If you’re managing product catalogs, customer feedback, or reports in different languages, you know how tedious manual translation can be. You copy text, paste it into Microsoft Translator or Google Translate, copy the result back—it’s time-consuming and error-prone.
Excel has a built-in TRANSLATE function that handles all of this automatically. It connects to Microsoft’s Translation Services and supports over 130 languages. All you need to execute a formula.
How TRANSLATE Function Works in Excel?
The TRANSLATE function is straightforward. Here’s the syntax:
=TRANSLATE(text, [source_language], [target_language])
- text – The actual text you want to translate (or a cell reference)
- source_language – The language code of your original text, like “en” for English
- target_language – Where you want it translated to, like “fr” for French
Both language arguments are optional, but I’d recommend including them. Specifying the source language prevents Excel from guessing wrong on short phrases or ambiguous words.
Important: Before you get start note that the translation function only works with Excel for Microsoft 365 (Windows and Mac), Excel for web, and Excel for mobile (iOS and Android). If you’re using the standalone versions like Excel 2024, Excel 2021, or Excel 2019, this won’t work. You’ll need a Microsoft 365 subscription.
How to Use Translation Formula in Excel?
Let’s say you have product names in column A (rows 1-14) and you want them in French. Use this formula:
=TRANSLATE(A1:A14, "en", "fr")
Excel will translate all those cells at once and display the results in a dynamic array—meaning you don’t have to copy the formula down manually. All translations happen in one go.
If you only want to translate a single cell, just reference that one cell instead:
=TRANSLATE(B3, "en", "fr")
Important: Excel uses ISO language codes. Here are the most common ones:
“en” – English
“es” – Spanish
“fr” – French
“de” – German
“hi” – Hindi
“ja” – Japanese
“zh” – Chinese
“pt” – Portuguese
When you’re typing your formula, Excel’s IntelliSense feature (Formula AutoComplete) will suggest supported languages as you type. Just double-click the one you want and it automatically inserts the correct code.
How to Translate to Multiple Languages at Once in Excel
If you want product list in a few languages, for example, in German, Spanish, and Italian, you can do this with a single formula:
=TRANSLATE(A1:A14, "en", {"de","es","it"})
Alternatively, if you prefer flexibility, put your language codes in cells (like C2:E2) and reference them instead:
=TRANSLATE(A1:A14, "en", C2:E2)
This method is best for real work, because you can swap languages without editing the formula. Just change the codes in those cells and the translations update automatically.
The TRANSLATE function transforms how you handle multilingual content in Excel. Instead of jumping between tabs and manual copy-pasting, you’ve got a formula that does the heavy lifting. Whether you’re translating a simple product list or building an interactive dashboard with live language selection, this tool saves hours of work.
