How to translate emails you receive in Gmail

Language differences are no longer a major barrier preventing you from communicating with friends, colleagues or partners via email. You also don't need to seek the help of third-party translation tools when using Gmail, because Google's email platform itself has a built-in extremely accurate and convenient text translation feature.

You can translate emails you receive with just a few clicks. Gmail can even automatically detect languages ​​and translate to your own target language. Let's find out how to do it right below.

Translate emails you receive in Gmail

Go to the Gmail website, sign in with your Google account and select the email you want to translate.

Gmail can automatically detect if the language in an incoming email is different from the language you use, thereby providing the option to instantly translate the email content. If you find the detected language is correct, click 'Translate Message ' on the translation bar.

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In case you don't see the translation option, tap the three-dot menu at the top right of the email and select ' Translate Message ' .

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You will then see a translation bar appear at the top of the email. In the drop-down box on the far left, click the translation language or select ' Detect Language ' and let Gmail automatically detect the language for you.

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In the drop-down box on the right, select the target language. You'll see the default language your Gmail account is using. But if you want to use another language, click to select that specific language from the list.

Then, click ' Translate Message ' to see the translation.

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(Tip: Check or change the default language on your Gmail account by clicking the gear icon in the top right. Then select See All Settings > Language .

You can revert to an untranslated email at any time by clicking ' View Original Message ' on the translation bar.

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Option to always translate emails

You can also tell Gmail to always translate emails you receive in a specific language.

To do so, After translating the message, select ' Always Translate: [Language] ' on the right side of the translation bar.

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You'll see a brief notification appear at the bottom left of the Gmail interface screen, giving you the option to undo this action if you wish.

If you change your mind later, you can turn this option off. Open a translated email in that language and you'll see the option ' Don't Automatically Translate For: [Language] ' . Click on it.

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The next message you see at the bottom confirms that you've turned off automatic translation for emails. Again, you have the option to undo the action if you wish.

Kareem Winters

Update 01 November 2023