Use translate for written or spoken content moving from one language into another. Interpret is often clearer for live spoken work, but translate is still used broadly when the focus is the meaning, not the job title.
Use translate for written or spoken content moving from one language into another. Interpret is often clearer for live spoken work, but translate is still used broadly when the focus is the meaning, not the job title.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| He translate the article into Arabic. | He translates the article into Arabic. |
| Can you translate for me this letter? | Can you translate this letter for me? |
| The interpreter translated the witness in court. | The interpreter interpreted for the witness in court. |
| The app translated library as librería in a public-library notice. | The app translated library as biblioteca in a public-library notice. |
Use translate when difficult language, gestures, numbers, or feelings need to be made understandable. It can be figurative here, so phrases like translate the data for the board and translate his silence as anger are normal.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| Can you translate me this policy? | Can you translate this policy for me? |
| The chart translates that sales fell. | The chart shows that sales fell. |
| She translate the jargon into plain English. | She translates the jargon into plain English. |
| His smile was translated like agreement. | His smile was translated as agreement. |
Use translate when one thing becomes useful in another form, such as ideas becoming action or effort becoming profit. For a simple file change or machine operation, convert may be plainer.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The plan translated action quickly. | The plan translated into action quickly. |
| Hard work translated as higher sales. | Hard work translated into higher sales. |
| The mutation translated the DNA into a protein. | The ribosome translated the mRNA into a protein chain. |
| They translated the app to a new server. | They migrated the app to a new server. |
Use translate for rigid sideways or vertical motion without rotation, reflection, or resizing. In classroom geometry, translate is more exact than move, because it says every point travels by the same vector.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| Translate the triangle 90 degrees clockwise. | Rotate the triangle 90 degrees clockwise. |
| The square was translated to twice its size. | The square was scaled to twice its size. |
| She translate the graph three units left. | She translates the graph three units left. |
| Translate the shape over the x-axis. | Reflect the shape over the x-axis. |
Use translate this way only for historical, church, or literary contexts. In modern everyday writing it sounds elevated and old, so transfer, move, or relocate is usually the natural word.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| The movers translated the sofa upstairs. | The movers moved the sofa upstairs. |
| The bishop was translated as York. | The bishop was translated to York. |
| They translate the relic to the new shrine in 1180. | They translated the relic to the new shrine in 1180. |
| The saint was translated into a better apartment. | The saint was translated to heaven. |
Use translate first for meaning carried between languages, then for meaning or effort carried into a clearer form or result. Technical geometry, biology, and older religious uses are real, but context should make those specialized senses clear.
He translate drops the third-person -s, and translate is often stretched to mean any change or movement when convert, move, rotate, or interpret would be more exact.
From Middle English translaten, from Anglo-French translater and Latin translatus, the past participle of transferre, meaning "to carry across," from trans- "across" and ferre "to carry."