Problem
I'm looking at a travel page for next year's chocolate show in Perugia, but it's all in Italian!
I know how to hunt for a page already translated into other languages. Most tourist boards and some big cities translate into one, two or three or more foreign languages.
An alternative is to find if they have a website for your country. That's why they have websites with dot com for the USA or worldwide in English, ending in co.uk in British English for travellers starting from the UK. Check the website heading. Usually your search Engine sends only sites in English.
French
It can be very annoying to do searches and keep opening websites in languages you don't speak. However, if you want a recipe for French onion soup, you might do well to search some French pages and translate them into English.
Equally, if a little town in Spain has no English website, try the Spanish website and translate it. You can quickly eliminate, using pictures and similar words, pages you don't need, such as campsites, if you are seeking landmarks and luxury hotels.
Wikipedia has editions in foreign languages. They have different text and often more photos.
Seeking The Translation For The English Language
I look for a tiny Union Jack for English. It could be top right - off the screen. Scroll right up. No? It might be far left? No? Bottom of the page? Maybe off the screen. Scroll down. Nope?
Am I on the tourist board's website home page, or have I landed on a later page? Go back to the website's home page and check there. Check they way you search a word puzzle or find the monkey in the woods puzzle, with a ruler on the screen.
They might have the words for another language such as English abbreviated to EN.
Can I read most of the page without help? Just one sentence which is relevant and needed?
Copy and paste into Google translate.
Google Translate
You get two boxes for the text. I copy the foreign language into the left.
Sometimes it's easier to switch the arrows at the top because the word English is already visible, remembered by the website from my previous use.
If the text is too long and complicated for you to follow, break it down into sentences or phrases. After each sentence, insert a space and then a page break. Divide any sentence which is too long.
If the translation is garbled, separate the individual words. Then check the alternative translation using the symbols at the bottom of the translation box. It brings up many phrases using the word.
Other Website Dictionaries
If you still can't get the sense of a word, go into an alternative online dictionary just for that one word.
Go to File, new window, top left of your screen and open another window. Keep open a tab for your existing page. Use the F3 key at the top of your keyboard to see all your windows at once and toggle (tap) between Translate Google and the dictionary.
Somebody has already created a page describing what to do in detail. No need for me to re-create the wheel.
Translating Your Own Website's Webpage
If you have a website on Wordpress, like my site www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk, you click on dashboard (below your website name in the tab at the to left of the screen), go down the left hand column to click on setup, the right hand popups include gtranslate and click on that. The pop up box now offers a list of language for you to click.
I did this with the help of son, Anthony, whose expertise is Search Engine Optimisation (marketing websites).
I selected half a dozen: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, and Chinese (the script or symbols are also read by the Japanese).
USEFUL WEBSITES
https://translate.google.com
https://seniorplanet.org/how-do-i-translate-a-webpage-into-a-diff
erent-language/
http://itools.com/tool/google-translate-web-page-translator
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language translator.
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