Chrome 5 Has Google Translate Built In
Posted on 26. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey in News, Tips
It looks like in the future, Chrome users will not need to have a Translate Extension in order to read sites that are in a foreign language. That’s because with Chrome 5, which is currently in beta, it is built into the latest developer version. I personally had installed the Google Translate feature from Google’s Extension site when I first downloaded Chrome 5, so I didn’t even realize this until I came across the info myself.
Now, when you are at a site that is in a different language than yours, Chrome 5 automatically detects that and asks you if you want to translate the page. It takes a few seconds, then you will be able to read the page in your language. Sometimes the translation isn’t perfect but I have yet to find a time when I cannot understand what I am reading.
Mind you it can only do text, not images or any craziness that may be embedded in Flash.
This feature acts exactly like the Translate Extension so much so that it make me wonder what else Google is planning on integrating into Chrome for future versions. This one was a good idea, as Translate isn’t really something that you notice until you are on a site you cannot read because it isn’t in your own language. One other thing: there doesn’t appear to be a way to turn Translate off as of yet but you can set a site to not notify for translation from the options menu located on the right hand side:
In a nutshell Translate is a useful, transparent feature that has been baked into this version of Chrome. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we keep seeing Google add more of their applications and services directly into the browser if they feel it is of utmost use and convenience.
While this may make it into a future Chrome 4 update, to use this now you must be on the current Dev Channel. This is the most recent Chrome version that is available and is ahead of the monthly beta updates that Google pushes out. You can download Chrome 5 Dev for all platforms right here.
4 Responses to “Chrome 5 Has Google Translate Built In”
Leave a Reply
Francis Adu-Gyamfi
26. Feb, 2010
This indeed is nice feature, especially since it is integrated directly into the browser. But I just want it to be noted that this is just an old idea just taken an extra mile.
IE8, Opera and I believe Safari have translate services integrated some how, although many tend to redirect to a web service for final translation.
This novel idea taken a step further may indeed help push the Chrome message to a very great extent, but it wont be a major selling point, IMO.
Jon OBrien
26. Feb, 2010
Thanks for the nice article Daniel. One question: Does it detect and translate a page that is only partially in a foreign language? For instance, if I’m in Google buzz and someone leaves a comment in Japanese on an English post, will that comment be detected and get translated?
Daniel Cawrey
26. Feb, 2010
Jon-
I tried this, and it appears that if the majority of the page is in your regular language for browsing, it will not prompt you for a translation.
A good feature for future versions would be the ability to highlight and right click to get a quick translation…
Google Announces Chrome 4.1 With Translation, Enhanced Privacy | thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Resources
02. Mar, 2010
[...] Chrome 5 Has Google Translate Built In Pages [...]