Pros: If you want to speed up your translation by taking advantage of Google Translate’s suggestions, this tool allows you to do it from within any program you are using to translate: just select the sentence to translate, hit Ctrl+J, and the selected source text is replaced by the Google translation. I tested it from within Workbench (using both the Word and the Tag Editor interfaces), and from within SDLX. It works, and can help speeding up your translation. The tool is cheap, and allows for a generous trial period.

Cons: Apart from the obvious (the quality of the MT provided), the tool sometime only translates parts of the text, if the selection is too long. Also, concerns have been voiced about the use Google will make of the texts you pass through their translation engine, and they also apply if the text is processed by Google through another interface such as this one.

As regards the quality of the MT provided by Google, your mileage may vary, depending on the type of text and language pair. In some fields I find it is good enough as a first rough draft. In others it is still quite useless.

It is especially useful when you want to copy the content of webpage to your application, e.g. copying the content of a table on a webpage to Excel.

How to use:

Select some text and press CTRL+C, press down CTRL+SHIFT+V to paste the text to any text-based application, e.g. Microsoft Word.

You may also click on the  icon at your system tray to convert the clipboard into plain text and use the usual CTRL+V paste command to paste it.

PlainText is freeware. Please also check out Google Translate for Translators , a tool that seamlessly integrates Google Translate to Trados, Word and all text applications.

PlainText is developed with Autohotkeys:

It works a charm! I really believe this is a correct use of MT, and applaud your inventiveness.

William [Bill] Gray, English/Norwegian/Danish/Bokmal Translator

Downloads | Testimonials | Documentation | Buy | FAQ | Thank-yous

Why GT4T is useful

Google Translate for Translators (GT4T) is a translator’s productivity tool that seamlessly integrates Google Translate into all text applications. It can help you translate faster by replacing selected source text of your choice with translations from Google.

GT4T pro works in all applications. GT4T pro is an unobstrusive stand-alone Windows application. After running it in the system tray, you can then use the system hot keys it provides in Word, Trados, Wordfast, notpad, webpages, etc. In fact, the hot keys work anywhere you can type text.

Select and hit the hot key. Whenever and where-ever you select some text (Always use CTRL+SHIFT+Right or Left Arrow to select texts. It will be much faster than using the mouse!) and hit the hot key (CTRL+J by default), the text will be replaced by its translation from Google Translate.

Special hot keys for various CAT tools. If you are using TagEditor, Translator’s Workbench, Trados 2009, Wordfast pro and SDLX, Hit CTRL+ALT+J, the current segment will be automatically translated and hit CTRL+ALT+K, the next segment will be automatically translated.

Many Language pairs: Google Translate translates between 52 languages and GT4T supports all languages pairs that GT works with! Check Google Translate website for a complete list of available languages.

GT4T never expires! GT4T is not a freeware, but you can use the trial version as long as you wish. A nag screen will appear occasionally after you use it 500 times but you don’t have to pay – if you don’t mind being nagged:)

Google Dictionary & Plain Text Pasting: Select a word anywhere and press down CTRL+SHIFT+D to check the word in Google multilingual dictionary instantly. Press CTRL+SHIFT+V to paste text without format information (font, size, color, etc). These functions are free: you will never get nag screens when using them.

GT4T is available in two versions: Word Edition and Professional Edition. Word Edition is an word add-on that works within Microsoft Word and Professional Edition Works in all applications. The two versions can coexist on one computer. If you buy the license for the pro edition, the Word edition will also be licensed.

Hot keys Summary:

Support: You are always welcome to contact me about anything. You can use the Contact me page to send me an email. I use cell phone pushmail technology so I usually can receive your mail instantly and reply to it very quickly (Except sleeping time of course!).

I once worked on a large project which involves hundreds of word .doc files. The translation agency built a glossary. But as we translated, we felt that translations of some keywords should be changed.

Yes, I simply need to hit “ctrl+H” and pick “replace all”. But it is such a headache to open all files one by one to repeat the same operation. I need a program that does multple file replacing. Finally I got some time to make this little program (special thanks to Ibrahim Elnazak and Brad Martinez). It’s developed out of Ibrahim (Ibby) Elnazak’s Macro code (http://word.mvps.org/faqs/macrosvba/BatchFR.htm) The program should run properly if you have VB6 runtime and Microsoft Office installed on your computer. I hope you will find it useful. This program also supports .itd or other plain text file types.

Discussion: http://www.proz.com/topic/99659

Please also check out Google Translate for Translaters, a Word add-on that seriously increases translation speed by adding Google Translate to TRADOS, Word and all text applications.