How to install the Google Translate browser extension

Google Translate for Chrome is a free and powerful tool that allows you to browse pages quickly and seamlessly in virtually any language. While you can access Translate by heading to translate.google.com or by installing a browser plug-in, did you know that Google has already integrated most of Translate’s functionality into Chrome itself?

Other popular browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Opera also do have some sort Translate functionalities built-in, but if you do want to use Google’s version, here’s how to do it on your laptops and desktops.

How to use Google Translate on Google Chrome

By default, the desktop version of Google Chrome has built-in support for Translate. Whenever you visit a page that’s not the default language you set on Chrome, a Translate icon will pop on the right side of the address bar. Clicking on it will automatically translate the page to your preferred language. You can also right-click anywhere on a page that you want to translate and select ‘Translate to xx.’ XX being the language of your choosing.

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You can also turn on ‘Live Captions’ – a feature that automatically transcribes and translates audio in a page – by heading to Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions in Google Chrome.

If you’d still like to use the Google Translate plug-in, which can be a little bit faster for translating a snippet of text in a web page, you can head to the Chrome Web Store and install it from there. You will now see a ‘Google Translate’ option when you highlight text and right-click on it. Clicking on it will directly send the text to Google Translate and show you the result.

You can also add Google Translate in a similar way to Chromium-based browsers that don’t have the feature built-in. This includes Kiwi, Yandex, and Brave.

Adding Google Translate to Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge, which is available by default on all Windows PCs, also has a built-in translation tool that can be accessed by right-clicking on a page. In addition, to this, you can also switch to the Immersive Reading Mode by clicking on the icon in the address bar, and then translate all the text by clicking on Reading preferences > Choose a language.

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If you must use Google Translate, head to the Microsoft Edge Add-ons page for ‘Google Translate in Right Click’ and click on ‘Get’. 

Adding Google Translate to Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox, an open-source browser, has carved a niche for itself among a more tech-savvy audience. To add Google Translate to Firefox, you simply head to the Firefox Add-ons store and install the extension. 

This add-on will automatically detect that the language isn’t the target language and translate where possible. If that doesn’t work, you can select a large block of text (up to 1100 characters) and translate that directly.

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Google Translate is a great tool and one that’s already integrated into the most popular browsers out there. If not Google Translate, other tools are also available. While these alternatives also do a good enough job, Translate’s USP lies in its integration into the browser by default.