These seven best free translator tools are chock-full of features, great translations and quality that’s hard to match. Some even have their own translation apps so you can take their powerful capabilities with you wherever you go.
Here’s all you need to know about the best online translator apps that money can’t buy.
Google Translate is a big name in the field, and for good reason. For starters, it supports over 100 languages including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. You can even translate languages you’re unfamiliar with, like Frisian and Sesotho.
This free online translator also allows you to play the audio of the translated pieces at a conversational rate. If you play a translation twice, the audio will be slightly slower, allowing you to master tricky pronunciations. Keep in mind, however, that these pronunciations may not always be accurate.
To translate, all you have to do is enter the text, website or document into the left box, and Google Translate can figure out what language it is, provided you enable the “Detect Language” function. You can input your text directly, enter a webpage link, upload a document or quickly snap a picture.
In case you don’t have the typing skills for your target language yet, such as Japanese or Russian, you can also use their handwriting feature. You could also make use of their visual keyboard to type in words using your target alphabet. For common languages, you could use their speech input feature to help you quickly get a translation of what someone is saying in your target language.
You’ll get multiple translations, definitions and ratings of how common they are, too. This is helpful since translations often depend on context. You could even “save” words for easy access the next time you use Google Translate.
While Bing Microsoft Translator doesn’t have as many features as Google Translate does, it’s not something to sneeze at, either. In fact, Bing’s translations may be even better for certain languages.
You can get translations and audio pronunciations for over 100 languages including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Yucatec Maya and Klingon (yes, you read that right). All you have to do is input your text, voice or photo into the appropriate fields.
In case you need a little more help, you could also hit up other users via the “Conversation” tab. There are also phrasebooks in various languages covering topics like lodging, dining and emergencies—perfect for travelers and learners on the go. Finally, you can retrieve previous translations and check out any pinned searches.
Reverso doesn’t translate quite as many languages as the ones above, but it still has some special features that make it worth using.
Currently, Reverso offers translations for 17 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.
For most common words and phrases, Reverso will provide you with several possible translations. You’ll also get example sentences, which are very useful for learning how to use new vocabulary in context. If you’re unsure about the grammar of the text you’re translating, run it through Reverso’s spell/grammar check to generate the most accurate translation.
If you opt for a subscription, you can access advanced features such as pronunciation, search history, phrasebooks and other offline learning tools.
Yandex Translate isn’t as well-known as the tools already named above, but it’s on this list for one special reason: This tool utilizes self-learning statistical machine translation for over 100 languages.
You can transliterate Chinese pinyin, Japanese romaji, Korean romanization and more. Speech input is available in languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, English or Turkish.
Aside from text, Yandex can also translate photos, articles, entire web pages and more. If you’re reading on an iPad, you can utilize the “Split View” feature. A virtual keyboard is available for typing symbols in the absence of an international keyboard. Like Reverso, Yandex provides examples of how your translated words are used in context.
Translate Dict is a web-based translator that supports dozens of languages. It auto-detects the language or dialect you’re translating, and also offers audio pronunciation. There’s even an accent detector to catch any inflections, intonations and other nuances for a more accurate translation.
You could also check out the word and character count at the bottom of the page. This comes in handy if you want to use the translator to craft social media posts that limit character counts.
SYSTRAN is another web-based translator that can be used for over 50 languages. It offers many of the bells and whistles already present in the other translators mentioned, such as translations of documents and web pages.
Additionally, SYSTRAN can also translateRSS feeds, which comes in handy when you’re subscribed to a content creator in your target language. You could even create your own personal dictionary, which not only helps you keep track of new vocab, but also override any default translations that may not be accurate.
And if you opt for the pro version, you can unlock even more features, such as translations into more languages, unlimited text translation and more supported document formats.
DeepL is one of the least comprehensive options on this list in terms of the number of languages that it can translate. To date, it’s only available for 32 languages. However, the quality of the translations are on par with—and, in some cases, even better than—the more well-known of the best free translator tools on this list.
You could type in the text to be translated, drop in .pdf, .docx and .pptx files or click the microphone to translate speech. There’s even a glossary function and a dictionary function for extra information.
How to Get the Most Out of a Free Online Translator
Try some “test phrases” to check for accuracy. Try translating phrases you already know between your native language and your target language. The more challenging the grammar and vocabulary, the better. Testing translators with phrases you already know can help give you an idea of how well the translator works with your specific target language.
Translate the text back and forth between languages. Translating back and forth between languages is a helpful way to ensure the translation means what you want it to mean. For instance, if you’ve translated a phrase into your target language, try plugging that phrase back into the translator to get a clearer idea of what it actually means in English. Sometimes, this can help you catch translation or word choice errors.
Play around with all of the translator’s features. For instance, if you always just want text translated, you might not even notice that your favorite translator offers terrific audio of words and phrases in your target language that you can use to nail down your pronunciation.
Use your translator frequently. Whenever you realize you don’t know a word, use your favorite translator to look it up. Since these top online translators are handy (some of which can be used offline), it’s easy to use a translator whenever you have a spare moment. If you use the translator regularly, your vocabulary will likely grow exponentially with very little effort.
Use it to check your work. Wrote something in your target language? Whip out your favorite translator to check it. You can translate it back to English to be sure the message is what you intended.
Find real-world examples of words you look up. Some translators provide example sentences, which is great for learning in context. But it’s a good idea to take things a step further and ensure that you’re able to recognize and understand a word outside of the translator.
To understand words and the contexts they operate in, you need to observe the words in real-world contexts where native speakers are communicating naturally, such as interviews, podcasts and more. You can find these on language learning platforms like FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
If you dig the idea of learning on your own time from the comfort of your smart device with real-life authentic language content, you'll love using FluentU.
With FluentU, you'll learn real languages—as they're spoken by native speakers. FluentU has a wide variety of videos as you can see here:
FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.
Didn't catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.
And FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You get a truly personalized experience.
