I used, reviewed, and created a list of some of the best free online translators out there. Read on to find the 5 best Google Translate alternatives for 2024.
Before we find the best online translators, we need to know what is an online translator and how it can help you. An online translator is a convenient tool to have along with you to help you translate any foreign language. This can be very useful when you come across content not in your native language or traveling to a country where language could be a barrier.
Someone like me might use it to satiate their curiosity about other languages. If your work involves communicating with clients across the globe, then it’s a must-have tool in your arsenal. The majority of customers today prefer websites, images, and videos in their native languages.
Around 40% of internet users stated they would never purchase from websites, not in their native language. Can’t read, won’t buy. You can copy the text into the translator and read it in your preferred language or have them speak the result. In addition, some translators allow you to point your camera at the text and translate it on the go.
An online translator can be a browser plugin or an app you install on your device. Sometimes they might not give the exact translation you expect from a native speaker, but they do a decent job. They are constantly updating features, adding more languages, and providing faster translation.
Some online translators can provide spell-check and contextual translation, but they are not equipped for thorough grammar checks. For correcting and checking your grammar, you need to know how to use Grammarly. Grammarly is an intelligent app for grammar repair. You may want to check out the best Grammarly alternatives as well.
What Is Google Translate?
Google Translate is a popular online translation service offered by Google. You can visit the website or install the app on your mobile device. In addition, Google provides a handy translation tool at the top of the search results page when you search for translators.
You can copy/paste any text, and it will automatically detect the language. This is very helpful when you can’t identify the language yourself.
The widespread use of Google search has also led to the popularity of Google Translate. However, you should know that there are several worthy options out there other than the search engine giant.
Top 5 Google Translate Alternatives in 2024:
1. Bing Translator
Bing Translator is an online translator by Microsoft and it is the best alternative to Google. It supports 60+ languages and up to 5000 characters of input. You can input text directly or use the microphone to speak what you want to translate. You can listen to the translation in a male or female voice and use it to search on Bing.
The user interface is very minimalistic and easy to use. The Conversation tab will take you to the translator.microsoft.com window. Here you can start a group conversation with people from different languages. Each of them is translated into the listeners’ native language in real-time.
A similar function is available on the mobile device app. Two people can have a bilingual conversation using a split-screen setup. Microsoft is a leader in office collaboration applications, and they have really put up a great tool with Bing Translator. Moreover, you can provide feedback on the translation and help improve the service further.
2. Reverso Translation
Reverso refers to itself as a portal of linguistic tools. They provide services like translation, dictionaries, spell-check, conjugation, and grammar check. It can be used as a website or browser extension and installed on Windows, Mac, Android, and macOS. All these features make Reverso Translation a good Google Translate alternative.
Reverso uses Neural Machine Translation (NMT) and its integrated language features to provide an accurate, naturally-sounding translation. It can automatically translate several languages and conjugate verbs in different modes and tenses in 10 popular languages. You can join the Reverso community to add, improve and validate their collaborative dictionary.
Context-based translation is another excellent feature by Reverso where additional options are given for the translated term. Furthermore, the different options are offered with examples to help you use the word based on the context of the conversation.
Suppose you are looking for a translation service for your business. In that case, you can use Reverso for Business to translate and fine-tune business documents.
3. Translate Dict
The Google alternative, Translate Dict is an online translator that can automatically detect and translate in more than 50 languages. Enter a word, phrase, or block of text, and it will automatically detect the source language. Select the language in which you want the output and press the ‘Translate’ button. You can copy, download or even hear the translation out loud.
Translate Dict has a feature that is missing in our previous contender. It can perform voice translation and provides text-to-speech features. A simple yet handy feature is the word and character count provided at the bottom. This can be very useful when you have limited space or a character limit to enter text.
Additionally, you can fill out an online form for high-quality professional translations and receive a quote based on your requirements.
4. Babylon Online Translation
Babylon Online Translation is a Google Translate alternative, which is also available in downloadable form. With translation services for over 75 languages, it supports the highest number of languages among all the translators on our list. Babylon has been providing language solutions for more than two decades. Its database consists of thousands of dictionaries, glossaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias. This leads to very accurate language translations.
The interface is straightforward, with options to translate words and phrases and find their synonyms and antonyms. In addition, you can translate documents into their original format and also use the text-to-speech features.
You can download the translator for offline use and the privacy of sensitive data. However, the Premium download comes at a fee starting at $99 per year. Babylon provides professional translation services for businesses, which you can avail of by simply clicking the ‘Human Translation’ button on their online interface.
5. PROMT.One Translator
Yet another Google Translate alternative, PROMT.One Translator supports only 20 languages, but it has some robust features that help it appear on our list of best online translators. It offers neural machine translation in all 20 languages with its state-of-art neural technologies.
Its automatic language detection provides translation for a single word, phrase, or block of text while also detecting the topic of translation like universal, business, or personal. The Context-based translation supports 7 popular languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian). It provides different examples for using the translated term in a sentence.
In addition, you can access the Conjugation and Declination verb dictionary for those languages. PROMT.One translation software with premium features is available for purchase and download for just €14.99 per year.
See Also:
Conclusion
All the Google Translate alternatives listed above do a great job, and that is to help you communicate and put your thoughts through in a foreign language. So try out all of them as they are free and find out which one of the best online translators is for you.