There are billions of websites on the internet, but not all of them are available in your native language. Fortunately, modern browsers and AI tools have made translation remarkably easy.
In this article, we’ll explain how to translate any website to any language on any platform. Then, we'll take a look at an AI tool that can translate any link's content, regardless of the device. Let's dive in!
Translating websites can help people who are just browsing, but also website owners.
One reason you might need to translate a website is if you're looking for information that's only available in another language. This often happens when you travel abroad, for instance. Many websites of local businesses are only available in the language of the country where they're located.
Another common situation is online shopping. If you want to buy a product that is only sold online in another country, you might find websites that don't have English or your native language translations. For example, many German online stores that sell things like binoculars and other optics are only available in German. However, they offer good prices and cheap international shipping.
If you’re thinking about this from the viewpoint of a website or business owner, the equation flips. By making your content available in multiple languages, you can reach more potential customers. Only 16% of internet users speak English. But if you add Spanish, Chinese, and Hindi, that number can triple.
Translating your website can also improve SEO.
Search engines favor sites that match user language preferences, and multilingual content naturally captures long-tail keywords in multiple languages. This organic advantage compounds over time, as international backlinks and user engagement signals strengthen your site's authority across different regional search indexes.
As a sidenote, one way to translate a website as an owner is to hire a translator. However, machine translation has recently gotten very good. This means that you can use any of the techniques from this article to get your translation, and it will likely be solid.
Additionally, while Google might penalize sites that use too much AI-generated content, this doesn't apply to AI translations. As long as the translation is high quality, which it usually is if you use one of the methods we'll cover here, Google will index your website.
Each browser and operating system handles translation differently. The next few sections explain the exact steps for each major platform.
In Chrome, when you visit a page in a foreign language, a translation popup automatically appears in the address bar. To translate the page, click it and select your preferred language.
If the popup doesn't appear, you can trigger translation manually:
You can also right-click any text on the page and select Translate to [your language] from the menu.
You can also translate webpages automatically, and there’s a way to tell Chrome to do this for specific languages. To set it up:
For frequently visited foreign sites, check Always translate pages from [language] in the translation popup. This saves you from clicking translate every time you visit that site.
Firefox doesn't include built-in translation, so you'll need to install an extension. The most reliable options are To Google Translate and Simple Translate — both are free.
To install the extension:
Once installed, you have two ways to translate:
Usually, the page will open in Google Translate in a new tab, showing both the original and translated versions, but some extensions let you translate selected text without leaving the page — highlight the text you want and click the small translate icon that appears.
Safari, like Chrome, has native translation. To translate a page in Safari:
If translation is available, you'll also see a translation icon (two speech bubbles) in the address bar. Click it to toggle between the original and translated versions.
On Mac, you might need to enable translation first in Safari → Preferences → Advanced if you don't see the option.
Safari supports fewer languages compared to Google Translate's 100+. It works best with major languages like Spanish, French, German, and Chinese.
A powerful feature of Safari is that translations happen on your device rather than sending data to external servers, which is better for privacy.
Since Opera GX uses the same underlying engine as Chrome, it makes sense that it handles translation almost identically, though automatic translations may be disabled by default. To enable it:
To translate a page:
If the translate option doesn't appear, you can also right-click anywhere on the page, and select Translate to [your language].
Beware of this annoying bug: Sometimes Opera GX won’t automatically translate a website even if auto-translate is enabled. If that happens, your best bet is to install the Google Translate extension from the Opera Add-ons store. It works exactly like the Firefox version — a good backup to have.
In Android Chrome, instead of address bar popups, you'll see translation options at the bottom of your screen. When you visit a foreign language website, just tap your preferred language (like English).
If the translation bar doesn't appear:
You can also set up automatic translations on Android (just like in desktop Chrome):
To translate a page on iPhone:
Apple made this very straightforward:
In mobile Safari, tap the "aA" button in the address bar
Select Translate to [your language] from the dropdown menu
If this is your first time using translation, Safari might prompt you to enable the beta feature. If that's the case, just tap Enable to activate it.
If you’re a Chrome user, the steps are the same as on Android.
While Google Translate works well enough, Overchat AI Translator is more accurate and tends to translate text more naturally, especially when working with less mainstream languages.
To use use it is very simple:
AI Translator will then use a Large Language Model, similar to Chat GPT, to translate your text.
Why use Overchat AI Translator? Instead of translating words directly, it finds natural alternatives in the target language, which preserves idioms and expressions instead of turning them into nonsense.
If you own a website, offering multiple languages can expand your audience and improve your search rankings. You have several options depending on your technical skills and budget.
🔵 Hire professionals. If you’re really serious about high-quality translations, the best way is to hire professional translators who understand your industry. It’s an expensive optoin, but also the most reliable one.
🔵Use online translators. Translation services ahve become remarkably good in recent years, especially after many additions of an AI-powered component. To use this option:
🔵 Use WordPress plugins. If your site runs on WordPress, you have access to translation plugins. WPML or Polylang are two popular options. To translate a website with plugins is very easy:
Regardless of the technique, don’t forget to:
To translate a website to English In Chrome, click the translate icon in the address bar when you visit a foreign site. In Safari, you can tap the aA button and select Translate to English. For Firefox, install the Simple Translate or another extension first.
If you need to translate an entire website at once, go to translate[.]google[.]com and paste the website URL into the left box. Google Translate will give you a clickable link to browse the entire site in English.
Select Spanish (Español) as your target language.
Most browsers can translate to Spanish from dozens of source languages automatically. The quality is particularly good since Spanish is one of the most supported languages across all translation platforms.
As a user, Google Translate has the best solution for translating entire websites:
A translated version of the site will open in a new tab. This works for any website and navigation, links, and most interactive features still work as before.
If you need to permanently translate a website, or add a localized version, use professional translators or Overchat AI — both offer higher accuracy than automatic browser translation.
Here are the key takeaways from this guide:
🔵 All major platforms have easy ways to translate websites: while most platforms offer built-in solutions, some require you to install third-party plugins, though this is easy enough.
🔵 Chrome has the best built-in translation — a popup with translation prompt will appear automatically when you visit a foreign website.
🔵 If you’re browsing on a mobile phone, the translation button is usually in the bottom tab — on an iPhone, look for the aA button.
🔵 If you want to translate a chunk of text, use Overchat AI Translator — it’s more accurate than Google Translate.
🔵 To translate a whole website, open Google Translate and paste the URL directly into the tool.
