When you work with colleagues who might be located anywhere on the planet, you might encounter language issues now and again. It’s one of the realities of the global marketplace translation tools are a feature you really do need in your cloud computing toolkit.
Translation tools are actually part of Office 2010 in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel and you’ll be able to use them in Office 365 with teammates near and far. Using the translation features, you can easily translate words and phrases as you work on documents or converse with colleagues anywhere in the world.
Note: Windows Live Translator, Microsoft Translator and Bing Translator. All these are powered by Microsoft® Translator. So do not be concerned if you see one term or the other.
For example, when you open a Word document in Office 365, click Edit in Word. The file opens in the familiar Word 2010 interface. You can then turn on the Mini Translator tool by clicking the Review tab and clicking Translate in the Language group. Click Choose Translation Language, click the Translation To arrow, and choose the language you want to use from the list. Click OK, and click Translate once again; this time click Mini Translator to turn the feature on. (See Screen Shot Below) Now you can highlight a word or phrase while you work and the Mini Translator tool will show you the translation in real time (and even pronounce it for you if you click Play). Nice!
Select the language you want to translate to, and click the Mini Translator to turn on the
translation feature.
If your team spans continents and cultures, it’s a good idea to address language challenges right off the bat. If you’re creating material for public use, you might want to strive for a standard that is easy to translate into different languages, which means you need to avoid local phrases that won’t be easily translated later.
You can also have a conversation with your team about preferred languages and how you can all best understand each other, in email, online, and on the phone. You might choose one common language that most of your team members can use fluently, or default to English if that’s a commonly known language.
If your team members use words or phrases you don’t understand, ask them what they mean this is much better than guessing or implying that you understand when you really don’t. You might miss something important that way!
The Mini Translator tool offers translations for nearly 30 different languages, and additional languages are being added all the time. So use the Mini Translator regularly to convert words and phrases you don’t recognize into content you can use.