Google Translate is a free online tool for translating sentences, documents, and websites into 71 languages. It is statistical machine translation, in which a computer program analyzes a huge array of human-translated texts and digitally translates the vocabulary and grammar of one language into another. Launched in 2007 and saved from oblivion by global outcry in 2011, the tool is one of Google’s calling cards. With more than 200 million users a month from around the world translating words into 71 languages, Google gets a lot right.

Write shorter and simpler.
Everyone is aware that most corporate presentations, online and offline, are overloaded with business slang, which could well be considered a separate language. Forbes once published a list of the 45 most annoying examples of this language on its website. And if you believe the 198 comments under the post, many people – including those who use it daily – can’t stand business jargon.

Google Translate doesn’t like it, either. It can speak some of the most obscure languages on the planet and still find itself at a dead end, failing “to expand the core competencies of strategic providers aiming to make a significant shift in the way consumers perceive their products and bring their businesses to the forefront of innovation.”

If you want to use Google Translate, do yourself and your consumers a favor: write your source text in short, simple sentences that Google can translate in a way that even a child can understand.

Features

Audio pronunciation for common languages.
Audio pronunciation is available for many common languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. In addition, the first time you play the audio, it will play at a conversational speed. Play it a second time and the speed will be slowed down to help you master difficult pronunciation.

A huge range of languages.
Remember when we said Google Translate can translate into about 100 languages? Well, that includes the most common languages in the world and even some languages you may not have heard of yet, like Frisian and Sesotho. That’s a huge amount of language power in one place!

Can identify a language.
You don’t even have to enter the name of the language you want to translate. Just type in a text, website or document and Google Translate will determine what language it is written in.
Can translate text, website, or document.
You can enter your text directly, enter a link to a web page, or upload a document. Google Translate can work with any of these formats, making it a versatile tool.

Allows you to write text by hand.
If you are learning a language that uses a different alphabet, you may not yet be able to type in that language, which can make translation difficult. Fortunately, Google Translate has a handwriting feature that allows you to draw characters to translate. To access this feature online, simply set the language you want in the text input field. Then click the keyboard icon at the bottom left of the input field to change the input options.

Offers a keyboard for entering other alphabets.
Want a different input option? Google Translate offers a visual keyboard that you can open to type words using the alphabet you want. The layout even matches the standard keyboard layout, so it can be a useful practice if you want to learn to type in your target language in the future. To do this, simply click the keyboard icon at the bottom left of the text input box.
Offers speech input for common languages.

Provides several possible translations along with a rating of their prevalence.
If you enter a word or common phrase, you will get more than one translation option. The main text box will display the translation that Google Translate considers preferable. Below you will see some other options. The bar to the left of the phrase shows how common each option is.

Provides definitions of the entered words.
When you enter individual words, the word definition appears below the input field. If you need to learn a target language word that you still don’t understand in your native language, this can come in handy.
Can share, save or copy words.
You can share via email, Twitter, or Google+. You can copy to the clipboard and paste words/phrases anywhere. You can even “save” words for quick access the next time you use Google Translate. That’s a lot of options for language learners to use!

The app is available.
The Google Translate app offers many of the same features as the web version and is available for iOS and Android .