How do I translate Excel Functions into other Languages?

Get Started with the Excel Functions Translator in Under Two Minutes

If you need to translate your Excel functions from one language into another then you should probably be using the Excel Functions Translator Add-in which you can install from within Microsoft Excel.

With Microsoft's Excel Functions Translator Add-in you can quickly convert your Excel functions from the naming conventions and syntax used in one language into a different language. This is especially useful for organisations that have a presence in multiple countries, for providing usable spreadsheet data to colleagues with the functions declared in their own first language and for translating spreadsheet functions which have been written in different language versions of Excel.

Excel Functions Translator Installation Instructions
Navigating the Excel Functions Translator Addin
Excel Functions Translator Language Settings
How to Instantly Translate Selected Cells
Excel Functions Translator Limitations
Available Languages for the Excel Functions Translator
Excel Functions Translator Version Compatibility
Quick Function Translation Tip 1: Be Aware of Language Nuances
Quick Function Translation Tip 2: Translating Text in Cells

Excel Functions Translator Installation Instructions:

STEP ONE: Go to the Insert Tab and then go to the Add-ins tab.

STEP TWO: Click on Add-ins, open the Office Add-ins Search box and type 'Functions Translator' into the search box.

The first result should be the Functions Translator for Excel.

STEP THREE: Click on 'Add' and 'Continue' to install the Add-in.

Install Excel Functions Translator Add-in

Navigating the Excel Functions Translator Addin

STEP ONE: Once installed you can find the Function Translator Icon on the Home tab to the far right next to the More Options icon. This is one of the less prominent icons on the menu so its important to remember where it is.

There are three categories to Microsoft's Functions Translator Add-in, 'Reference', 'Dictionary' and 'Translator'. In this demonstration we are just going to look at the Translator.

Excel Functions Translator Sections

STEP TWO: Let's have a look at the Translator itself (third tab along). Firstly, we are going to select the language that we want to translate from (in this instance English):

Excel Functions Translator Choose source language

STEP THREE: Next we are going to select the language that we want to translate into (in this instance German). There were a 100 languages to choose from at the time of writing:

Excel Functions Translator Choose translation language

STEP FOUR: Now we can type or copy and paste the Function that we want to translate:

Excel Function to Translate

The Excel Function Translation from English to German produces the following result:

Excel Function Translation Result

Excel Functions Translator Language Settings

You can change the language settings at any time by clicking on the Preferences Icon at the bottom right of the Add-in

How to Instantly Translate Selected Cells:

Hidden down at the bottom of the Functions Translator is a feature that you need to be aware of and which can save you a lot of time when working with bilingual Excel functions. This is the 'Instantly Translate Selected Cell' checkbox. Switch this on to automatically translate your function when you select a cell or a range of cells.

Excel Functions Translate Instantly Translate

Excel Functions Translator Limitations:

The main limitation of the Functions Translator Add-in is that you can only work between one pair of languages. The translator would be much more powerful if it had the capacity to translate into multiple languages simultaneously. Beyond this one drawback however, the Excel Functions Translator is an extremely useful Excel Add-in for those working in multilingual environments.

Available Languages for the Excel Functions Translator:

At the time of writing there were 100 different languages available in the Functions Translator. New languages seem to be added quite frequently as the Microsoft article for the Excel Functions Translator only mentioned 80 in 2022 (In 2024, the article lists the languages but only explicitly mentions 16 different ones).

See Microsoft's support documentation here: Excel Functions Translator.

Excel Functions Translator Version Compatibility:

The Functions Translator is available for Excel versions Microsoft 365, Excel 2019 and Excel 2016. If you are using an older version of Excel then we recommend Mourad Louha's brilliant Excel-Translator tool: https://en.excel-translator.de

Quick Function Translation Tip 1: Be Aware of Language Nuances

When it comes to Excel functions there are many nuances and differences to be aware of even within the same language families which you might not intuitively expect. For instance, UK English Excel Formulas and Functions use commas as delimiters whereas in North America and US English the convention is to use semi-colon delimiters. So, for instance, using the Functions Translator to convert from EN-GB to EN-US means that you don't accidentally change the punctuation in cells that contain text as you might when manually converting functions with find and replace.

Quick Function Translation Tip 2: Translating Text in Cells

When it comes to working with multilingual textual content in a spreadsheet we really have to move away from Microsoft Excel and switch to Google Sheets.

Translate Text in a Spreadsheet using Google Sheets

With Google Sheets you can use a simple function to translate the language of textual content in your spreadsheets. Use Google's GOOGLETRANSLATE function with the following syntax:

=GOOGLETRANSLATE(cell reference, "original language", "new language")

As you've probably already guessed, each language has a code to represent it. So, for instance, if we wanted to translate from one language to another across a range of cells from Spanish to French we would use:

=GOOGLETRANSLATE(A1:A10, "es", "fr")

Identifying the Language of Text in a Spreadsheet with Google Sheets

To detect the language used in a cell, or a range of cells, Sheets comes with the very handy DETECTLANGUAGE function. It's pretty self-explanatory and works as follows:

=DETECTLANGUAGE (A1:A10)

For the capabilities and limitations of the DETECTLANGUAGE function, see Google's support documentation here Google Doc Editor Help: DETECTLANGUAGE.

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