Translate a Webpage in Chrome on Your Computer

A foreign-language page opens in your browser and you need the words in your own language now. Chrome for desktop has a translator built in, one click on the address bar icon, plus settings that make it happen on its own.

You can also choose which languages always get translated, set the output language once, and translate a single highlighted passage without touching the rest of the page.

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In this guide, I have covered:

Translate a Page Using the Address Bar Icon

A page opens in a language you cannot read, and you need the meaning fast. Chrome has a translator built in, and the whole job takes a couple of clicks.

The translate icon appears on the right side of the address bar whenever the page language sits outside your Preferred languages list. If you never see the icon, either the page language or your settings need a second look.

1. Open Google Chrome on your computer and load the page you want to read.
2. Click the Translate icon on the right side of the address bar when it appears.
3. Pick the target language from the dropdown if the default is not the language you want.
4. Click the Translate button. The page text refreshes in your chosen language within a second.

To switch the page back, click the translate icon again and choose Show original. That choice holds for the site until you close the tab.

Set Chrome to Translate Pages Automatically

If foreign-language pages show up in your browsing most days, clicking the icon every time gets old. Turn the translator on permanently and Chrome offers a translation on each new page as it loads.

The setting now has its own Languages section in the left sidebar of Chrome Settings. It is no longer buried under Advanced, where older walkthroughs point you.

1. Click the More menu in the top right of Chrome and choose Settings.
2. Click Languages in the left sidebar.
3. Under Google Translate, turn on the Use Google Translate toggle.
4. Click Translate into this language and pick the language you want translated pages to appear in. Chrome uses this output for every translated page until you change it.

Once the toggle is on, the prompt appears by itself the next time you open a page in another language. You’ll know it worked when the offer shows up without you clicking anything first.

For the full list of supported languages, see Google’s translate-pages help page.

Always Translate or Never Translate a Language

Two lists under Languages decide which source languages get translated without asking. Reach for them when a language is either a daily nuisance or a constant false alarm.

1. Stay on the Languages page in Chrome Settings.
2. Scroll to Automatically translate these languages and click Add languages.
3. Tick each language you want Chrome to translate without asking, then click Add.
4. Scroll to Never offer to translate these languages, add any source languages Chrome should leave alone, then click Add.

TIP: You can skip Settings entirely. On any page in that language, click the translate icon in the address bar and tick Always translate [Language]. Chrome drops the language into the automatically-translate list for you.

Change Your Preferred Languages

Chrome decides whether a page needs translating by checking it against your Preferred languages list. Put a language near the top and Chrome treats it as one you read, so pages in it are never offered for translation.

1. On the Languages page, scroll to Preferred languages.
2. Click Add languages to add a new one, or open the More menu next to an existing language and choose Move down or Remove.
3. Drag a language up or down to reorder the list. Whatever sits at the top counts as your main reading language.

This list also drives Chrome’s spell check and any site that asks for your preferred language, so the order matters well beyond translation. On a phone or tablet the same controls live elsewhere, and our guide to translating pages in Chrome on iPhone and iPad covers that version.

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Translate a Highlighted Passage

Sometimes one paragraph is enough and you do not want Chrome rewriting the whole page. The right-click menu handles that, and it is the better tool on pages that mix two or three languages.

1. Open the page in Chrome and highlight the text you want translated. Drag from the first word to the last.
2. Right-click the highlighted text.
3. Choose Translate selection to [Language] from the context menu.
4. Read the translation in the small panel that appears. Click Copy if you want to paste it somewhere else.

For the whole page, right-click anywhere on the page background and pick Translate to [Language]. That sends the same command as the address bar icon.

Switch Spell Check On or Off

Red underlines under every word you type on the web usually mean spell check is on, and working in the wrong language. The controls sit on the same Languages page, though they have nothing to do with translation.

The toggle was renamed recently, so older walkthroughs no longer match what you see on screen.

1. On the Languages page, scroll to Spell check.
2. Turn on Check for spelling errors when you type text on web pages.
3. Pick Basic or Enhanced below it. Enhanced uses the same engine as Google Search and may send what you type to Google, so stay on Basic if that concerns you.

Spell check runs inside text boxes on web pages, such as a comment field on a blog or the message box in a web email client. It does not check the address bar or the Find bar.