Peters2016

Q: Would someone suggest an off-line language translator I might install on my Mac Pro? I also have MS Office 2016 installed if that helps.

Would someone suggest an off-line language translator I could install to use with Pages or MS Office 2016 for a Mac?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 19, 2016 10:14 AM

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Q: Would someone suggest an off-line language translator I might install on my Mac Pro? I also have MS Office 2016 installed if that ... more

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 19, 2016 10:52 AM in response to Peters2016
    Level 9 (60,976 points)
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    Sep 19, 2016 10:52 AM in response to Peters2016

    why off line?

    what languages need to be covered?

  • by Peters2016,Helpful

    Peters2016 Peters2016 Sep 19, 2016 11:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 19, 2016 11:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    In the past, I used MS Word and it had a language translator button on the upper bar so I only had to highlight the text and click on the correct language to translated into. That's why wrote off-line because in the past it easy to access only a click away.

     

    I typically translate English into Portuguese and Italian.

  • by Tom Gewecke,Solvedanswer

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Sep 19, 2016 11:36 AM in response to Peters2016
    Level 9 (79,277 points)
    Sep 19, 2016 11:36 AM in response to Peters2016

    Normally "off line" would mean not requiring internet access.  I assume that is not crucial, you just don't want to have to copy/paste into another app, like google translate?

     

    Word 2016 doesn't have what you want, but I think Word 2011 does.  Google translate has a link to upload a doc, if that helps.

  • by Peters2016,

    Peters2016 Peters2016 Sep 19, 2016 11:38 AM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 1 (4 points)
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    Sep 19, 2016 11:38 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

    Thanks. Google translate it is.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 20, 2016 2:25 AM in response to Peters2016
    Level 6 (9,324 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 20, 2016 2:25 AM in response to Peters2016

    I did not think Microsoft Office itself offered any translation feature but I found the following in the Office 2011 for Mac help.

     

    Translate text

    You can use the Reference Tools to translate up to 400 words at a time.Office must be able to connect to the Internet to use Reference Tools. The first time you use Reference Tools you are asked to Click here to allow acceonline Reference Tools.

    1. In your document, select the text that you want to translate.
    2. On the View menu, click Reference Tools.
    3. Open the Translation panel.
    4. On the From pop-up menu, select the language that the text is currently in.
    5. On the To pop-up menu, select the language that you want the text to be translated to.

     

    Notes 
    • If you want to translate the entire document, in the box under the To pop-up menu, click Translate this document. The text is sent to the Microsoft Translator service over the Internet.
    • To expand the window, drag the resize handle  under the Translation window.

     

    So this answers two questions, yes Office 2011 has such a feature, no you cannot do it offline. I suspect the way it works is that it send the selected text (up to 400 words at a time) to an Internet server not likely to be Google Translate and then replaces it with the result.

     

    It should be noted that there are two different approaches to translation of text. Automatic as the above feature and as Google Translate, or semi-manual aka 'Computer Aided Translations' - CAT. The later would use a program and a database of previously translated phrases to suggest translations in a new document. We use a Windows program to do the later called Trados. As anyone who has used Google Translate would agree a fully automatic solution is prone to errors but give you the gist of what it meant. With the later being used by skilled translators who know both languages you can ensure a high level of accuracy and still speed things up considerably compared to a totally manual approach.

     

    I found the following free fully automatic program on the Mac App Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/universal-translator/id420857081?mt=12 however it is merely a front-end to Google Translate.

     

    I found this https://www.abbyy.com/dictionary_for_mac/ which is not free and seems limited to a single word at a time.

     

    I found this http://www.tranexp.com/win/NeuroTran-eng-mac.htm which looks like it has a bit more potential.

     

    This https://www.acetools.net/ seems to also need Internet access.

     

    This http://www.promt.com/translation_software/mac/ specifically says it does off-line translation.

     

    This https://www.cafetran.com/ looks very interesting. It seems to be the only CAT type tool for the Mac, all the others I listed are automatic translation tools.

  • by Peters2016,

    Peters2016 Peters2016 Sep 20, 2016 3:40 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 20, 2016 3:40 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Thanks John.  You have solved my problem. Great suggestions and thanks for such an in depth response. Peter