TRANSLATE

What it does

TRANSLATE(text, [source_language], [target_language])

TRANSLATE sends text to Microsoft Translation Services and returns the translation. Excel only carries the request; the service decides the answer.

TRANSLATE(text, [source_language], [target_language])

• text is quoted text or a cell reference. It must be text.
• source_language is a language code such as "en". If omitted, the service detects the language.
• target_language is a language code such as "es". If omitted, the system language is used.

=TRANSLATE("Hello","en","es")

Try it

DNA Calc does not run this function yet: its answer needs an outside service. In Excel you would write:

=TRANSLATE("Hello","en","fr")

Quirks

• The default target belongs to the machine. Two people opening one workbook on different systems can get different translations from one formula. Name target_language in anything that travels.
• Detection is weakest on short text. Microsoft recommends naming the source language for short strings, which is what cells usually hold.
• Do not treat the result as a key. Nothing promises the same text next time, and supported languages can change.
• Translating there and back does not return the original.

When the service is unavailable

Microsoft documents failures as messages about the call:

The page does not say what appears with no connection, nor how a saved result behaves on recalculation. Neither has been measured here.

How to implement

DNA Calc does not run this function yet. It is deferred by policy, because the answer depends on a back end Microsoft hosts and controls. An implementation needs:

1. A translation service. Any other engine gives other words, so it could match Excel's shape but not its answers.
2. Language handling: code validation against the service's current list, and the host's system language as the default target.
3. Asynchronous calculation, with caching so recalculation does not spend quota or change results.
4. The documented failures, including throttling and the length limit.

The function needs no arithmetic of its own. Its text handling is limited to coercing the arguments.

Rust code

This entry has no Rust implementation yet.

No implementation has been published with a Handbook test suite for this function.

Version differences

No Excel answers for this function are recorded here, so no comparison between Excel builds exists. Microsoft's page lists Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac and Excel Mobile. Service updates can change answers with no Excel build changing, so a build comparison would not separate the two.

Alternatives

• Translate once and store the result as values, when a report has to stay fixed.
• A lookup table of approved terms, when wording must be controlled.
• DETECTLANGUAGE to find the source language first.

Named variants

No named variants are recorded yet.