Current Events > Attn office nerds: i need to translate an Excel spreadsheet.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I'm translating product descriptions for a company website, and I've got an Excel spreadsheet with thousands of products, and columns for German, French, etc.

The company wants me to use a translator app and do each translation individually, but I'm certain there's a better way to do it. Normally I would translate the web pages en masse using an app, but they specifically want the spreadsheet done so they can upload stuff later.

I can't find any way to translate individual columns in Excel, so my best idea is to translate the entire document into another language four times, then copy and paste the necessary columns into a final document.

Is that my best option?

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I don't know how exactly it works, but there is a "translate" button in the Review tab of excel. A quick Google search says you just click the cell you want translated, hit translate, and it will change the text into the new text.

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I'd load that up into a CAT tool like MemoQ to leverage features such as built-in glossaries and translation memory, IMO

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I'd just create a lookup table.
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markconigliaro posted...

I don't know how exactly it works, but there is a "translate" button in the Review tab of excel. A quick Google search says you just click the cell you want translated, hit translate, and it will change the text into the new text.

That only translates individual cells. One column has about 3000 cells, so we're talking about 12000 translations.

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I don't think Excel has what you want built in. Google Sheets might because iirc they have a =googletranslate() formula
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Xavier_On_High posted...

That only translates individual cells. One column has about 3000 cells, so we're talking about 12000 translations.

Yea I saw that after posting. There is a way to do it to every cell using a VBA macro, if your into programming. A lot of suggestions said to just convert to a Google doc because there's a translate formula that you can just put in a cell and drag down.

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lmao this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

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Hexenherz posted...

lmao this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

This.

So much.

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Hexenherz posted...

lmao this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Alteres posted...

This.

So much.

These.

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It would maybe take you an hours worth of work if you used a look up table. You planned on translating it all anyways. It seems like the easiest way to do it imo.
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Xavier_On_High posted...

That only translates individual cells. One column has about 3000 cells, so we're talking about 12000 translations.

You should be able to highlight multiple cells and translate.

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Hexenherz posted...

lmao this sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

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I just tried it, you can select multiple cells and translate them. But you cant select a whole column. So just choose the first cell in the column, hold shift and then choose the last cell in the column.

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Okay, maybe their office package needs updating or something because when I highlight multiple cells, the translate button greys out. I'll try updating it Monday morning.

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