translator API, an Azure Cognitive Service.

Presentation Translator integrates the speech recognition customization capabilities of Custom Speech Service (CSS) from Azure’s Cognitive Services to adapt speech recognition to the vocabulary used in the presentation.

How to set-up Presentation Translator for PowerPoint

Learn how to download the add-in, install it, and share the QR and conversation code directly from the presentation so your audience can follow along in their language.

Presentation Translator in Action

For this demo, English is the chosen speech and captioned language - highlighting the use of live captioning for the deaf or hard of hearing community. Users could also join and participate in other languages. The talks were titled "Access and Understanding in the Classroom: How Deaf Children Learn (or not)", given at Microsoft Research on May 9th, 2017.

What is custom speech recognition?

What does custom speech recognition do.

• Improves the accuracy of your subtitles by learning from the content in your slides and slide notes. In some cases, you will see up to 30% improvement in accuracy.
• Customizes speech recognition for industry-specific vocabulary, technical terms, acronyms, and product or place names. Customization will reduce these errors in your subtitles, as long as the words are present in your slide or slide notes.

How to set up custom speech in your presentation

• The first time you customize speech recognition for your presentation, it can take up to 5 minutes for Presentation Translator to finish learning.
• After the first time, the subtitles will start instantaneously unless you update the content of your slides.
• Tip: start the custom speech recognition during a practice run so that you don’t experience delays when you present to your audience.

How does the custom speech recognition feature work?

The custom speech recognition feature works by training unique language models with the content of your slides. The language models behind Microsoft’s speech recognition engine have been optimized for common usage scenarios.

The language model is a probability distribution over sequences of words and helps the system decide among sequences of words that sound similar, based on the likelihood of the word sequences themselves. For example, “recognize speech” and “wreck a nice beach” sound alike but the first sentence is far more likely to occur, and therefore will be assigned a higher score by the language model.

If your presentation uses particular vocabulary items, such as product names or jargon that rarely occur in typical speech, it is likely that you can obtain improved performance by customizing the language model.

For example, if your presentation is about automotive, it might contain terms like “powertrain” or “catalytic converter” or “limited slip differential.” Customizing the language model will enable the system to learn this.

When you use the Customize speech recognition feature in Presentation Translator, your presentation content – including notes from the slides – is securely transmitted to the Microsoft Translator transcription service to create an adapted language model based on this data. Data used for customization is not de-identified and is retained in full, along with the adapted model, by the service for thirty (30) days from last use to support your future presentations and use of the language modeling.

Tips for using Presentation Translator

Audio/visual set-up.

Before you get started, you’ll need:

• A working microphone: We suggest using a Bluetooth headset so you can move around without restrictions. Check out our list of recommended headsets
• PowerPoint for Windows: PC only. Make sure you do not have any Office applications open while Presentation Translator installs. Once installed, the add-in will update automatically each time a new version is published.
• Permissions: If you are an educator and use a school login for PowerPoint, you may need to contact your administrator to install the add-in on your device(s).
• Internet connection: A hard-wired connection is ideal, but a reliable WiFi connection works well also.If you’re using the add-in for an event, the lecturer should use a wired connection if possible, or dedicated WiFi. Although it will work on WiFi or 4G, if either is weak, or there’s a lot of competition for bandwidth, it can adversely affect performance. Audience participants can use WiFi or 4G as they are only receiving transcriptions or translations and their data requirements are much lower.

How to set up customized content

Depending on what you’re presenting you will probably want to customize how Presentation Translator “understands” your content.

Here are a few tips to set-up CSS:

• Include all relevant content: Don’t forget your presenter notes! Before CSS “learns” your content, the content needs to be present within the slides or slide notes. Full sentences will be used for word contexts, so a full script of your presentation within the slide notes will be useful.
• After you click “Start Subtitling”, a dialogue box will appear to set-up your presentation. Make sure to check the box that says “Personalize speech recognition” so it can customize your presentation speech model*. This will take 3 to 5 minutes depending on the length of your presentation.
• Train in advance. Content, notes, and audio logs will be retained by the service for thirty (30) days from last use to support future presentations. You only need to train the system again if you have updated content or it’s past 30 days since the last training.

* Currently only English and Chinese are supported.

Microsoft Translator live feature

Now that your audio, visual, and presentation content are ready to go, you can now start presenting! This is where audience participation can play a role – to expand the audience that understands your content, or invite them to comment in real-time in their own language.

Here are a few tips to set-up the Microsoft Translator live feature:

• After you click “Start Subtitling”, a dialogue box will appear to set-up your presentation. Under “Additional Settings”, make sure to check the box that says “Add instructional slide”. This will explain to the audience how they can view subtitles on their own devices.
• The add-in will then insert the instructional slide before the start of your presentation. These instructions will allow your audience to easily join the conversation (up to 100 people) on their device, in their language.
• You can choose to “unmute” the audience – allow comments directly from their device – or “mute” the audience so your presentation is uninterrupted. You can simply click “Audience Unmuted” towards the end of the presentation for an interactive Q&A session.

More resources

Presentation Translator Help & FAQs

Get your questions answered by searching our Help and FAQ section.

Translator languages

Want to know what features are supported for your chosen language? Visit our languages page.

Translator for business

Learn more about how Microsoft Translator’s text and speech translation technology can globalize your business and connect with your customers worldwide.

Download the app

To start using Presentation Translator for PowerPoint, download both the PowerPoint add-in and the Translator app for an interactive experience.

Download the add-in (Windows only).

Translator app

Students can follow along with Presentation Translator in their own language and language learners can have one-on-one translated conversations with teachers using the app.

Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Translate in PowerPoint

How to Translate in PowerPoint

Delivering a PowerPoint presentation using native connotations or sharing it with a target audience in a native language can immensely help your performance. Whether you are a teacher, student, business professional, or someone trying to pitch your ideas to a potential investor, the value of using the local language can never be emphasized enough. There are a number of ways you can translate in PowerPoint, whether you’re using PowerPoint templates or creating slide decks from scratch. Let us show you how!

The Need for PowerPoint Translation

Let’s assume you speak Spanish and are awaiting a presentation by someone who is not a native Spanish speaker. How would you feel if the presenter could present in your local language, give references from the local culture, and present ideas that resonated with your beliefs? Language plays an important role in the battle to win hearts and minds. Due to a language barrier, many presenters can find it challenging to connect with an audience. While English is widely spoken and understood worldwide, adding captions targeted to non-English speakers can be essential to win hearts and minds. This is why people from different fields of work aim to learn new languages to better connect with the local people.

Even if you don’t master the language to the point of being a native speaker, having your slide deck translated into the target language as a presentation handout can pose as a winning factor. This is why the need to translate your slide deck should not be overlooked.

Benefits of Translating PowerPoint Presentations

Before we discuss the different ways to translate in PowerPoint, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of translating PowerPoint presentations.

Better Accessibility of Information for the Audience

Translated presentations in some niches can be beneficial to increase the audience’s overall understanding of your speech. For example, if you are delivering a technical presentation about new machinery, some attendees may miss important details due to not being acknowledged with advanced jargon. 

Improved Communication and Consideration for Cultural Sensitivities

Language barriers can leave a lot to be lost in translation. You can even offend the audience because of misunderstanding how a term or phrase is perceived. This can be avoided by translating PowerPoint presentations.

Improved Audience Engagement

Reaching out to the local audience in their language can help improve audience engagement. People can be more enthusiastic when a presenter aims to reach out to them in their language, even if they might not be proficient in speaking or writing. This is the same approach when a traveler aims to speak to locals in their language – although the skill is not perfected, locals highly value the interest in their culture.

Global Outreach

Translated PowerPoint presentations, especially when shared in different languages online, can significantly help as people look to cater to a global audience. Various businesses often share critical information in multiple languages, including copies of slide decks with manuals, key information about the business, and investment options.

Professionalism

Providing the audience with translated content can make the presentation professional and reflect the presenter’s thoroughness. This can be an excellent way to leave a positive impression on your audience.

Legal Requirements

Sometimes, it might be a legal requirement to translate content to make it accessible for all stakeholders. Hence, translating a presentation with essential information might be required for legal compliance.

When Should You Translate a PowerPoint Presentation?

While translating a PowerPoint presentation can be a good approach, it is also necessary to determine the time and place for using translated PowerPoint presentations.

Determining the Right Timing

Determining the right time to use a translated PowerPoint presentation is important. For example, you might need to translate your presentation and handouts at multi-cultural events where people with different native languages might attend the conference, workshop, training, etc. Such practices help to reduce the friction between the attendees and the event’s organizing staff as key information (hotel accommodation, transportation, the event’s agenda, etc.) are stated in their own languages besides English.

Reasons for Translating a PowerPoint Presentation

You should be clear about the reasons for translating the PowerPoint presentation. Do you wish to expand your business by wooing investors, need to reach out to a multicultural audience regarding a social issue, or need to address employees from a global team? By being clear about the objectives for translating the PowerPoint presentation, you can determine how to articulate best and translate the content. It won’t deliver the same effect as translating in a neutral, online translator tone as hiring the services of a professional translator.

Considerations and Audience Analysis

It is important to know the language(s) for translating the PowerPoint and to determine cultural sensitives, terms that might be offensive in the local context, and the use of terms that might be pleasing to the target audience to some extent. An audience analysis prior to creating and translating your slide deck can help avoid cultural pitfalls that can cause inconvenience when delivering your presentation.

Localization of Content

Besides language considerations, the contextualization is crucial. For example, if you are discussing road safety, does your audience live in a country with left-hand traffic or right-hand traffic? Similarly, when talking about a topic like climate change, you might want to consider its impact on different people in the audience and look for native terms that might be appropriate for discussion and explanation.

Academic or Research Presentations

When translating information in academic or research-related presentations, you might want to ensure that you can cater to the needs of a diverse audience. Some terms might not have a native language word that can be translated from another language. In such a case, you might need to explain the information in more than just a single word or phrase by dedicating a few lines to the topic.

Manual Translation Procedures

While there are different methods for automatically translating PowerPoint presentations, manual translations can be more accurate, considering the cultural context.

Modes for Manual Translation

You can opt for the ideas below to manually translate PowerPoint presentations.

Translate it Yourself

If you are familiar with the local language or can translate the presentation with the help of a dictionary or some help from online tools, you can do it yourself.

Hire a Consultant or Freelancer

You can hire a consultant or a freelancer from online portals to translate a PowerPoint presentation into different native languages.

Assign it to an Employee or Subordinate at the Workplace

Different multicultural organizations have people who can speak and write in different languages. You can assign the translation task to an employee or subordinate or request another department to help you.

Request a Friend or Colleague

If you know a friend or colleague who speaks the local language, you can request them to help you with the translation.

Advantages of Manual Translation

Accurate and appropriately translated text .

Translating text manually can help avoid embarrassing errors caused by incorrectly translated text using automatic translation apps. Sometimes, certain connotations can even be offensive if not properly translated. Manual translation can help avoid such pitfalls, as the person is aware of cultural connotations.

Better Reflection of Cultural Context

Manual translation can help better reflect cultural context and enable the presenter to win hearts and minds using culturally appropriate terminologies or metaphors in storytelling.

Better Understanding of Local Terms

By getting text translated into a local language, a presenter might be better able to determine whether words and phrases have alternatives in local languages or whether using some terms from another language might be just as good. For example, many languages don’t have alternative words for certain English terms such as ‘internet’ or ‘cake.’ Such information can help determine the best use of phrases that might be easier for a non-native presenter.

Limiting Information to Maintain Confidentiality

If a relevant individual manually translates the text, it can help maintain confidentiality and security where needed. This can also help avoid placing sensitive information in automated apps, where the threat of data breach can occur.

Disadvantages of Manual Translation

Just as there are advantages, there can also be a number of disadvantages to the manual translation of PowerPoint presentations.

High Cost of Translation

Getting PowerPoint presentations translated manually can incur a high cost. This is particularly true if you frequently require translation of presentations.

Time-Consuming

Manual translations can be time-consuming and lead to delays in preparing presentations. Languages that do not share the same alphabet also may require extra time to translate technical terms accurately.

Inconsistency in Text and Errors

While automatic translations can also have errors, manual translations can suffer from human error and inconsistencies in how the text is translated. Unlike automatic translations, the uniformity in how text is translated can be lost in manual translations or if several team members are working on the translation.

Security and Confidential Concerns Due to Third-Party Involvement

By letting a third party translate information for you, there can be a threat to maintaining the confidentiality and security of sensitive information. Sometimes, such confidentiality might even be required interdepartmental, where getting translations from an individual in another department might not be appropriate. NDA agreements are particularly useful in this regard.

Tips and Best Practices for Manual Translation of PowerPoint Presentations

Take some time to consider the context.

Manual translations should never be done in a hurry. You should take some time to consider the local context. A bit of research into what might click with your audience might be helpful. If you are using a professional translation service or consultant, you should consider discussing clarity regarding the local context.

Ensure Legibility of Text

The font style and writing scripts can be very different for different languages. Ensure you can maintain legibility by using the right font, font size, and text distribution over a slide.

Maintain Consistency

Unlike online tools, consistency can be an issue in manual translations. To avoid confusion, you should try to ensure that different words and phrases are consistently used in the translation.

Avoid Cultural Minefields

A simple translation misstep can lead to stepping into a cultural minefield. You can inadvertently offend your audience without even knowing what you did wrong. This is why it is important to be mindful of this conundrum and avoid anything that might appear potentially inappropriate for your audience.

Professional Translation Services

Role of professional translators.

Professional translation services and translators can be a quick and easy way to translate PowerPoint presentations accurately. You would want to engage a service provider or consultant who can be reached for your assignments to ensure their timely completion and ensure that you have more than one service provider available in case of any eventuality.

When to Consider Professional Services

You might want to consider professional service providers if you can submit your slide decks or required text a few days ahead for translation. Very few translation service providers or individuals might be able to translate text manually within a short period of time, and doing so might lead to the risk of errors.

Professional translation services are also a must when the data to be translated can imply severe legal consequences if done wrong: i.e., product manuals, product presentations, academic presentations, etc.

Tips and Best Practices for Finding and Collaborating with Translators

You can consider the following tips for finding and collaborating with translators.

Freelancing Platforms

Various freelancing platforms, such as Upwork and Fiverr, can help you reach out to translators and build a pool of professionals who might be available for your translation tasks. You can also ensure quick payment and quality of service by using such portals. Consider checking the service provider’s or freelancer’s rating to look for the best possible resource within your budget. We highly recommend taking extra time to run a test before assigning a time-bound job.

Advertise an RFQ

To seek translators’ resumes, you can submit a request for a quote (RFQ) or advertise on various websites such as Craigslist, Impactpool, Workable, and job boards.

LinkedIn and Online Portfolio Websites

LinkedIn and online portfolio websites might be another good place to consider looking for professional translators. Assess professional profiles and look for translators with whom you can work.

Suggestions from Your Connections

You can always take suggestions from your friends, colleagues, and connections via Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media websites to seek suggestions to connect with translators.

Online Tools, Software, and Translation Plugins for PowerPoint

Online tools and translation software can make your translation tasks a breeze. There are many popular platforms for PowerPoint translation that you can integrate into your daily workflow.

Microsoft Translator

PowerPoint has an AI-powered built-in translation tool called Microsoft Translate that can help translate text in over 70 languages. Microsoft Translate also has an API that offers personal, business, and educational integration.

Google Translate

Google Translate is a popular PowerPoint translation option. Whether you use the online tool or have it integrated into a service, Google Translate can be your go-to option for translating your slides.

Please consider that Google Translate works best when the translation is done from English to another language. If you want, say, to translate from French to Spanish, the translation will be far more consistent if you translate French > English, then English > Spanish. Unfortunately, that’s the way the tool works.

Bing Translate

While Bing Translate also powers Microsoft Translator, you can also use the online tool or an integrated version of the tool in service to translate text for your slides. Similar guidelines apply to the point mentioned before about the English language translations vs. other languages.

Deepl is another translation tool that can translate text between different languages. A competitor of Google and Bing’s translation tools, Deepl offers similar translation options, including integration with various services.

Transifex is a commercial translation service with products aimed at streamlining digital translations. Transifex can be integrated for business use for digital content translation.

Google Slides

Another quick way to translate for PowerPoint is to upload your slides to Google Slides and use the translation extension to get your slides translated. You can even download your Google Slides presentations in PowerPoint format in different languages.

Advantages of Online Tools and Software

Ease of access.

Unlike reaching out to someone to get your presentations translated, online tools and translation software are easier to access, with 24/7 availability.

Quick Translation

Online tools can be quick to use and can help translate large chunks of text in no time.

Cost Saving Option

Online translation tools and software are cheaper options than translating presentations manually. This is especially true if you frequently need to translate your slide decks. 

Consistency in Translated Text

Online tools come with a uniform and consistent method of translation that can help avoid manual errors and maintain consistency.

Integration with Services

Different translation tools are integrated with various services, allowing instant translation even when you need it on the fly, such as when closing a sale with a customer who requires information in their native language. You can quickly translate instructions in slide decks or other relevant information by using integrated tools that come with plugins for sales, marketing, websites, and other platforms. The use of the Google Translate API is one such example.

How to Translate a PowerPoint to Spanish

If you’re wondering, “ How do I translate a PowerPoint document or a slide deck to Spanish? ” you can use Microsoft Translate, which comes built-in to Microsoft apps for translation, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. You can access Microsoft Translate in PowerPoint using the Review tab. Simply select the text to translate and click Translate .

The tool can also be accessed via the right-click menu. Selecting the text and going to Translate will enable you to translate the selected text instantly.

A sidebar will appear with the original text and the translation in a language you can select from the bottom of the pane.

In this case, our Spanish-speaker team members tested the accuracy of the translation, and although it’s grammatically correct, contextually, it would sound better if it said:

“Más de 50.000 Plantillas de PowerPoint. Descarga diapositivas de PowerPoint listas para usar, 100% editables para tus presentaciones. Termina tu trabajo en menos tiempo.” Once again, context is key.

Microsoft Translate supports over 70 languages, and you can translate text.

After translating the text, click Insert to add it to the slide. You can use the language toggle to change the language from which the text is to be translated to the language in which you wish the text to be translated.

By going to File -> Get Add-ins in PowerPoint, you can search for translation add-ins from the Office Store to suit your needs. In addition to the software and tools mentioned earlier, you can look for other services that can be integrated as add-ins in PowerPoint to translate text between supported languages.

The Importance of Context 

Significance of localization cultural considerations in translation.

Spanish-speaking nations have diverse linguistic variations, cultures, and traditions that need to be understood when translating content. This means that text translated in Castilian might be very different in terms of context compared to Mexican Spanish. Hence, the variation in dialects is essential to understand, as is the type of Spanish spoken by your audience and the appropriate cultural context. This is why localization and cultural considerations are essential for any language, especially languages like Spanish that have diverse dialects.

Adapting Content for Spanish Audience

When adapting text for Spanish audiences, you might want to consider the below-mentioned aspects.

Choose the Right Spanish Variation

Does your target audience include people who speak European Spanish, Latin American Spanish, or some other variation? Knowing which Spanish variation to use is important to ensure that grammatical changes are accurately reflected. And even if, Latin America has a broad range of Spanish variations, as the vocabulary used in Chile is somewhat different to what you can come across in Uruguay or Argentina. The differences mainly lie in colloquial terms and how foreign words are adapted into the language.

Localization of Visual Elements

Graphical references, such as advertising, maps, etc., are different from a European perspective to a Latin American one. Consider this factor when building the graphics for your slides, as the attendees may not be familiar with terms as common as supermarket chains, weather/geographical terms, and the list goes on.

Addressing Local Concerns

Different topics will have a very different context for different types of Spanish-speaking audiences. Be it trade, marketing, climate change, educational priorities, economic dynamics, or other topics. Addressing local concerns would be essential to get your message across as a presenter to avoid your message getting lost in translation. For example, the global economic downturn is affecting different Spanish-speaking countries differently. This is due to the differences in government policies, financial structure, population, geographical location, and other factors. This may not be the case in some other Spanish-speaking countries where the focus lies on women’s rights, immigration policies, etc.

Regulatory Compliance

In some countries, it might be necessary to present information according to the country’s regulatory compliance, where essential information must be presented before a specific target group to ensure transparency related to data, privacy, advertisement, etc. This factor must be considered when creating content for Spanish-speaking audiences to ensure compliance (where applicable). 

Translating PowerPoint can be a powerful method to reach a diverse, global audience using local language and context. It can open new avenues for people in different professions if done correctly. However, it is vital to ensure that you can translate information accurately through manual or automated means. This is to avoid preventing the end goal of your PowerPoint presentation from getting lost in translation.

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Five Essential Tools for Translating Your PowerPoint Slides

Whether you need to present to an international audience or share ideas globally, translating your PowerPoint slides is essential. However, manually translating slides one by one can be extremely tedious and time-consuming.

Fortunately, several tools and techniques can streamline the PowerPoint translation process. Here are five essential options to consider:

1. Use PowerPoint’s Built-In Translator

PowerPoint has a built-in translation feature that allows you to quickly translate text selections into over 60 languages.

• Select the text you want to translate
• Go to the Review tab
• Click Translate > choose the target language > click Translate
• The translated text will appear in the PowerPoint translator pane
• Click Insert to add the translated text to the slide

Pros: Quick, easy, integrated into PowerPoint.

Cons: Can only translate one text box at a time. Translation quality varies.

2. Upload to an Online PowerPoint Translation Service

Several online services allow you to upload a PowerPoint file for translation. These services leverage advanced machine translation and professional human translators to handle the entire document efficiently.

Popular options include:

• Pairaphrase

Pros : Fast, affordable, high-quality translations. Maintains original PowerPoint formatting.

Cons : No integration with PowerPoint. Need to download translated file.

3. Use the Google Translate Document Feature

The Google Translate website has an option to translate Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents up to 10MB in size.

• Go to translate.google.com
• Click on the Documents tab
• Upload your PowerPoint file
• Select target language
• Click Translate document

Pros: Free, supports many languages.

Cons: 10MB size limit. Translation quality varies. No PowerPoint integration.

4. Try Presentation Translator Add-in (Windows Only)

Microsoft’s Presentation Translator is a PowerPoint add-in that subtitles your slides as you present. It leverages AI translation to show real-time captions in over 60 languages.

Pros: Real-time translated subtitles. Multilingual audience engagement.

Cons: Windows only. Translates speech, not slides.

5. Use a Professional Translation Agency

For high-stakes presentations, consider having your slides translated by a professional translation agency. They will expertly adapt your PowerPoint for the target culture while preserving design and formatting.

Pros: High quality, nuanced translations. Visuals adapted for local culture.

Cons: More expensive and time-intensive.

The best PowerPoint translation solution depends on your needs. For quick, rough translations, built-in or online machine translation can suffice. But for professional, polished translations, engage a human expert.

By using the right tools and resources, you can easily translate your PowerPoint presentation and share your ideas with audiences worldwide.

About The Author

Vegaslide staff, related posts.

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Which method should you use to translate a PowerPoint file?

A presentation to a foreign client, an international conference, a webinar in a foreign language... Many situations require the translation of a PowerPoint presentation. Are you looking for the best way in which to translate a PowerPoint document? Here we provide an overview of the different methods available.

When should you translate a PowerPoint presentation?

Translating a PowerPoint document may be necessary in many situations , in a professional or academic context, for example:

• Sharing a PowerPoint document with multicultural teams
• Conducting a conference with slides in a foreign country
• Conducting a webinar with slides to an international audience
• Making a sales or marketing presentation to a foreign client
• Defending a thesis before a jury in a foreign university
• Presenting products to foreign customers.

Translating a PowerPoint document allows you to adapt the content of your presentation to the language of your audience, but also to the culture of the local market, to ensure that the audience understands it perfectly.

How do I translate a PowerPoint document?

There are three ways to translate a PowerPoint document:

Using the PowerPoint translation module

Microsoft PowerPoint has a built-in translation feature. This is a useful solution that allows you to translate your document in a few clicks and avoids the need to go back and forth between the presentation and an external machine translation tool. With Windows, this PowerPoint feature is available for free. With a Mac, you need an Office 365 (or Office 2019) subscription. This function allows slides to be translated into more than 60 languages : French, English, Italian, Mandarin, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic , Spanish, German, Russian etc.

There are two possible translation modes with the PowerPoint translator:

Translating text in PowerPoint

This option allows you to translate your PowerPoint presentation text directly into the language of your choice. To access this translation module, follow these steps:

• Select the text to be translated in your slides
• Go to the "Review" tab of your PowerPoint document
• Click on "Translate" and then on "Translate selected text" (a side window will open on the presentation, with the list of available languages: choose your target language).
• You can then either directly replace the original text with the translated text by clicking on "Insert" or copy and paste the translation (to another document for example), by clicking on "Copy".

This integrated translation module has the advantage of being extremely easy to use and can be accessed directly from the presentation.

Generate real-time subtitles in PowerPoint

Microsoft Translator also lets you translate a presentation simultaneously, using subtitles generated in the language of your choice . To activate this feature, go to the "Slideshow" tab and then "Subtitle Settings". Then, select the source language in "Spoken Language" and select the target language of your choice in "Subtitle Language". When the PowerPoint slides start, the translation will be displayed as subtitles . You can activate and deactivate them at any time during the presentation.

In addition, thanks to the PowerPoint Live feature, which lets listeners follow the presentation on their smartphone or tablet by scanning a QR code, each participant will be able to select subtitles in the language of their choice. To activate the feature, go to "Slideshow" and then to "Present Live". A QR code will be automatically generated at the beginning of the presentation, allowing participants to access the slides from their own screen and to select their preferred subtitle.

The captioning feature on PowerPoint is also very useful to help deaf and hard of hearing people follow your presentation.

Translating a PowerPoint document with automatic translation software

Another way of translating a PowerPoint document is to use an automatic translation tool (free or paid).

For example, with Google Translate you can translate a PowerPoint document for free. To do this, go to https://translate.google.com/ and click on the "Documents" tab and select your PowerPoint. Then click on "Translate Document". Your translation will be automatically generated in PowerPoint format. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the entire content and translate it using Google Translate's "Text" translation feature.

Be aware, however, that these automatic tools normally generate a literal, word-for-word translation that does not consider the nuances of language, context, cultural norms, tone, etc. The quality is far from optimal , and the translation is often not clear or precise.

Entrust your PowerPoint translation to a professional translator

Using a translator via a translation agency such as Optilingua ensures you receive a top-quality PowerPoint translation , both in terms of form and content.

A professional, native speaker translating into their mother tongue will not only faithfully transpose your presentation from one language to another but will also adapt cultural references and nuances to that of the destination country.

In addition, the professional translator will be able to adapt the layout of the translated PowerPoint document. Indeed, translated sentences can affect the layout of the document (from English to French for example, the sentences will be longer; from English to Arabic, the direction of the writing will change, etc.). The professional translator will take care when translating and formatting the PowerPoint content (visuals, titles, subtitles, headers, footers, diagrams, graphs, figures, tables, legends, etc.) to obtain a clear, aesthetically pleasing PowerPoint presentation that is faithful to the original .

By using a translation agency for your PowerPoint document you will benefit from the skills of a specialist translator with sectoral expertise in the relevant field of activity (marketing, sales, scientific, medical, legal, financial, etc.). You will be guaranteed a perfectly reliable, error-free PowerPoint translation that uses the appropriate technical terminology .

This way, you will maintain your company's reputation and professional image and your clients and stakeholders will receive a high-quality PowerPoint presentation in their native language .

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FAQ about PowerPoint translation

How do i translate a whole powerpoint document.

To translate an entire PowerPoint document, you can use the built-in translation module in Microsoft 365. Highlight the text or cell to be translated, click on 'Review', and then 'Translate'. Then select your chosen language and click 'Insert' (to replace the source text with the translation) or 'Copy' (to copy and paste the translation to a third-party location). You can also translate your PowerPoint document using Google Translate or another automatic translation tool.

How do I change the language of a PowerPoint presentation?

To change the language of a PowerPoint presentation, click on the "Review" tab, then go to the "Languages" block to select your chosen language. There are about 60 languages available in Microsoft PowerPoint.

How do I translate a complete document into English?

There are several ways to translate a complete document into English . First of all, you can use Google Translate and drop your attachment in the "Documents" tab of the application (Google Translate takes into account different document formats: .docx; pdf file; .pptx; .ppt; .xlsx ...). Another solution is to open or copy and paste your document into Google Docs, then click on "Tools" and then on "Translate document". You can also use other automatic translation software or use the services of a professional translator who is a native English speaker.

About the author

Frédéric Ibanez

The editorial team, led by the founder of the group Optilingua International, is made up of experts who specialise in language services. Our goal is to regularly provide you with articles related to translation and language services, which will help you with your language services’ needs.

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Our online document translator allows you to translate any document into any language (over 100 of them!) It utilizes the latest technology of machine learning (AI) which produces human-like quality translation without incurring usual problems: expensive humans and slow turnaround times.

In order to begin utilizing DocTranslator, you need to create a free account. All documents less than 1,000 words in lengths are offered free. That’s right. There is no fee for translating small documents.

Get to know PPT documents

Users of DocTranslator.com can quickly translate any PowerPoint presentation whether it is .PPTX or PPTX from English to Spanish, French, German, or any other language and vise versa. In total, DocTranslator supports over 100 languages including: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean.

steps required

Create a free account at: Document Translator

Go to the Translations Tab and follow 4 simple steps.

Step 1. Choose a File

Step 2. Select Original Language

Step 3. Select Target Language

Step 4. Upload

Conversion begins and the status changes as “Processing”

Wait a little and download page appears.

• Click “ Download ” button and save the translated file.

How to translate ppt?

After watching this Youtube video, you will learn how to translate any PowerPoint into over 100 languages quickly and easily.

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What people think about doctranslator, elena murolo, awesome service 👏.

We have used DocTranslator for several years and we have been very pleased with their quotes, turn-around times, and the quality of their work. We work in several languages and they have met our needs every time. Excellent!

Our company has used DocTranslator for our customer service documents. I specifically worked with Alex who has been super-efficient and very quick with the turnaround of our documents. Excellent customer service!

DocTranslator is Accurate and Always Available.

DocTranslator’s intelligent translation algorithms makes sure your document is converted accurately. Unlike a human translator our online software can be accessed at any hour of the day, which is perfect for sending your translated file to any part of the world.

Doctranslator is Affordable- and sometimes Free!

It can take hours or even days to properly convert your writing to a different language, and when using a human translator the cost can be excessive. Our software is fast, able to translate essays and reports in minutes or even seconds- and thus is affordable to use! Even better, if your file is less than 1000 words, DocTranslator translates it for free!

What File Formats are Accepted?

We can convert all major digital document formats, including PDF, DOCX, and InDesign. We can also translate scans of documents from photo formats, such as JPEG (JPG) and PNG.

Will USCIS accept your translations?

No! USCIS will accept only certified and notarized translations made by humans. For those, we recommend to submit your inquiry to Translation Services USA

Can I upload my documents electronically?

Yes! All we need is a scanned copy of your bank statement, with all information clearly visible. We can also accept digital photos of your document, provided that the entire document is visible and legible.

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We accept photos of documents from any smart phone camera. As long as the entire document is visible and legible, we can translate and format the translation.

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Yes! Your communications with DocTranslator are always encrypted. We handle your private documents with discretion. Only authorized personnel are able to view your documents.

How to translate Your Documents

In a few short steps we make it easy to translate your document. First upload your file, then select the language you want your document to be in, and then convert! The software can take your word, excel, powerpoint, PDF, or other document and translate it to English, Arabic, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese and more.

Click the button below to Upload Your File

Steps Required:

• Create a free account at  DocTranslator.com
• Go to the  Translations Tab  and follow four simple steps.
• Step 1.  Choose a File
• Step 2.  Select Original Language
• Step 3.  Select Target Language
• Step 4.  Upload
• Wait while the translation is processing. File size contributes to translation time.

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How to translate a PowerPoint document automatically?

If you don’t know how to translate a PowerPoint document automatically, we are going to help you out. Working with PowerPoint is very common for students and workers who make a lot of presentations. This software is one of the most complete presentation softwares and it also has an integrated translation tool.

You know that translating a slide is not as simple as other types of files, since these are not like text documents where we can copy and paste the text to be translated in any online translator.

However, this does not mean that we cannot translate a PowerPoint presentation at all, since there are several tools with which we can do it easily, and, moreover, without having to pay for it. Let’s take a look at them.

Directly from PowerPoint

The first tool we are going to show you is an add-on developed by Microsoft specifically to translate presentations made with PowerPoint. The plug-in is included in PowerPoint and is undoubtedly one of the best ways we have to translate slide texts in various languages quickly and easily.

To use it you must follow theses steps:

• Open the presentation or slide in PowerPoint.
• Then, at the top of the document click “Start” right next to “File”.
• Now go to the Slide Ribbon and click on the “Translate” option.
• Right next to this option you will find another one called “Language”.
• Now on the right side of the document, a translation menu will open.
• Select the text on the slide with the mouse. You can select the whole slide.
• You will see that at the top it detects the source language automatically and at the bottom, it offers you the translation.
• Select the language you want the document to be translated to by pressing the arrow on the latter.
• If you wish, you can add the translation to the slide as subtitles by clicking on the “Insert” button.

Google Translate

Although Google’s translation tool does not always offer the most accurate translations (as they are usually too literal and robotic), they can save us if we want to know what a PowerPoint presentation we have received in an unknown language says. Follow these steps:

• Go to the Google Translate website.
• Now choose from which language you are going to do the translation.
• Next, select the “Documents” option that you will find next to the “Text” option, just above the text boxes.

• This will open an option that says Select a document.
• Click on the “Browse Computer” button and select the PowerPoint file you want to translate from your computer.
• Then click on the Translate button.
• A window will automatically open with the translation of the document.

As you can see the process is really simple and you’ll have no problems if you carry out those steps correctly.

Kerem Gülen

Kerem from Turkey has an insatiable curiosity for the latest advancements in tech gadgets and a knack for innovative thinking. With 3 years of experience in editorship and a childhood dream of becoming a journalist, Kerem has always been curious about the latest tech gadgets and is constantly seeking new ways to create. As a Master's student in Strategic Communications, Kerem is eager to learn more about the ever-evolving world of technology. His primary focuses are artificial intelligence and digital inclusion, and he delves into the most current and accurate information on these topics.

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How to Translate Entire PowerPoint Presentations [2024] (All Slides)

Translating PowerPoint presentation slides one-by-one, to your chagrin? As it turns out, the best way to translate entire PowerPoint presentations in 2024 isn’t with Microsoft Office’s built-in PowerPoint translation feature or free PowerPoint translator tools online.

Want to translate an entire PowerPoint ASAP? Check out the AI file translator Pairaphrase .

Here you will learn why you can’t translate whole PowerPoint presentations (all slides) efficiently with your current method. We also tell you how to translate a PowerPoint more efficiently with the best PowerPoint document translator online. As a result, you will translate entire PowerPoint decks faster, smarter and easier.

Translating Entire PowerPoints: Common Issues

1. microsoft office can’t translate entire powerpoint files (all slides at once).

According to a thread on Microsoft Office’s help forum about how to translate entire PowerPoint (PPT) files, you can only translate one text box on a slide at a time when you use their translation feature. In other words, if you want to translate all PowerPoint slides at once, this method doesn’t work.

Can you imagine what this would look like for translating a 40-page slideshow? Forget about those slides that contain multiple text boxes. This would take hours of manual work.

2. Free PowerPoint Translator Tools Have Size Limitations

If you commonly translate PowerPoint files larger than 10MB, many free document translator tools won’t let you. For instance, Google Translate has a limit of 10MB, and it’s not the only tool that has restrictions on large PowerPoint translation. Therefore, if your company needs to translate large PowerPoint files, you need an alternative.

How Can I Translate an Entire PowerPoint Presentation?

To translate an entire PowerPoint, use professional translation software for PowerPoint files. Our recommended solution is Pairaphrase . It will allow you to translate whole PowerPoint files larger than 10MB, provides data security and allows you to edit/improve, save & reuse translations.

Why Pairaphrase

It’s specially engineered to give you access to quick translations and cost-reducing features that improve your translation quality over time. This is all without requiring you to spend time learning the software.

The majority of Pairaphrase users require enterprise-level translations and need to translate large documents and files such as PowerPoint presentations.

Here are some specific features that make Pairaphrase the best way to translate a PowerPoint presentation:

1. Batch Translation (Top PPT Translation Method for Multiple Files)

Pairaphrase is the fastest way to translate a PowerPoint presentation. It allows you to upload a PowerPoint file and receive a first draft translation of it within seconds or a couple minutes.

Even text labels on charts and diagrams you create within PowerPoint will be translated for you. This applies to the presenter notes at the bottom, too. Not only are all the PowerPoint slides translated for you in one go, but you also have the ability to translate multiple files or documents at the same time in a single batch.

This is particularly useful for a group of files that are related to a single project (we’ll explain further in the Translation Memory section).

2. Translate an Entire PowerPoint & Keep Formatting

File formatting preservation is another feature that makes Pairaphrase the best way to translate a PowerPoint presentation.

When you run your whole PowerPoint file through PowerPoint translator tools online, many of them will lose all the formatting and layout of your slide deck. Pairaphrase will attempt to retain much of your image placement, line breaks, paragraph breaks, font properties, images and charts. This means that you save countless hours of work because you won’t need to reformat an entire PowerPoint presentation.

**Please note Pairaphrase automatic formatting isn’t perfect, but it will save you some time.**

3. Reuse Words & Phrases (Translation Memory)

One of the strongest arguments for Pairaphrase being the best way to translate a PowerPoint presentation is its use of Translation Memory technology.

After you receive that quick first draft translation of your PowerPoint file from Pairaphrase, you can edit the translation segments within the Translation Editor to improve the translation. As you edit the file and save your changes, your text is stored in a bilingual central repository for future use as translation memories.

How Translation Memory Helps with Translating PowerPoints

Translation memories are terms and phrases that were previously either machine-translated and human-edited or human-translated and saved within the system.

When you upload more documents for future translation work, the system separates your source text into segments and then searches for exact or fuzzy matches of those segments in your translation memories. The system will present the most closely-related phrase from your translation memories to be used as the translation. You can then accept or modify those “matches” to be used as the translation for a segment.

As you save translations in your translation memories, you get more matches and the system will continuously improve translation quality . This also significantly reduces your translation time and costs.

It’s important to keep in mind that in order to reap the benefits of a translation memory system, human editing of machine translation or human translation is required.

4. PowerPoint Translation Collaboration

You might find yourself in a situation where you need to work with a subject matter expert on a particular translation project. Whether this person is a colleague within your organization or an external business partner, collaboration functionality is a must.

Pairaphrase offers easy, real-time collaboration. You can quickly share translated files and invite colleagues into the platform to work on edits without needing to upgrade your plan. What’s more, you can even track user edit history by segment so there’s no second-guessing regarding whom changed what.

Superior translation collaboration is another reason why Pairaphrase is the best way to translate a PowerPoint presentation.

5. Data Security

Data breaches are increasing exponentially, which makes data security non-negotiable when you are translating business documents such as entire PowerPoint presentations.

Pairaphrase offers the highest standards in security when it comes to protecting your translation data. Here is how Pairaphrase protects your translation data so that your company’s information stays secure and confidential:

• SHA-2 and 4096-bit encryption
• 256-bit SSL certification
• Encrypted file storage in transit, in use and at rest via AWS
• “No Return” to machine translation providers
• PCI-compliant payment processing via Stripe
• HIPAA, SOC1 and ISO27001 compliant data centers
• Multi-Factor Authentication
• TLS 1.2 (Transport Layer Security)
• Last login date and time display in footer
• Automatic session logoff if idle
• Password expires after one year
• Auto-lock after failed password attempts
• Device Authentication
• Compliant with GDPR & HIPAA
• Single Sign-On
• Supports secure browsers; Chrome, Firefox, Edge & Safari
• Third-party security audit & assessment records

How to Translate a Whole PowerPoint Document, Step-by-Step:

• Register  at Pairaphrase.com
• Log in to Pairaphrase
• Select the source language
• Select the target language
• Choose your files
• Click “Translate”
• Click the file name
• Make translation edits  (optional)
• Click “Download”
• Select “Download Translation”

Get a comparison of the experience using  Pairaphrase vs. PowerPoint for translation .

Ready to Get Started?

Pairaphrase allows you to translate an entire PowerPoint into English, Spanish , French , German , Italian , Portuguese, Arabic , Hindi , Swedish, Dutch , Korean, Japanese , Chinese and more (100+ languages, 10,000+ language pairs!). What’s more, it performs file translation for 21 additional file formats. 

Now that you know how to translate an entire PowerPoint file efficiently using Pairaphrase, experience it for yourself!

Schedule a demo or share this article with a colleague.

________________________________________

Related article: How to Translate Google Slides

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How To Translate a PowerPoint Presentation with Google Translate

Last updated on September 27th, 2023

Google Translate allows you to translate documents and virtually you can translate any document supported in Google Docs, so .ppt files are also supported. That means that you can translate PowerPoint presentations using Google Translate.

This approach let you translate presentations easily, just need to upload the PowerPoint .PPT file in the following way:

Open translate.google.com in your browser.

Then you need to upload the document by choosing a .ppt file in your computer.

What are possible use cases of Google Translate to translate your PowerPoint presentations?

Let’s say you are an English speaker and want to translate a company profile to present your company to a Spanish audience, you can use this tool to translate a PowerPoint from English to Spanish.

Another example could be you are a Spanish presenter preparing a presentation for an English audience. You can use Google Translate online to translate your presentation to English.

Aside from English to Spanish and Spanish to English, Google Translate supports hundreds of languages, so the possibilities are endless.

Remember to choose the source and target language and then click the blue Translate button.

Be it because you want to celebrate the International Translation Day or because you need a presentation translated into other languages, using Google Translate you can easily translate your presentations in PowerPoint.

We will send you our curated collections to your email weekly. No spam, promise!

How to translate a Powerpoint presentation

Stephen whiteley.

Microsoft Powerpoint is a popular presentation program that is used by businesses and professionals for creating stunning presentations. How to translate a Powerpoint presentation. Although it was originally created to produce business presentations, nowadays, it is used for other purposes as well such as teaching students in universities, schools, or colleges, giving military briefings, undertaking diplomatic negotiations, etc. Sometimes students struggle with presentation writing and they often ask themselves: “Who can do my PowerPoint presentation for me ” immediately and effectively?” Luckily, there are experts from WriteMyPaperHub who will take care of such things.

Sometimes, it is necessary to translate a powerpoint file into another language. For example, you may have to explain a powerpoint presentation to a foreign delegate or teach foreign students, etc.

Fortunately, translating powerpoint files is not as difficult as you think. To translate ppt and pptx files, you can use the built-in translation tool present in the powerpoint program, use online translation tools, or hire a translation agency or translator.

Translating powerpoint presentation using built-in translation software

• Office 365 or 2019 – Open the presentation file and highlight the text that you want to translate. Then, select Review > Translate . Choose from the list of languages and select Insert to replace the highlighted text with the translated text. You need powerpoint version 1803 or higher to use this feature.
• Office 2007-2016 – You can only translate the text present in a single slide at a time. To do that, go to the Review tab and select the Language group. Then, click Translate > Translate Selected Text to open the Research pane.

Next, click Translation in the ALL Reference Books list in the Research pane. After that, you can either type the phrase or word that you want to translate in the Search for box and press enter, or select the words, press ALT and then click the selection to see the translation.

Translating powerpoint presentation using online translation tools

You cannot translate the whole powerpoint file at one go using the built-in translation tool. So, you may want to use an online translation tool to translate the whole powerpoint present as it can help you save a lot of time and effort.

To do that, you just have to visit a website that supports powerpoint translation, upload the presentation file, click translate, and download the translated file. However, using online tools to translate can pose two problems: no security for confidential or sensitive files and format change.

If the ppt or pptx files that you want to translate contain a lot of notes, diagrams, pictures, etc. the text in the text boxes can go out of alignment due to text expansion. It can also happen due to compatibility issues.

Hiring a translator or translation agency to translate powerpoint presentations

When you translate the powerpoint presentation file  using online translation tools or the built-translation tool, you essentially getting raw machine translation. Although machine translations may be suitable for some purposes and help you save some money, it crucial to get the best quality translation possible when you have to convince a foreign client or educate foreign children.

Thus, to achieve the best quality translation possible, you need to hire a translation agency or translator. Human translation is much better than machine translation. It can help you to preserve both the original format and the original idea of the presentation. Also, data security can be managed by letting the translator sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or confidentiality agreement (CA).

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How to Translate Google Slides in 4 Simple Ways

4 min. read

Looking to share your Google Slides with people who speak other languages?

Make sure the slide pictures are nice. Because that’s the only thing they will understand there.

Unless, of course, you learn how to translate Google Slides.

And that’s exactly what we want to help you with.

Pro tip : Use a translation management system, Centus, to streamline your translation workflow, improve collaboration among translators, simplify payment calculation, and ensure consistency across different projects. Learn more .

Method 1: Use an add-on

Add-ons are third-party tools that integrate directly into Google Slides and provide seamless access to translation services. Here's how to use an add-on to efficiently translate Google slides:

• Open your Google Slides presentation

• Select the slide add-on you want to use
• Click Install
• Once the add-on is installed, you will see a new menu item in the Extensions menu.
• To translate a slide, select the text you want to translate
• Click the Translate menu item
• Select the target language
• The translated text will appear in a new text box

Method 2: Use DeepL

DeepL is an artificial intelligence-powered language translation service that uses deep learning algorithms to produce high-quality translations.

The tool’s algorithms have been trained on massive volumes of multilingual data, allowing it to better translate context than typical machine translation systems.

Follow these steps to translate Google slides using DeepL:

• In your Google Slides presentation, copy the text you wish to translate
• Select the target language.
• Click the Translate button

Here are the advantages of using DeepL to translate Google slides:

• DeepL's neural network technology automatically translates text with a high degree of accuracy and contextual relevancy.
• DeepL delivers translations that read naturally, enhancing the overall quality and impact of your presentation.
• DeepL supports 31 languages, allowing you to easily engage with foreign audiences.
• DeepL's powerful algorithms ensure consistent translation of terms, phrases, and jargon throughout the slide.
• Users can obtain translations quickly and efficiently due to DeepL's lightning-fast translation process.

Popular alternatives to DeepL are Google Translate and ChatGPT . You can also use them to translate your slide text into dozens of languages.

Method 3: Convert Google Slides to PPT

When it comes to translating Google slides, one effective method is to convert them to the more widely used Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) format. This will give you access to a wider choice of translation tools and options, which will simplify the translation process.

Here’s how to translate Google Slides by converting Google Slides to PPT:

• In the dropdown menu, click Download
• Choose the Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx) option

Google Slides will then convert your presentation into a PowerPoint file, which is compatible with several translation tools.

You can re-import the translated PowerPoint back into Google Slides to continue working on your presentation. Here's how it's done:

• Choose the Upload tab and select the translated PowerPoint file (.pptx extension)
• Click Select to upload the file

You can use different translation tools to translate the PowerPoint version of your Google Slides presentation. These options include:

Microsoft Translator

Microsoft Translator is a free online tool that allows you to instantly translate a PowerPoint presentation. Simply upload the PPT file, choose the source and target languages, and click Translate .

CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools

CAT tools can handle PPT files and ensure the efficient management of slide translation. These tools allow translators to use translation memory, which ensures consistency and saves time.

Human translation

If you want a human touch in your PPT translation, refer to language service providers. The professionals can accurately translate your presentation while retaining its original formatting and layout.

Method 4: Use a translation management system

When it comes to translating Google Slides for global audiences, using a translation management system (TMS) is one of the most efficient and accurate methods.

• Convert the Google Slides presentation to PPT
• Create a free trial Centus account
• Upload your PPT document
• Select manual or automatic translation
• Download the translated PPT document

The use of the professional TMS, Centus, not only ensures the high quality of Google Slides presentations but also simplifies the entire process. With it, you can effortlessly track progress, provide feedback to translators, and calculate the pay rate.

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• Slidesgo School
• Google Slides Tutorials

How to Translate in Google Slides

Translation is one of the oldest professions in the world, and it has now become a new importance in our society because of globalization. Maybe you need to present the same idea to different teams worldwide, or one of your colleagues speaks a different language and you want to make sure that they understand the content perfectly.  

What options do you have? Of course, the ideal option is to rely on a professional translator, but sometimes you don’t have the time or the ressources, so in this tutorial we are going to show you how to translate Google slides.  

Slides Translator is a Google Chrome extension that automatically translates text in your Slides. Installing it is very easy and can be done in two easy steps.

How to Install Slides Translator

How to use slides translator.

• Go to Slides Translator in Google Marketplace.
• Click Install. You will need to allow Slides Translator permission to access your documents in order to translate them.

Now you are ready to use Slides Translator! This tool will be available in the “Add-ons” menu in Google Slides. Let’s check how it works! For this example, we have used the presentation Kindergarten Sight Word Books .

In order to translate on Google Slides, you only need to click on Add-ons > Slides Translator > Translate Text Box.

Now you only need to select the text box you want translated, choose the target language and click Translate! Sadly, this tool can only translate one text box at a time and, since the translations are automated, they can have errors, but it’s still an amazing extension that your international clients will surely appreciate! 

Slidesgo has an amazing offer on presentations, and even has some templates in German, French and Spanish! Check our website and discover them. 

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Translating sharepoint online documents.

Table of Contents

SharePoint Translation Service for Office Documents and PDFs

On February 14, 2024, Microsoft published details of the SharePoint Online translation service , one of the capabilities available through the SharePoint Premium license. The article included a nice offer for tenants to test SharePoint Translation with a promotion available until the end of June 2024 .

The offer covers translation of the first one million characters at no cost every month. After this point, the translation service costs $15.00 for 1 million characters. Microsoft estimates that 1 million characters to be roughly 500-750 pages depending on the density of the text. Like Microsoft 365 Backup and other SharePoint add-on services, charging is on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) basis billed through a monthly Azure subscription. Before using a PAYG service, you must configure the Microsoft Syntex service settings to link the Azure subscription. After that, all you need to do is decide which sites to make translation available. By default, translation is available for all sites, but you can restrict the facility to up to 100 specific sites (Figure 1).

According to the documentation , the supported file types include csv, .docx, .htm, .html, .markdown, .md, .msg, .pdf, .pptx, .txt, and .xlsx. Legacy Office formats are supported too. SharePoint Translation creates the translated versions of files in these formats in the equivalent “modern” format (for example, .doc becomes .docx). The maximum supported file size for translation is 40 MB.

Like many announcements for Microsoft 365 services, it takes time for all the necessary bits to show up in a tenant. I was able to see a Translate option for documents a few weeks ago, but taking the option did nothing. It’s only in the last week or so that translation works.

Translating Word Documents

I work on multiple documents daily, mostly to write articles and chapter files for books. All the files are formatted for U.S. English because that’s the language used for publication on websites or in eBooks. Most articles are Word documents of between 800 and 1,500 (2 to 5 pages). Translation of these files is easy – select the document, choose the Translate option from the […] menu, and pick a target language (Figure 2).

The drop-down menu shows a list of the most popular languages. It’s possible to translate to any of the supported languages by specifying the language’s ISO code (for example, ca for Catalan or da for Danish). If SharePoint search supports the language, it expands the language code and allows you to submit the file for translation.

Usually, translation happens very quickly. Sometimes things didn’t happen quite so fast, and I had to wait for several hours before a translated file appeared. And sometimes, translation simply didn’t work. You can understand that background processes running in a cloud service sometimes take longer than expected, but it’s disconcerting when nothing happens after submitting a file for translation.

When everything works, the translated file appears in the document library where the source document is stored. The translated file has the same name as the source document appended with the ISO code for the target language. For example, the file for the French language translation for a document named Translating SharePoint Online Documents.docx is Translating SharePoint Online Documents_fr.docx. The translated file inherits the properties of its source, including retention and sensitivity labels (if applied).

No Translation for Protected Files

Speaking of sensitivity labels, translation doesn’t work if the label applied to a file includes protection (encryption). Files with labels marking information with a certain sensitivity can be translated, but once encryption is involved, translation doesn’t work. Even though SharePoint Online stores protected files in an unprotected form and only applies encryption when a file is downloaded, this is entirely logical. To translate a file, SharePoint downloads it and sends it to the translation service. The sensitivity label that controls access to the file doesn’t include an access right for the translation service, so the service can’t open and process the content. The same restriction applies to password-protected files. The bad thing is that users can submit protected files for processing without any indication thereafter that translation is impossible.

Apart from noticing the presence of a newly translated file, users or administrators don’t receive any other notification indicating that the translation was successful. It would be good if users could decide if they should receive notifications via email, especially when large documents or large quantities of documents are processed.

Translated Output

Translation of Word documents preserves headings, text, headers, footers, and other elements (Figure 3). Some overflowing of text across pages might happen due to translation using different words or number of words. This is especially obvious when a document includes graphics that may no longer fit on a page because of added words. It’s therefore necessary to check each page to make sure that formatting flows as intended.

Translating Very Large Documents

I tried to stress SharePoint Translation by translating the Word document for the current version of the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook to French (where the title becomes “ Office 365 pour les professionnels de l’informatique ”). The translation took about ten minutes to process the 31.7 MB file. Figure 4 shows the Word statistics for the English and French versions of the document. You can see that the count of pages, words, and characters increased in the French version.

The English version of the source Word document contains about 4 million characters. The sheer size of the translated file highlighted the necessity to check the formatting of the converted document, notably the flow of paragraphs across pages. Small things matter when it comes to formatting, and I couldn’t understand why the translated version had random spaces inserted into sentences at times (Figure 5).

More importantly for technical content like the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook, SharePoint Translation messes with PowerShell and other code. It’s hard to blame the translation algorithm because it essentially processes words and code is composed of words, albeit some strange words that are sometimes arranged in strange ways. Take this example of a PowerShell snippet where Translation changed cmdlet and parameter names. One thing’s for sure: PowerShell will barf if given this code to run.

Another thing afflicting the translated output for code examples is when languages use different quotation marks. Take this example, which won’t work either:

Audit Records

The SharePoint Translation service does not create audit events when files are submitted for translation nor when the processing of the files succeeds or fails. However, SharePoint Online logs events when translated files are uploaded. Typically, three events appear:

• FileUploaded : The app@sharepoint account uploads a translated file. The file has a temporary file name.
• FileRenamed : The temporary file name is replaced with its permanent version.
• FileModified : One or more records are captured when SharePoint updates the properties of the temporary file to match its source.

Here are some details extracted from the unified audit log to show the contents of the three audit records captured for a file translation:

The audit records don’t tell us who submitted documents for translation. They only inform about the successful outcome of translation attempts.

PowerPoint and PDFs

Given the success of translating large Word documents, I decided to test with a PDF generated by Word from those files. The input was a 32.1 MB file without a sensitivity label. No matter what I did, all attempts to translate the PDF failed. Attempts with smaller PDFs succeeded, so I wonder if a different size limit applies to PDFs than to Office files.

I also tried translating PowerPoint presentations. Although successful, careful review of the output slides is necessary because the formatting problem reappeared when text overflowed and interfered with the placement of graphics.

Translation Costs

Over a day or so of testing translation against Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and PDFs, I accumulated about $82 (EUR75.19) of charges for my Azure subscription. Azure accrued the charges against a resource called microsoft.syntex/documentprocessorsresource . This is the same resource name used by Microsoft 365 Backup. To get more insight into the charges for the translation service, I had to consult the invoice details view (Figure 6).

At the list price of $15 per million characters, I guess I must have translated about 6.5 million characters (one million free, the remainder paid). Given that Microsoft 365 Backup could be described as a mission-critical application, it’s curious that translation costs so much more than the monthy charge for Microsoft 365 Backup in my tenant .

No further details for translation charges are available from the Azure portal. I have no idea how much it costs to translate individual documents or if Microsoft charges for failed translation attempts.

Some of the documents I translated were large and I expected to see some charges, but not the billed invoice. Clearly, I tested enthusiastically. Joking aside, this experience points to the need to restrict the translation option to specific sites where translation is a business need rather than a nice to have.

Translation Good for Standard Office Documents

I suspect that the target for SharePoint Translation is unlikely to be documents that contain code examples. More likely, Microsoft is aiming for a more “standard” form of Office documents. In any case, the current offer is a great opportunity for tenants who operate in multinational environments to test SharePoint Translation free of charge. By submitting a variety of documents for translation, you’ll be able to identify if and where issues exist.

Informing users about the progress (or lack) of translations is an area where I think Microsoft could improve. They could also do better at identifying the nature and detail of charges accrued against the Azure subscription so that organizations can make internal chargebacks or simply track consumption better.

Overall, the bottom line is that if you need to translate documents, SharePoint Translation is a great way to generate a starting point for human translators to complete the task.

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About the Author

Tony Redmond

Wish there were the possibility to monitor the usage Microsoft Syntex translation.

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Jessica Grose

Get tech out of the classroom before it’s too late.

By Jessica Grose

Opinion Writer

Jaime Lewis noticed that her eighth-grade son’s grades were slipping several months ago. She suspected it was because he was watching YouTube during class on his school-issued laptop, and her suspicions were validated. “I heard this from two of his teachers and confirmed with my son: Yes, he watches YouTube during class, and no, he doesn’t think he can stop. In fact, he opted out of retaking a math test he’d failed, just so he could watch YouTube,” she said.

She decided to do something about it. Lewis told me that she got together with other parents who were concerned about the unfettered use of school-sanctioned technology in San Luis Coastal Unified School District, their district in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Because they knew that it wasn’t realistic to ask for the removal of the laptops entirely, they went for what they saw as an achievable win: blocking YouTube from students’ devices. A few weeks ago, they had a meeting with the district superintendent and several other administrators, including the tech director.

To bolster their case, Lewis and her allies put together a video compilation of clips that elementary and middle school children had gotten past the district’s content filters.

Their video opens on images of nooses being fitted around the necks of the terrified women in the TV adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It ends with the notoriously violent “Singin’ in the Rain” sequence from “A Clockwork Orange.” (Several versions of this scene are available on YouTube. The one she pointed me to included “rape scene” in the title.) Their video was part of a PowerPoint presentation filled with statements from other parents and school staff members, including one from a middle school assistant principal, who said, “I don’t know how often teachers are using YouTube in their curriculum.”

That acknowledgment gets to the heart of the problem with screens in schools. I heard from many parents who said that even when they asked district leaders how much time kids were spending on their screens, they couldn’t get straight answers; no one seemed to know, and no one seemed to be keeping track.

Eric Prater, the superintendent of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, told me that he didn’t realize how much was getting through the schools’ content filters until Lewis and her fellow parents raised concerns. “Our tech department, as I found out from the meeting, spends quite a lot of time blocking certain websites,” he said. “It’s a quite time-consuming situation that I personally was not aware of.” He added that he’s grateful this was brought to his attention.

I don’t think educators are the bad guys here. Neither does Lewis. In general, educators want the best for students. The bad guys, as I see it, are tech companies.

One way or another, we’ve allowed Big Tech’s tentacles into absolutely every aspect of our children’s education, with very little oversight and no real proof that their devices or programs improve educational outcomes. Last year Collin Binkley at The Associated Press analyzed public records and found that “many of the largest school systems spent tens of millions of dollars in pandemic money on software and services from tech companies, including licenses for apps, games and tutoring websites.” However, he continued, schools “have little or no evidence the programs helped students.”

It’s not just waste, very likely, of taxpayer money that’s at issue. After reading many of the over 900 responses from parents and educators to my questionnaire about tech in schools and from the many conversations I had over the past few weeks with readers, I’m convinced that the downsides of tech in schools far outweigh the benefits.

Though tech’s incursion into America’s public schools — particularly our overreliance on devices — hyperaccelerated in 2020, it started well before the Covid-19 pandemic. Google, which provides the operating system for lower-cost Chromebooks and is owned by the same parent company as YouTube, is a big player in the school laptop space, though I also heard from many parents and teachers whose schools supply students with other types and brands of devices.

As my newsroom colleague Natasha Singer reported in 2017 (by which point “half the nation’s primary- and secondary-school students” were, according to Google, using its education apps), “Google makes $30 per device by selling management services for the millions of Chromebooks that ship to schools. But by habituating students to its offerings at a young age, Google obtains something much more valuable”: potential lifetime customers.

The issue goes beyond access to age-inappropriate clips or general distraction during school hours. Several parents related stories of even kindergartners reading almost exclusively on iPads because their school districts had phased out hard-copy books and writing materials after shifting to digital-only curriculums. There’s evidence that this is harmful: A 2019 analysis of the literature concluded that “readers may be more efficient and aware of their performance when reading from paper compared to screens.”

“It seems to be a constant battle between fighting for the students’ active attention (because their brains are now hard-wired for the instant gratification of TikTok and YouTube videos) and making sure they aren’t going to sites outside of the dozens they should be,” Nicole Post, who teaches at a public elementary school in Missouri, wrote to me. “It took months for students to listen to me tell a story or engage in a read-aloud. I’m distressed at the level of technology we’ve socialized them to believe is normal. I would give anything for a math or social studies textbook.”

I’ve heard about kids disregarding teachers who tried to limit tech use, fine motor skills atrophying because students rarely used pencils and children whose learning was ultimately stymied by the tech that initially helped them — for example, students learning English as a second language becoming too reliant on translation apps rather than becoming fluent.

Some teachers said they have programs that block certain sites and games, but those programs can be cumbersome. Some said they have software, like GoGuardian, that allows them to see the screens of all the students in their classes at once. But classroom time is zero sum: Teachers are either teaching or acting like prison wardens; they can’t do both at the same time.

Resources are finite. Software costs money . Replacing defunct or outdated laptops costs money . When it comes to I.T., many schools are understaffed . More of the money being spent on tech and the maintenance and training around the use of that tech could be spent on other things, like actual books. And badly monitored and used tech has the most potential for harm.

I’ve considered the counterarguments: Kids who’d be distracted by tech would find something else to distract them; K-12 students need to gain familiarity with tech to instill some vague work force readiness.

But on the first point, I think other forms of distraction — like talking to friends, doodling and daydreaming — are better than playing video games or watching YouTube because they at least involve children engaging with other children or their own minds. And there’s research that suggests laptops are uniquely distracting . One 2013 study found that even being next to a student who is multitasking on a computer can hurt a student’s test scores.

On the second point, you can have designated classes to teach children how to keyboard, code or use software that don’t require them to have laptops in their hands throughout the school day. And considering that various tech companies are developing artificial intelligence that, we’re meant to understand, will upend work as we know it , whatever tech skills we’re currently teaching will probably be obsolete by the time students enter the work force anyway. By then, it’ll be too late to claw back the brain space of our nation’s children that we’ve already ceded. And for what? So today’s grade schoolers can be really, really good at making PowerPoint presentations like the ones they might one day make as white-collar adults?

That’s the part that I can’t shake: We’ve let tech companies and their products set the terms of the argument about what education should be, and too many people, myself included, didn’t initially realize it. Companies never had to prove that devices or software, broadly speaking, helped students learn before those devices had wormed their way into America’s public schools. And now the onus is on parents to marshal arguments about the detriments of tech in schools.

Holly Coleman, a parent of two who lives in Kansas and is a substitute teacher in her district, describes what students are losing:

They can type quickly but struggle to write legibly. They can find info about any topic on the internet but can’t discuss that topic using recall, creativity or critical thinking. They can make a beautiful PowerPoint or Keynote in 20 minutes but can’t write a three-page paper or hand-make a poster board. Their textbooks are all online, which is great for the seams on their backpack, but tangible pages under your fingers literally connect you to the material you’re reading and learning. These kids do not know how to move through their day without a device in their hand and under their fingertips. They never even get the chance to disconnect from their tech and reconnect with one another through eye contact and conversation.

Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” prescribes phone-free schools as a way to remedy some of the challenges facing America’s children. I agree that there’s no place for smartphones on a K-12 campus. But if you take away the phones and the kids still have near-constant internet connectivity on devices they have with them in every class, the problem won’t go away.

When Covid hit and screens became the only way for millions of kids to “attend” school, not having a personal device became an equity issue. But we’re getting to a point where the opposite may be true. According to the responses to my questionnaire, during the remote-school era, private schools seemed to rely far less on screens than public schools, and many educators said that they deliberately chose lower-tech school environments for their own children — much the same way that some tech workers intentionally send their kids to screen-free schools.

We need to reframe the entire conversation around tech in schools because it’s far from clear that we’re getting the results we want as a society and because parents are in a defensive crouch, afraid to appear anti-progress or unwilling to prepare the next generation for the future. “I feel like a baby boomer attacking like this,” said Lewis.

But the drawbacks of constant screen time in schools go beyond data privacy, job security and whether a specific app increases math performance by a standard deviation. As Lewis put it, using tech in the classroom makes students “so passive, and it requires so little agency and initiative.” She added, “I’m very concerned about the species’ ability to survive and the ability to think critically and the importance of critical thinking outside of getting a job.”

If we don’t hit pause now and try to roll back some of the excesses, we’ll be doing our children — and society — a profound disservice.

The good news is that sometimes when the stakes become clear, educators respond: In May, Dr. Prater said, “we’re going to remove access to YouTube from our district devices for students.” He added that teachers will still be able to get access to YouTube if they want to show instructional videos. The district is also rethinking its phone policy to cut down on personal device use in the classroom. “For me,” he said, “it’s all about how do you find the common-sense approach, going forward, and match that up with good old-fashioned hands-on learning?” He knows technology can cause “a great deal of harm if we’re not careful.”

Jessica Grose is an Opinion writer for The Times, covering family, religion, education, culture and the way we live now.