How to Translate Any PDF to English for Free

Then translating PDF documents has become a common task for many students, professionals, and reading enthusiasts.

Fortunately, there are several free ways to translate PDF to English without the need for paid software.

In this article, we’ll explore different ways to translate PDFs with Google Translate, an AI PDF editor, Google Docs, and Edge browser quickly and efficiently.

Translate PDF while Reading Using AI for Free

With advances in artificial intelligence (AI), it is now possible to translate PDF documents while reading them. PDFgear is a comprehensive all-in-one PDF reader and editor.

It also provides users with an AI PDF Chatbot, which allows users to get real-time translation in the sidebar while reading without saving or exporting PDF content.

PDFgear ChatBot is powered by GPT, which maximizes context understanding and provides the most natural and accurate translations.

There is no doubt that this is the best choice for translating PDFs to English and increasing work efficiency. The best part is that PDFgear ChatBot is completely free.

Step 1. Download and install PDFgear to your device > Open PDFgear > Click “Open Files” > Select your PDF document from local.

Step 2. Click the chatbot icon in the lower right corner > Click “Chat Now” to open the PDFgear AI PDF chatbot.

Step 3. When you encounter content that needs to be translated while reading the PDF, please select the text and click “Copy” from the pop-up menu.

Step 4. Enter “Translate the following into English” in the sidebar chatbot’s dialogue box, and then paste the copied PDF text.

Step 5. Click “Send” and PDFgear ChatBot will quickly translate the content into English.

Translate PDF to English Using Google Translate

If you need to translate PDFs online in your browser, the first thing that comes to mind must be Google Translate.

As a widely used text translation tool, Google Translate also supports document translation and can translate PDFs into hundreds of common languages, including English, without changing the format of the document.

You can translate PDF documents up to 10MB in size and 300 pages in length for free. If you need to translate more documents or larger documents, you will need to upgrade the service.

However, this method is only suitable for translating the entire document. If you only want to translate part of the content, you need to copy the text separately for translation. You can’t translate scanned documents with Google Translate.

Step 1. Access Google Translate online.

Step 2. Select “Documents” > Click “Browse your files” or drag and drop your file to upload the PDF that needs to be translated.

Step 3. Select the PDF source language or “Detect language” > Select English as the target language > Click “Translate”.

Step 4. After the translation is completed, you can choose to open the translation online or download the PDF translated into English.

Translate PDF to English Online Using Google Docs

Another convenient and free way to translate PDFs to English is to use Google Docs. The built-in translation feature of Google Docs can translate text content into multiple languages.

Simply open the PDF in Google Docs to translate the document to English and save it as a copy.

However, this method is only suitable for plain text or PDFs with simple formats. When converting complex documents, Google Docs may not be recognized.

Step 1. Log in to your Google account > Click “New” > “Upload File” to upload the PDF you want to translate.

Step 2. Find the PDF you just uploaded > click “…” > “Open with” > “Google Docs” to open the PDF in Google Docs.

Step 3. Click “Tools” in the menu bar and select “Translate Document”.

Step 4. Select English as the target language in the Translate document pop-up window, and then click “Translate”.

Step 5. Google Docs creates a translated English PDF copy for you.

Translate PDF to English Using Edge

Finally, you can also directly use the Microsoft Edge browser to translate PDFs into English. Microsoft Edge is more than just a browser, it also has a built-in very practical online translator that can help users quickly obtain translations and understand PDF content.

Whenever you encounter sentences and paragraphs that you want to translate, you can use the translator on the toolbar to instantly translate the text in real-time, maximizing efficiency and breaking through language barriers.

However, this method only works for editable PDFs. If it is a scanned PDF, you need to extract the text first before you can get real-time translation.

Step 1. Install Microsoft Edge on your device.

Step 2. Right-click the PDF > “Open with” > Select “Microsoft Edge”. Or directly drag and drop the PDF that needs to be translated into the Edge browser.

Step 3. Click the “Translate” tool on the toolbar.

Step 4. Select the text to be translated > select English as the target language. Microsoft Edge will instantly render the translated content to you.

FAQs

How accurate are PDF translations?

The accuracy of PDF translations depends on the tool or software used and the complexity of the text.

Machine translation tools like Google Translate can provide reasonably accurate translations for simple texts but may struggle with idiomatic expressions, technical jargon, or complex sentences.

How do I maintain the formatting of my PDF after translation?

To maintain the formatting, use a dedicated PDF translation tool like PDFgear, Google Docs, or a third-party application that supports PDF translation while preserving the original layout.

However, some changes in formatting may still occur due to differences in language structure.

Can I translate a PDF with images containing text?

If the text within images is not selectable, you will need to use OCR software to extract the text first. Once the text is extracted and editable, you can use a translation tool to translate it into English.

Note that OCR accuracy may vary, and you may need to manually correct errors before translating.

Conclusion

Translating PDFs to English is no longer a challenge. In this article, we explore 4 of the top free PDF document translation tools. Whether you want to translate an entire PDF document or want to translate part of the content while reading, they can effectively translate PDF documents and provide incredible results.

According to your needs, choose the one that suits you best and start your efficient translation journey now!