Google is a company that is characterized by having a wide variety of tools that we use in our day-to-day lives, but that we do not always finish knowing them all and knowing that they are capable of interacting with each other. This is something that happens with Translate and Sheets , which are applications created by Google and whose interaction between them will help us to perform calculations with translations.
Sheets, the Google spreadsheet
Sheets is the Google spreadsheet, with which we can perform all kinds of operations and calculations , similar to the popular Google Excel. With Sheets we can do most of the things we can do with Excel such as creating lists, creating charts, making pivot tables, using formulas, using conditional formatting, among many other functions.
One of the strengths of Sheets is online collaboration, since its use is exclusively online, so we will always work online with it. That is why it allows collaboration between several people in the same document, which is presented as a key and differentiating element.
To start working with Google Sheets, it is not necessary to carry out any installation , as it is a purely online tool, so to access it it will only be necessary to have a Google account, which we can create for free. This enables us to work with all Google documents online, which is gradually adding new functionalities that allow us to work more and more comfortably and efficiently.
This possibility of collaborating between the different Google applications is what will allow us to carry out translations in Sheets, using for Translate , the famous automatic translation system developed by Google that allows us to translate text, voice, images or videos in real time from one language to another, being compatible with more than 100 different languages.
That is why Sheets is able to use the Translate functions to translate directly within a cell of a spreadsheet , which can be very useful if we have to handle a database in different languages. Therefore, today we are going to see how we can translate words in Sheets, using Google Translate.
Translate words in Google Sheets
To start using Goole Sheets it will only be necessary to have a Google account , if you do not have one, you can create it for free from here . Later we must access https://docs.google.com ›spreadsheets . In case we are not logged in, it will ask us to log in before starting to use it.
Once we are inside the Google spreadsheet, we must have a table where the words of a language that we want to configure in another are found within that same table. In this case, we create two columns, one for words in English and others where the translations made in Spanish will appear.
The first thing we should know is what are the two-letter codes to be able to translate in several languages, which are the following
- En = English
- Es = Spanish
- Pt = Portuguese
- Fr = French
- Ge = German
- It = Italian
- Ru = Russian
- Ha = Japanese
- Zh = Chinese
- Hi = Hindi
- Ar = Arabic
- AUTO = Automatically detect language
Translate a word in a cell from English to Spanish
Now, so that we can start translating words with Translate, this tool is integrated into the spreadsheet using a formula: = GOOGLETRANSLATE that we must write in the cell where we want the translation to appear. Once written, a suggestion module will appear at the bottom that we must click on.
Once we have clicked on the suggestion, an information panel opens where Google will begin to guide us through the entire process. The next thing we must do is open a parenthesis and within it we must write the elements of the formula ([Text box to translate]; “[Language 1 initials]”; “[Language 2 initials]”) . For example in our case it would be = GOOGLETRANSLATE (C6; “en”; “es”) .
Click on 2Enter “and the spreadsheet will connect to Translate and will quickly show us the translation of the word we have written. In this way, what we are telling you is to translate the content of box C6 into English within the Box E6 into Spanish As we can see, the word home has been translated from English in box C6 to Spanish, home, in box E6.
Translate a column with multiple words from English to Spanish
Now that we know how to translate a word we can play with the formula to perform more functions such as translating a column with several words . For example, we want to translate the words cat, dog, yellow, black and White that correspond to boxes C7, C8, C9, C10 and C11 into Spanish. Instead of having to copy the formula one by one in each box, just copy and paste the box that we already have translated and select the rest to paste. In this way, we select the box where we have made the translation (E6) and click on “Ctrl + r” (copy). Now with the mouse we select the entire column that we want to translate, up to E11 and click on 2Ctrl + v “to paste.
In this way, what Google Sheets will do is take the main formula as a reference, but it will not copy it as it was, but will adapt it to each of the corresponding cells in order to carry out the necessary translation. Thus we can check how in cells from E7 to E11 the translation has been carried out correctly.
Translate one or more words in a cell from Spanish to English
Now that we have learned how to translate from English to Spanish, we are going to perform the same operation, but in the opposite direction, from Spanish to English. The procedure will be the same, only we will have to change only the location of the keywords . In this way, in this case we go back to the E6 column and write the formula = GOOGLETRANSLATE (C6; “is”; “en”) and press “Enter”.
As we can see, what we have done is reverse the order of the language codes, to obtain the correct translation. Now we can translate a complete column, doing the same previous process of copying and pasting. Keep in mind that it is not only compatible with the languages of English and Spanish, but that we can use the translation between the different languages with their respective commands that we put previously.
