Είναι όλα ελληνική σας? Is it all Greek to you? Then Translate!

Do you have friends that sprinkle bon mots liberally in their text leaving you in a quandary as to the meaning? Have you ever had the occasion when you wanted to wish someone a Happy Birthday in another language? Say in Spanish? ¡feliz cumpleaños! Chinese? 生日快樂！Or even in Greek? Χαρούμενα Γενέθλια!

In these times, when the world is so connected, we may feel the need to communicate internationally. It has become increasingly necessary to be able translate documents, and Word 2007 has just the tool. The Translate command in Word can help decipher documents in various different languages.

Open the document you want to translate. Select a word, the entire document or a portion of the document. Then click the Review tab, and from the Proofing group, click on Translate. A panel will open on the right side of your document. You will see your selected text translated to the default language. To change the translation into a different language, click the drop-down arrow in the To box. Voilà: the translated text!

Please note:

• The list of languages that are available for translation is not all inclusive so you will not find all of the world’s languages.


• The translation that is provided in Microsoft Word is a literal translation, without any of the subtle nuances of the language that is translated. The Translate tool in Word provides the gist of the text, helping you understand the basic subject matter of the text, but it does not include the full meaning or the tone of the translated document.

So that’s it! C’est tout! ¡Eso es todo! and Good Luck! ¡buena suerte!

- Rina B.